Recent laws and amendments raise serious constitutional concerns: Namani

By GINNAH MINI

The President of Papua New Guinea Law Society (PNGLS), Hubert Namani, has cautioned that recent legislative developments have raised serious concerns about growing executive power, reduced judicial oversight, weakened parliamentary accountability, and expanded policing powers, describing this as a pattern of legislative overreach that risks undermining constitutional safeguards.

Addressing the lawyers at the Rule of Law March and Forum in Port Moresby, Namani emphasized that the country is witnessing a pattern of legislative overreach in the nation’s democracy and this must concern the citizens of the country.

“This is how democracies are not destroyed in a single moment, but are systematically reshaped: quietly, intermittently and through law itself until one day the constitution still exists, but it no longer restrains power and protects the people,” said Namani.

“The Vagrancy Act 2025: from its provisions, we see that police may act on reasonable grounds, including conduct deemed not acceptable in a democratic country.”

Namani described this as concerning because when the law becomes objective, it becomes dangerous.

“We now risk a system where liberty depends on discretion, movement depends on suspicion and rights depends on interpretation.”

Namani also highlighted what he described as a national failure in criminal accountability, stating that PNG cannot claim to uphold the rule of law where serious wrong doings goes unpunished.

He stated that the rule of law is not measured by the number of laws passed or the speeches made. It is measured by enforcement, prosecution, and conviction.

Namani issued a strong call for urgent national action to uphold and defend the rule of law, warning that the country is at a critical turning point as it moves beyond 50 years of independence.