The Native Iowan

SPEAKER of Parliament Sir Allan Kemakeza was furious when Parliament resumed yesterday morning with an empty house.

Only 21 Members of Parliament (MPs) out of the 49 MPs showed up for yesterday’s meeting.A disgruntled Sir Allan was forced to adjourn the meeting to 9:30am today because the poor turnout has resulted in a lack of quorum.

Before adjourning Parliament, Sir Allan cautioned MPs on the importance of Parliament sittings.

Sir Allan said MPs must be aware that Parliament supersedes all other government engagements, including overseas trips.

The Solomon Star understands Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo also skipped the session yesterday because he was in Munda, Western Province attending the Munda International Airport groundbreaking ceremony and the handing over of the six new Police houses.

It is understood Prime Minister Lilo was also accompanied by a number of his ministers.

In countries like Papua New Guinea, if a MP skipped three sessions of Parliament he would automatically lose his seat.

However, Sir Allan told The Solomon Star last night that it was not applicable to the situation in Solomon Islands.

“We are not like PNG where MPs automatically lose their seat if they miss three sessions,” the Speaker clarified.

But this has been described as a loophole that needed to be addressed so that MPs do not take advantage of the situation and skip Parliament sessions frequently.

Meanwhile, Sir Allan has been sworn in as the acting Governor General at 3pm yesterday afternoon.

Sir Allan will be acting on behalf of Governor General Sir Frank Kabui who left the country today to officiate in two graduation ceremonies as Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific (USP).

His first stop will be at the Emalus Law Campus in Vanuatu.

He will later fly to Alafua Campus in Samoa.

The Governor General will return on December 2.