Today's Post-Courier tells us Dame Carol Kidu is furious. After taking the time to vote themselves big pay rises, the Parliamentals adjourned before voting on reserved seats for women :
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News |
Tuesday 30th November, 2010 |
Kidu furious
By HARLYNE JOKU
Community Development Minister Dame Carol Kidu is furious that she has been made a fool by the Government when it adjourned Parliament to May 2011, hence messing up the chances of allowing the bill for the 22 reserved seats for women to be passed in this session.
“I am furious too that they (male MPs) made a fool of me by pushing for the early adjournment of Parliament to avoid a vote of no confidence, but I am used to that.
“I will persist to force the vote in May.
“In the end, whether I win or lose the vote is not the point – it will be a conscience vote – but I just want the vote to happen to force the MPs to show to the women of Papua New Guinea where they stand on this issue,” an angry Dame Carol said. She told the Post Courier over the weekend that in general most MPs (Members of Parliament) would prefer that the women bill just goes away.
“They just want to avoid the issue - gutless wonders who let out lots of hot air! They do not want to be forced to stand up on the Floor to have their vote recorded in Hansard. Some have said to leave it for the next government to deal with after 2012. Without me there nobody will bother. One had the nerve to say “We will bring you back in as a Nominated Member after 2012 to do it then.” What an insult! Women are becoming increasingly annoyed - me? I am disgusted that I have to fight so hard for something that should be a right for women as guaranteed in our Constitution.
Dame Carol confirmed that the bill has been deferred yet again because of a technical issue. She said she had received conflicting advice where some lawyers stated that the amendment can be done at committee stage on the Floor while others are insisting that it must go back for gazettal.
“To avoid a possible procedural challenge we have opted to do the gazettal and the plan stated in Caucus was to bring it to the Floor in March. However, on the Floor, the Leader of Government Business adjourned until May (supposedly to allow for maintenance on the Parliament but in reality it is probably to ensure that we pass the time for a possible vote of no confidence which is April).
“As the only woman on the Floor, I have a moral obligation to continue fighting this issue as part of my exit strategy before leaving politics,” Dame Carol told this reporter.
How soon we forget:
(Source: The Critic)
But the repercussions of this Parliamentary oversight are predictable. News reports tell us 'Youths' are now demanding reserved seats of their own. Trivializing the women's cause with such a churlish parody of democracy itself is an insult to the PNG Constitution, and to women globally. What next? Reserved seats for transgenders? The elderly? The disabled? The overweight?
Are everyone's mothers still just distaff to the male population? They are fifty percent of the globe, and seriously disenfranchised in the developing world, including the South Pacific. Let PNG take the lead in this as the largest island state and guarantee that their voices will always be heard in government.
Arguments about privileging one gender over another are irrelevant in the face of the very real obstacles women have to running for office in PNG. They have neither the financial clout nor the social space to stand for elections the way men do, and running against them simply bankrupts them further, and underscores the general public's defeatism about women's rights.
Reserved seats for youth? Get real. There's a reason for age barriers to public office, just as there is for initiation and driving and drinking and marriage. Why would any country cede power to the least experienced demographic?---when the demand itself simply reflects that population's increasing control over the global marketplace. Look at what happened to the Miss South Pacific Pageant this week---when a complete ignorance of tradition or regional diplomacy prevailed?
Youth reps in Parliament. I can see the possibilities: a flutter of bills to legalise handguns, lower the drinking age, redefine sexual abuse and pederasty. Action heros of your favourite MPs on sale. Phone apps that link you to an MP's latests music video. Grade 8 exams and voting registration forms combined. Rugby league political parties.
And so forth.
Alternatively, I do believe there should be reserved seats for very young people, such as the following Melton Grammar power dancers rehearsing the age-inappropriate and by great good fortune (because this is still PNG after all) completely misunderstood disco hit: 'Gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight...'
Adorable. But I don't want to be there when they do get a man after midnight.
Time and caring for these people is appropriate.
Posted by: atlanta physician | April 11, 2011 at 05:21 AM