25 Aug 2011

Despite court order, Vanuatu speaker adjourns sitting

12:31 pm on 25 August 2011

The Speaker of the Vanuatu Parliament, Maxime Carlot Korman, has again adjourned the extraordinary session after the Supreme Court ordered him to re-open it.

Mr Carlot Korman says while being told to reconvene the sitting, as speaker he also has to uphold the standing orders of parliament.

He has now called for the sitting to continue tomorrow.

However, he says under parliament standing orders, the appropriation bills need 21 days after their submission before they can be tabled for approval.

Mr Carlot Korman says the bill on a supplementary budget will only be ready on September the 8th.

Yesterday's adjournment until tomorrow has once again given Mr Carlot Korman the opportunity to avoid the Prime Minister Sato Kilman's motion to remove him from his position as speaker.

Under the standing orders, parliament can only debate the written motions on Tuesday and Thursday from four to five o'clock.

Mr Kilman has described the adjournment as contempt of Court.