Hours after the president shook up his cabinet on Friday morning by naming four opposition senators, the country’s attorney general filed suit against the speaker contending he was violating the constitution’s 10-day no-confidence vote deadline by scheduling the vote for next week.
Late Friday night, High Court Chief Justice Carl Ingram ruled for the government, agreeing that because the motion of no- confidence was put on the parliament’s agenda on April 8, Saturday, April 18 was the 10th and last day for the vote to be held according to the constitution.
Speaker Jurelang Zedkaia called the parliament for an unprecedented Saturday sitting, which was delayed for hours as MPs argued whether the vote should be held or recess to let the court decide a date next week.
MPs moving the motion of no-confidence needed 17 votes to prevail — the parliament has 33 seats — and came up short, losing 14-18, with one senator absent.
This is the fourth motion of no-confidence in the 30-year history of the country, and the second unsuccessful motion against Tomeing since he took office in Jan. 2008.
Although Ingram’s ruling said the constitution is clear that the 10 days clock runs on consecutive days once a motion of no-confidence is put to the parliament, Zedkaia expressed anger about the way the court calculated the days.
“What kind of days are we talking about?” he asked in Saturday’s session.
“We don’t meet on weekends and public holidays.”
That was the reason he set the vote for next Wednesday, he said.
Sen. Gerald Zackios congratulated the speaker for calling the session Saturday and dealing with the constitutional problem raised by the court.
The flurry of activity Friday and Saturday followed two months of behind-the-scenes maneuvering that were sparked by a split in the ruling party when former Foreign Minister Tony deBrum attacked Tomeing in a session of parliament over the president’s strategy in relations with the United States.
The U.S. operates an important missile testing facility at Kwajalein Atoll, where landowners dispute the terms of a long-term rental agreement signed by the two governments in 2003. DeBrum is a Kwajalein senator.
Tomeing has now sacked five of his former cabinet members, appointing opposition United Democratic Party senators to fill the vacancies.
Two weeks ago, Tomeing named UDP Sen. John Silk to replace deBrum as foreign minister, and then followed Friday with four more opposition senators — Maynard Alfred, Kenneth Kedi, Ruben Zackhras and Mattlan Zackhras — to replace Ministers Christopher Loeak, Dennis Momotaro, Frederick Muller and Kejjo Bien.
This move brought virtually the entire opposition group to support the president, who had deserted the UDP just two weeks before the Nov. 2007 election to join forces with the Aelon Kein Ad party that has held power up to now.
