SODELPA President and MP, Ro Filipe Tuisawau now says his motion proposing a Vote of No Confidence in the Prime Minister and proposing that SODELPA Leader, Sitiveni Rabuka be the Prime Minister, was submitted to the Parliamentary Secretary General on the clear understanding that it will be debated tomorrow.
Ro Filipe issued this statement after serious concerns were raised by the Speaker of Parliament, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau on the gross abuse of process by Ro Filipe yesterday when he filed the motion and withdrew it within 3 hours.
However the SODELPA President says in submitting his motion, he believes he followed proper protocol as required, based on past precedent.
Ro Filipe says SODELPA believes that the people have lost confidence in the government.
He says he had requested that the motion be added to the Order Paper for tomorrow but this was not agreed to, so he decided to withdraw the motion on technical grounds last night.
Ro Filipe also says that as per the Parliamentary Standing Order, SODELPA reserves the right to file a motion of no confidence as appropriate.
Serious concerns were raised by Speaker, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau after Ro Filipe submitted the motion to the Secretary General to Parliament, Viniana Namosimalua at 4.04pm yesterday and withdrew it at 6.57pm.
Ratu Epeli says motions of no confidence against the Prime Minister are a serious matter and such motions should not be taken lightly.
He says the conduct by Ro Filipe Tuisawau in submitting this motion and then subsequently withdrawing it within a matter of hours is highly discourteous, gross abuse of parliamentary process and not an appropriate use of parliament’s time.
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