People's Progress Party influential in Peter O'Neill's resignation

New Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan yesterday issued a statement saying his political party plyed a pivotal role have have Peter O'Neill resigned.

In a statement he said the Peoples Progress Party    was at the centre, together with other Leaders like Peter Yama, Powes Parkop, Chris Haiveta and former Prime Minister Paias Wingti.

He said they were influential in changing the course of the political deadlock by persuading then Prime Minister Peter O'Neill to tender his resignation ahead of a motion of no confidence against him.

Sir Julius Chan making a statement in Parliament

"If we didn't ask Peter O'Neill to resign the political stalemate would have prolonged and left the country in disarray. The fact that he resigned allowed for the opposition camp to disperse and ultimately for us to meet up with James Marape's 29 strong (men) camp resulting in brokering his nomination as Prime Minister," said Sir Julius.

He said although his PPP faction was a small, they stuck together to maintain stability at a time when there was heavy movement between camps with a few notable MPs showing clear undecisiveness. 

" As the leader of PPP I am proud of you. You have lived up to our strong stable motto. Even with our small number we never gave up. Size did not matter in this exercise."

Sir Julius also thanked fellow  Paias Wingti for showing maturity and foresight which led to the smooth transition of power.

During a small thanksgiving lunch on Friday with his PPP team Sir Julius relayed that both he and Prime Minister James Marape had met and later with former Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, thanking him for his services to the country. 

Sir Julius also thanked him for the support he gave to the PPP.

Exchanging with Marape, he said if he wanted an effective Public service he had to start by reforming and reducing its size substantially.

The other two important agenda was work on the Decentralization of Powers for greater Autonomy and amendments to the Mining Act. 

This he says will see the deficit reduce in the next 3 years.

The New Ireland Provincial Government also has a clear Economic recovery platform that can be used as a road map to kick start the recovery process.