PARLIAMENT: SASAKO MISLEADS
Alfred Sasako. Photo credit: Solomon Times.
Parliament has strongly condemned claims in an article by Alfred Sasako in the Island Sun Newspaper that the Public Accounts Committee, PAC, has ordered former members of Parliament to provide evidence on how they used millions of dollars in Constituency grants or face prosecution. The National Parliament says, the article titled, “Former MPs given ultimatum on Constituency Grants,” is not true and is misleading. It says, claims by Mr. Sasako that sources said, the ultimatum by the PAC has angered caretaker Prime Minister, Gordon Darcy Lilo, who blamed former speaker, Sir Allan Kemakeza for allowing the PAC to scrutinize the use of Constituency grants, were misleading. Parliament says PAC has not conducted any enquiry or distributed any questionnaire relating to the distribution or use of constituency grants by Members of Parliament over the past eight years.
The Parliament’s Media Unit says, it would have been ethical for Sasako and the Editor of the Island Sun Newspaper to verify those facts with Parliament before making the article public. Meanwhile, Parliament has cautioned the media to take extra care when receiving articles from writers who depend on other sources other than Parliament to provide them with information regarding the scrutiny role of Parliamentary Committees and other incidents or events that happened in Parliament.