Marape and the government made a mistake when they adjourned parliament. He had the numbers. He should have accepted the challenge and defeated it.

That way, if the opposition tried vote of no confidence again, the populace would have seen the opposition causing unnecessary instability. How many votes of no confidence could the opposition get away with? One would seem to be the number.

Anyway there was no vote, parliament was adjourned instead.

So how does the adjournment benefit the opposition?

It has time to recruit more MPs - which it had failed to do previously.

This is why I believe the opposition did not go to the Supreme Court to have parliament recalled. It simply lacked the numbers.

In 2016, the parliament was recalled by the Supreme Court after it was adjourned to avoid a vote of no confidence.

This is a precedent and the Court could have easily ruled in favour of the opposition had it taken the matter to the Court.

There is a way forward for the opposition.

It can take the Speaker to the National Court and have him charged under section 23 of the Constitution.

Among other things, this states that where the Supreme Court imposes a duty and that duty is breached, and there is no specific penalty, the penalty would be a maximum 10 years imprisonment.

In the Supreme Court ruling of 2016 in Polye vs Zurenouc, it warned it could charge the Speaker under section 23 of the Constitution.

The Speaker was not charged on that occasion because the opposition at the time had only asked for a Supreme Court interpretation of section 145 of the Constitution and to direct parliament to reconvene if the adjournment was unconstitutional.

But had the opposition asked for penalty, the Supreme Court would have rendered one.

In the recent case of the adjournment of parliament by the Speaker to avoid a vote of no confidence, the opposition can now only seek a possible penalty against the Speaker, that is to jail.

It shouldn’t seek a recall of parliament as it simply doesn’t have the numbers.

It needs to start energetically recruiting new members from Pangu and the coalition and go for a vote of no confidence in May, when parliament reconvenes.

So what’s the way forward for the government side?

Replace Marape from within. John Rosso can replace him and there’d be no need for a complete overhaul.