Kaya Selby
RNZ Pacific journalist
- Solomon Islands Prime
Minister Matthew Wale will face a motion of no confidence
next week, moved by his Home Affairs Minister Manasseh
Maelanga. - The motion prised Wale out of the Pacific
Islands Forum leaders summit in Palau, jeopardising his
regional security ambitions. - New Zealand Foreign
Minister Winston Peters blasted the Solomons cabinet
ministers, noting Pacific leaders were saddened by the
situation.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston
Peters has blasted Solomon Islands cabinet ministers who
moved against their leader on the eve of the Pacific Island
Forum Leaders Meeting in Palau.
Solomon Islands Prime
Minister Matthew Wale has been forced home to deal with a
motion of no confidence from his Home Affairs Minister
Manasseh Maelanga. Three Cabinet ministers, including
Maelanga, have resigned from his GREAT coalition
government.
More ministers are rumoured to follow
suit, including Finance Minister and former Prime Minister
Gordon Darcy Lilo, potentially tipping the numbers against
Wale’s favour.
Speaking to reporters in Palau ahead of
the summit’s opening ceremony, Peters struggled to hide his
disdain.
“To think that a motion of no confidence was
moved when you’re at a critical Pacific event concerns me
about the people who moved the motion,” he said.
“For
Goodness’ sake, could you possibly have waited until your
brothers, sisters and cousins have sorted out the Pacific in
the meantime, just for these few days?”
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Wale, who
reportedly first learned of the motion after landing in
Palau, was on a plane back home within hours.
Peters
said that the departure weighed heavy on fellow leaders,
considering several heads of government had opted not to
go.
“He had to get the next plane, and President
[Surangel] Whipps Jr had to take him. That shows how
saddened Whipps was by that, we all were, that Wale had to
go home. But at least they’re trying.”
The leaders of
Kiribati, Samoa, Vanuatu and New Caledonia are also sitting
out the summit. Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka may stay
at home, despite earlier plans.
Peters is in Koror for
the next two days before swapping out with Prime Minister
Christopher Luxon. He refused to speculate on why so many
Pacific leaders were not present.
However, reasons for
their absence could include health, he noted.
Rabuka’s
absence would mean a planned bilateral with his New Zealand
counterpart on Thursday morning would not go ahead. Luxon
said on Monday that he was not deterred.
Wale faces
the fire
Barely three months into the job, Wale now
faces a challenge strikingly similar to the one he had
helped orchestrate against his predecessor, Jeremiah
Manele.
It began with a mass resignation: ten
ministers in one fell swoop, complaining that then-Prime
Minister Manele made too many decisions without consulting
Cabinet.
While Manele refused to call parliament, a
group of MPs wore him down, and he gave way on 7 May. In the
aftermath, Wale was elected prime minister by 26 MPs in a
parliament of 50. It would take that many to oust
him.
Maelanga, an early contender against Wale in the
PM stakes, has now made a claim nearly identical to Manele’s
challengers, saying Wale had made unilateral decisions “on
matters of national importance” while neglecting “proper
consultation with, or the approval of,
Cabinet”.
Solomon Isands journalist Lisa Osifelo told
Pacific Waves that the situation was fluid.
“We
might be expecting more resignations from ministers in the
next couple of days,” she said
“There were probably a
lot of things that have come out in the media… political
appointees, the termination and the non-renewal of contracts
[in] various ministries, that has probably contributed to
what we’re seeing now.”
She said it was unclear how
large or influential the rebel group is – but Maelanga is
likely a front-man.
“I know [PM Wale] will be
regrouping a few of the members … maybe get back to the
drawing board, renegotiate, and bring their grievances or
whatever they have back to the table.”
It is unclear
whether Maelanga’s grievances about “unilateral decisions”
include the government’s foreign policy
platform.
Since Wale took office, he pledged to review
the controversial security deal signed with China in 2022,
reset the Australian relationship, signed a shiprider
agreement with the United States, and deepened ties with
Japan and New Zealand through MoUs – promising that the Solomons
was a “friend to all”.
Speaking as PIF chair in
July, Wale said there was “growing
consensus” among Pacific states for a regional security
treaty.
At the leaders’ summit this week, Winston
Peters speculated that the idea would be discussed, but that
Wale’s absence was a “setback.”
The first of PIF’s
leaders meetings began last
night.
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