Marshalls opposition waits for explanation on UN nomination

Transcript

An opposition MP says the Marshall Islands government deliberately attempted to usurp the constitution and laws of the country with its nomination to UNESCO of a Lebanese official.

Yesterday the government defeated a no confidence motion over last December's selection of Jamil el-Sayed, to be the country's UNESCO representative.

Last month the government withdrew its nomination when a French newspaper broke a story that el-Sayed had alleged ties to Hezbollah.

The senator John Silk told Bridget Tunnicliffe the government still hasn't come up with any plausible explanation for why it ignored normal appointment procedures.

JOHN SILK: Absolutely not because first they violated the constitution, the requirements of the constitution, and second, the laws of the Marshall Islands because you can't have an appointment of an ambassador position without the approval of the Nitijela, the parliament. And secondly you can't appoint someone who is not a citizen of the Marshall Islands and those questions were never answered, why would they appoint him in the first place?

BRIDGET TUNNICLIFFE: Why do you think there was such a complete departure from any of the rules that would follow a normal appointment?

JS: That is a question that was never answered on the floor of the Nitijela because they never got to it. I can't tell you why they did it because the foreign minister knew about the procedures because he had been a foreign minister before and before he became a foreign minister he was also an ambassador to the United Nations. He himself when he was an ambassador, he had to go through the Nitijela process before he got to his post so he should have known.

BT: In his defence, the foreign minister, Philip Muller, said no decision had been made on the appointment so cabinet was not aware of his background.

JS: No, the copy of the letter of appointment clearly says 'I as Minister of Foreign Affairs do hereby appoint Mr El-Sayed as ambassador to the United Nations'. Now, that would have come after the Nitijela had approved the appointment by resolution.

BT: Has this been damaging do you think to the Marshall Islands reputation?

JS: Absolutely. I think our regional partners and international community are looking at us and wondering 'what are we doing here, do we know what we are doing?'

BT: Do you think it was a case of maybe laziness that the proper checks weren't carried through or do you think there's something more to it?

JS: It wasn't laziness. It was a deliberate attempt to usurp the constitution and laws of the republic of the Marshall Islands. That's what it was, pure and simple, and for what reason, I don't know. That question has never been answered.

BT: Can the opposition take this any further?

JS: Well, we are looking at how we can take it further. Maybe we can still continue to discuss it and debate it over the next two days. We have two more days of parliament. The opposition has to meet again. I do know that I intend to articulate these issues again in the Nitijela when it comes to sessions today and tomorrow.

Attempts to get comment from the foreign minister Phillip Muller has so far been unsuccessful.