My contract was authorised by Executive: Talifilu

Political Advisor of the Premier of Malaita Province Celsus Talifilu says Hon Elijah Asilaua’s accusations are misleading and baseless.

In an interview with SIBC News yesterday, Asilaua termed Mr Talifilu as an ‘illegal advisor’ of the Premier of Malaita Province.

This he said, because his initial contract was just for a period of six months, and he had illegally signed a new contract with the premier himself, which was not duly endorsed by the full executive.

But responding to this, Talifilu said his new contract was from authorisation from the executive.

“I was contracted to look after the newly formed Premier’s Advisory and Research Unit (PARU) Office. An office that was part of MARA Policy. The PARU office came under the direct responsibility of the Premier. It was a six month contract and there was only one renewal.

The signatories to the contract are myself and the Provincial Secretary (PS) and not the Premier as Mr. Asilaua would like to wrongfully allude to,” Mr Talifilu said in a statement to SIBC News.

He said when the contract was due for the second term, he inquired with the PS on the status of his contract. The PS advised him to continue while he was looking at the contract with possibility of a review.

“Since he is the accounting officer of the province I left the contract with him to work on while I continue with the job.

Meanwhile, as this was going on, the PS was under pressure from the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening (MPGIS) Head Office as he had been given instructions of a recall.

Furthermore while this was still unsettling the PS was suspended and my contract was not reviewed at that stage,” Mr Talifilu said.

He said the renewal was then handled by the new deputy provincial secretary and the Legal Office of the province and it ended up with the executive. The executive made a decision not to renew the contract so he left MPG without making any complaints whatsoever.

“Should Asilaua think that my contact is illegal as he likes to put it, he should seek the MPG administration for explanations and if he thinks he would like to further this into some kind of a court action, he is at liberty to do so and I will defend myself.

In terms of the advices I continue to provide to the premier since I left office,” Mr Talifilu said in his statement.

[You can hear Mr Talifilu’s clarification in our Facebook Page (SIBC News)]