Prime Minister James Marape visited the Constitutional and Law Reform Commission (CLRC) on Tuesday to introduce and install the new Chairman Saki Soloma, making his visit to CLRC, a first by any Prime Minister of PNG.
The visit also saw the Prime Minister praise the Commission for the work it had been doing in reforming and updating their laws and also signaled the important task for CLRC in the lead up to the country’s 50 years of nationhood in 2025.
Prime Minister Marape said his government will be working closely in supporting CLRC and the Chairman to address critical questions on the Constitution, the laws, systems and processes we have been using since Independence and charting a way forward for the next 50 years.
The Prime Minister said in keeping up with the path set by our founding fathers and mothers in the Constitution, CLRC’s constitutional mandate on consultation, must also be utilized to elicit endorsements and solutions from the people on those key questions, such as the review on the system of government that includes the election of the Prime Minister by the people and the Judiciary, as well as the future of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.
While thanking the Prime Minister for his visit, CLRC secretary Dr. Mange Matui said the Commission understands the significance of the nation’s 50th anniversary.
Dr. Matui said the Commission has already commenced work on the development of the underlying law, the colonial laws and the major review on the form of system of Government, apart from the legislative reviews.
