Two Special PiPP Events

PM Face to Face & Leader of Opposition Face to Face

Tuesday 21 August 2012, Parliament House, Port Vila

Prime Minister Meltek Sato Kilman Livtuvanu will appear at the Parliament House, Port Vila on Tuesday 21 August 2012 from 11:00 – 12:00 for a special PM Face to Face hosted by the Pacific Institute of Public Policy.

It will be followed by a Face to Face featuring the Leader of Opposition Rialuth Serge Vohor, which will run from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. at the Parliament House.

Capacity is limited to 150 people, therefore those wishing to attend will need to obtain a free ticket at the gate of the Parliament House at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. There will also be a live screen broadcast on Saralana stage.

On Tuesday, a national audience at the Parliament House and from every province will be able to put questions directly to the Prime Minister and to the Leader of Opposition on the important policy issues affecting the entire country. This historic event will allow the Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition to directly address the concerns of their national constituents.

The events will be broadcast live on Radio Vanuatu and Television Blong Vanuatu (TBV) and moderator Mary Kaviamu will also ask questions posed by the national audience around the country received via email (facetoface@pacificpolicy.org) and SMS text message (5360654). In a technological first for Vanuatu, the 6 provincial centres throughout the country will also be part of the “live” feed via Vanuatu’s newly constructed e-government network.

The Pacific Institute of Public Policy has successfully run 10 MP Face to Face events across the country as a means of bridging the gap between politicians and their constituents by facilitating issues based dialogues. PiPP Executive Director Derek Brien said, “These one-hour face to face question and answer sessions are just the start of what we hope will become a regular process of dialogue between Vanuatu’s leaders and its people.”

Continuing their civic engagement programme, PiPP organised these public forums in 2012 in the run up to elections this year. PiPP hosted MP Fes to Fes in every constituency starting with Pentecost in early March and concluded in May with Epi island.

Many voters and rural communities have long complained that after an election, their MP disappears to Port Vila for the next 3 years and they are rarely seen until just before the next election. Another issue is that when MPs do come back to their constituency, they do not co-ordinate with their fellow MPs from the province, making the decentralisation process less effective.

MP Fes to Fes proposes to strengthen MPs’ accountability to their constituents, increase public participation through ideas, aspirations and civic awareness. It also helps manage voter expectations about what their MP can and should do.

This pioneering initiative has the potential to be rolled out across the Pacific region following its success in Vanuatu. 

The Pacific Institute of Public Policy is an independent, non-partisan think tank and exists to stimulate and support informed policy debate in and about Pacific island countries.

For more information please contact Talita Tu’ipulotu: ttuipulotu@pacificpolicy.org or Frida Bani: fbani@pacificpolicy.org or phone 29842.