Sacked Solomon Islands Finance Minister says Cabinet revolt is imminent

Sacked Solomon Islands Finance Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo says further resignations from Cabinet are imminent, as Prime Minister Matthew Wale gears up to fight a no-confidence motion.

The motion of no confidence is expected to be tabled on Monday, September 7.

Lilo — who shares a political party with the motion’s champion, Manasseh Maelanga — was removed from Cabinet by Wale this afternoon.

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Speaking to RNZ Pacific on the day he was fired, Lilo denied any involvement in planning against Wale, but said he now felt obliged to support the motion.

“I’m caught in between,” he said.

“I cannot move [away] from a party member because there are only two of us, so we have to be together in this whole proposition.”

Mealanga resigned as Wale’s Home Affairs Minister on Monday, joined by Justice Minister Clezy Rore and Commerce Minister Harry Kuma. Lilo did not reveal who he knew, or expected, to quit next.

Backbench MPs elevated
Wale elevated three government backbench MPs to Cabinet within the week to replace them, rather than pulling from the opposition. Those MPs — Rexson Ramofafia, Nestor Ghiro and Alfred Tuasuila — had joined the coalition in June.

It means the government’s 33-member majority is drawn down to 29. Rore and Kuma, both People First Party (PFP) members, may be able to sway fellow party members to back the motion.

As a result, Lilo predicted that a swing against Wale was highly likely.

“I think there are valid reasons as well.”

“It boils down to the way that Cabinet has… there seems to be an absence of an operation of a Cabinet government and that raises a lot of concerns.”

Lilo noted that Wale’s coalition, formed in the rubble of Jeremiah Manele’s government in April, had never formalised terms through a signed agreement.

“It could be that the Prime Minister might have decided to run [the government] himself… in the absence of that coalition agreement.

Situation underestimated
“Then, maybe he underestimated the fact that this kind of a situation might arise.”

The motion forced Wale home from Palau on Sunday, where he was attending the Pacific Islands Forum leaders summit.

The Prime Minister has vowed to fight on, calling the defectors political opportunists with a “disturbing willingness to put petty political interests ahead of national interest”.

“The people deserve the opportunity to see whether the GREAT Coalition can deliver,” Wale said in a statement.

“The bigger question is whether ‘lack of consultation’ is being used as a convenient political justification for a move that may have been contemplated well before the current dispute emerged.”

RNZ Pacific has asked Prime Minister Wale for comment after the motion of no confidence was filed against him.