Politics
VANUATU
Hot issue...Luxury yacht Phocea in Port Vila. Photo: Bob Makin
Hot on the campaign trail
Moli Venaos Moi Saken Thi Tam Goiset and Fiji lawyer, Juris Gulbis Saken, both the latter holding plenipotentiary powers for the Russian breakaway province of Abkhazia. Voters are asking where this is leading to, especially since Vu Anh Saken has been put forward as Vanuatu’s consul to Thailand and Peru. Phocea cases have been in court since Parliament rose and are likely to be there still after a new government is in place. Connections with Thailand, Peru and Abkhazia are another matter again. conferral. Voters see nothing there to Enter the luxury yacht, assist Vanuatu. Phocea. Belonging to a Questions in village voter wealthy Vietnamese busiawareness sessions also connessman from Thailand, one centrate heavily on the World who is said to have spent his Trade Organisation and benpre-school years in Port Vila efits, if any, Vanuatu might be and is now chairman of the able to expect. Billionaire Yacht Club, he Even the Melanesian Speardidn’t even take his 4-master head Group membership is to the quarantine area before being seriously questioned welcoming ministers of state on talkback radio in this the aboard. country which hosts the MSG When an official boardSecretariat. ing party required Phocea to However, the caretaker complete arrival formalities, ministers of trade and finance it proved too much for owner continue to promote permaVu Anh Kuan Saken, who Sato Kilman...contesting the election nent residency for Chinese scheduled for October 30. Photo: PACNEWS immediately fled the country. nationals and fast-track appliSaken left behind a range cations from the Hong Kong of fraud and forgery charges which will keep the branches of Vanuatu’s Investment Promotion media occupied through October when interest Authority and its Financial Services Commission. in the elections might wane. The people of Vanuatu, at the polls at the Mystery surrounds the allegedly fraudulent end of the month, will draw the line where documentation found onboard Phocea from Asian investors are concerned, as one of the first local seaman’s papers for each of the crew, none things investors will require is land. The Vanuatu of whom had been to Vanuatu before, to new Constitution states that all land belongs to the registration papers for the yacht itself. Vanuatu ni-Vanuatu custom owner. passports were allegedly found onboard as well. The last thing the ni-Vanuatu will give away is And what was the Phocea’s role in Tonga? land, and a storm is brewing over land the land Vanuatu Foreign Minister Alfred Carlot, facing minister had taken from custom owners of one charges of boarding the illegally entered vessel, community and gave to a front man for foreign spoke of owner Saken having done much to save business interests named on the indefeasible the day for the government of Tonga when PhoTorrens title. cea visited there. No details were given. Going to court over this, is likely to be the And then there is the name Saken, shared by first big task for the new government at the end the ship’s owner with local businesswoman Te of the month.
October 30 D-Day for Natapei, Kilman By Bob Makin Faced with a boycott by parliamentarians who were not going to allow a vote on an incomplete draft bill, the outgoing Vanuatu government of Sato Kilman withdrew its remaining 17 bills and opted for caretaker mode. Election day is October 30 and the end of August—the final sitting of Parliament—gave enough time for the parties to rush leadership challenges through the Supreme Court, Appeals Court and wherever else necessary. As Islands Business went to press, Vanuatu was on the campaign trail. The old guard of the Vanuaaku Pati (the VP, the party, which led Vanuatu to independence in 1980), saw off a challenge from what claimed to be a youthful movement for change. It was neither very young nor visionary. Nor was it clever enough to promote meaningful change to benefit the electorate. As a result Edward Nipake Natapei and his long standing executives won and will go to the polls with a strong team of 28 for the 52-seat House. The Union of Moderate Parties (UMP), likewise, was alleged to be ready for change. However, nothing came out of the bid to take over and Serge Vohor was again confirmed in the top position by the full bench of the Court of Appeal. Dubious dealings of the Kilman government are now filling the media and bulletins and will continue to do so until the end of the month. Highly suspicious lease titles have been emerging from the Lands Ministry in recent months and cases of illegal citizenship from a commission intended to supervise correct nationality 26 Islands Business, October 2012