Marape's COVID-19 NEC decision and the Constitution

-
The confusion now for me is in regards to what the Constitution says about the declaration of national emergencies in comparison to the steps taken by the Marape-Davis Government yesterday (22/3/2020). My discussion about the Constitution in this article is from a political point of view, it will be good to hear or read legal opinions of lawyers about the matter.

Section 228(1) of the Constitution states that if the National Executive (NEC) is of the opinion that an emergency exists or is about to come into being then the Head of State (Governor General) in accordance with advice of the NEC may publicly declare the existence of a national emergency in relation to the whole or part of the country. Section 228(2) states that unless it is impracticable to do so, the declaration under Subsection (1) shall be made in relation to part of the country only prior to consultation with the Emergency Committee. 

The official statement from the Office of the Prime Minister released yesterday (22/3/2020) said that based on the advice from the COVID-19 National Operation Center (Emergency Committee) and the National Security Council (NSC), the NEC in an emergency meeting decided on the following measures outlined in the 18 points. Point 3 talks about the declaration of a State of Emergency for 14 days on Tuesday March 24, the Commissioner of Police will assume control assisted by a call out placed on military to ensure lawful order, control and response to SOE control measures. 

The following are my concerns:
  1. The official statement in relation to the Constitutional provision in Section 228 does not make the point that the Head of State should or will make the public declaration.
  2. Should or will the Head of State publicly declare a state of emergency before the 18 points are announced or implemented fully on Tuesday 24 March.
  3. Section 230 talks about an Emergency Act. For this particular emergency, before or during the period of the declared national emergency, the Parliament needs to meet to pass an Emergency Act.
  4. The 18 points, except for Point 3, in relation to Section 231(1) can be referred to as Emergency Regulations. If we are to implement the 17 points by Tuesday 24 March then when will Parliament meet for the Speaker to present the Emergency Regulations.
  5. The 18 points also contain some emergency orders in reference to Section 232, all these orders must now be immediately forwarded to the Speaker for presentation to the Parliament.
In a Westminster system of government and in accordance to Section 82 of the Constitution, the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain is the Head of State. She is represented by the Governor-General who takes precedence in rank over all other persons in PNG as per Section 84. Furthermore, the Head of State's function is dependent on the advise given by the NEC. Therefore, the Constitution is clear that the declaration of a State of Emergency must be done by the Head of State.

Also, the Constitution is clear in stating that the SOE process must be bipartisan. The emergency measures taken by the NEC must firstly begin with an act of parliament to make provisions for dealing with the emergency and matters arising from it. This has not taken place in order to constitutionally empower the Police Commission as SOE controller. 

To conclude, the process in which the NEC followed before the Office of the Prime Minister made the official statement yesterday is not aligned well with the Constitution from my point of view. I stand to be corrected if there are other sections that I did not consult to understand the action of the Marape-Davis Government, or any past precedent set by former Prime Ministers and their NECs.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FPA: Organizational Process Model

-
This model centers on the fact that different bureaucracies have different standard operating procedures. These procedures are made in order to allow day to day operations to be carried out. Thus, a foreign policy decision is made based on these standard operating procedures. It is hard for a bureaucracy to make a decision or let alone function out of character or contrary to their standard operating procedure. The reading Chapter 4: Foreign policy shares a straight forward explanation of the OPM: "An alternative to the rational model of decision making is the organizational process model. In this model, foreign policy decision makers generally skip the labor-intensive process of identifying goals and alternative actions, relying instead for most decisions on standardized responses or standard operating procedures. For example, the U.S. State Department everyday receives more than a thousand reports or inquiries from its embassies around the world and sends out more than a ...
Read more

Commercial liberalism and the six norms

-
Image
Liberal internationalism is defined by Griffiths, O'Callaghan and Roach (2008, p.190) as a project to transform international relations so that they conform to models of peace, freedom, and prosperity allegedly enjoyed within constitutional liberal democracies. The same scholars go further by dividing liberalism into three distinct groups. They say these are the three ways to implement the project. The way they present liberal internationalism as a project makes their work interesting. Three distinct groups Firstly, commercial liberalism is about free trade between states. States bilaterally or multilaterally via a platform like APEC pursue the goal of trade liberalization. Griffiths, O'Callagahan and Roach (ibid.) argued that economic interdependence would decrease the likelihood of going to war. Republican liberalism is about democratic peace. The scholars argued that the spread of democracy among states so that governments will be accountable to their citizens makes it di...
Read more

Allison's rational actor model

-
There are 3 common models of foreign policy decision making according to Graham Allison: rational actor model organizational process mode government politics model.  We will discuss the 3 models and compare them with the 3 levels of analysis. However, I challenge you to use your own initiative to learn about the other models of decision making. This will help you as future decision makers or analysts to understand how decisions are made and the processes. When one wakes up from bed he or she decides whether or not to brush their teeth, comb their hair and have a shower. These decisions are paramount, they affect and influence how the individual interacts in a social setting. This highlights the fact that as human beings we make decisions every day. Decision making is defined as the thought process of selecting a logical choice from the available options. In the case of the ‘Kibung peles boy’ analogy; the male student had a choice of approaching the girl to ask he...
Read more