Government House receives resignation of 11 Cabinet Ministers and government backbenchers
By Alfred Pagepitu
The Government House has received the resignations of 11 Cabinet Ministers and government backbenchers.
Six of them are Cabinet Ministers, including the Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Bradley Tovosia, while five are government backbenchers.
The Private Secretary to the Governor General, Rawcliff Zeza, told SIBC News that the grounds for the resignations expressed a lack of confidence in the leadership of the current Prime Minister Hon Jeremiah Manele.
“This afternoon, around 1:30 pm, His Excellency Governor General David Tiva Kapu received 11 resignation letters”
“Six are Members of the Cabinet who have their portfolios, and five are from the government backbenchers who copied a letter to His Excellency and addressed those letters to the Prime Minister.”
He said the six MPs whose letters His Excellency received around 1:30 are as follows:
Hon. Manasseh Sogavare – Minister for Finance and Treasury and the wing leader of the Our Party.
Hon. Manasseh Maelanga – Minister of Infrastructure and Development.
Hon. Nestor Ghiro – Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources.
Hon. Rollen Seleso – Minister of Rural Development.
Hon. Freda Tuki – Minister of Women, Youth, and Children’s Affairs.
Zeza added that Hon. Clezy Rore, the Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, tendered his resignation letter, but later revoked it and remains as the Minister.
He said the other backbenchers who sent their resignation letters are as follows:
Hon. Claudius Tei’ifi – MP for West Kwaio.
Hon. Stanley Sofu – MP for East Kwaio.
Hon. William Marau – MP for Ulawa-Ugi.
Hon. James Bonuga – MP for Temotu Pele.
Hon. Lazarus Rima – MP for East Central Guadalcanal.
Zeza said that around 4:30, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Mines, Energy, and Rural Electrification Hon. Bradley Tovosia also submitted his resignation letter.
He said that since the MPs have resigned from their portfolios, the Government House will wait for advice from the Prime Minister on whether there are any MPs swearing in and where to appoint any MPs to fill those gaps.
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