Vanuatu Government

The opposition held 26 MPs against the government’s 24 with only two government MPs, — Esmon Saimon from the Vanua’aku Pati (VP) representing Malekula, and Wesley Rasu from Malo constituency — present during the extraordinary session on Monday.

The remaining 22 government MPs boycotted the session, denying a quorum.

Parliamentary Speaker Seoule Simeon suspended the session until this Friday for the no-confidence motion debate and the election of a new prime minister.

The extraordinary sitting was called to debate a motion-of-no-confidence in prime minister Sato Kilman with the opposition claiming to have the support of 27 MPs to the government's 24.

The boycott on Monday effectively buys Kilman's camp more time to lobby support especially in light of the government having had one MP removed from parliament and another facing a potential suspension.

Earlier on Monday, the Supreme Court upheld the recent dismissal of government MP Bruno Leingkone by the speaker of parliament.

It says the motion to remove the Speaker Seoule Simeon is an ordinary motion, unlike one affecting the ousted prime minister Islhmael Kalsakau, and as such requires 15 days' notice before it can be debated.

Sato Kilman's new coalition government, which came to power after weeks of court battle and vote of no confidence in the government of Kalsakau last week, wants to remove Simeon, who was appointed by the former PM's administration.

Kilman's government had expected to be able to hold a vote today, Tuesday 12 August.

The warning comes after a joint operation by the Vanuatu Police and Immigration Department that led to the deportation the owners of the popular Aquana Resort in Port Vila on Wednesday.

Vanuatu's Immigration Services director Jeffrey Markson told the Daily Post newspaper the family of five adults and three children were ordered to leave Vanuatu after residing and doing business without any valid visas for four years.

Markson said "their removal was the last option" after the resort owners continued to disregard official advice and non-compliance of the law.

Tropical Cyclones Judy and Kevin affected almost 250,000 people - 80 percent of the population - wiping out around 40 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, with preliminary assessments estimating the recovery costs to be about $US50 million.

Matty Mark manages the Kormam Market selling fresh produce such as taro, cabbage, kumala and banana, which are currently in short supply in Port Vila.

Vanuatu is concerned that some of their top athletes have left the country for seasonal work and this has affected their national teams.

Discussions have been held between the Ministry of Sports, the New Zealand government through their High Commission office in Port Vila, New Zealand Horticulture and the Oceania Football President, Lambert Maltock.

Vanuatu's Sports Minister Tomker Netvunei has been in New Zealand in the past few days for discussions on the issue.

The Daily Post reports that so far over 1000 households and nearly 90 vendors have been registered on Ambrym for a digital cash transfer.

The newspaper says this figure is expected to increase.

The Minister of Finance, John Salong, said a mass registration will be conducted on Tanna and Efate following the exercise on Ambrym.

The government is planning to use Starlink Internet to cope with connectivity challenges in distributing the cash to 66,000 households altogether.

Food crops were severely affected in Vanuatu during twin cyclones in early March.

Chief Albert Ailo, President of Tomaso Council of Chiefs of Paama island, said the frequent cyclones in Vanuatu make it crucial to encourage the development and planting of resilient food crops that can withstand such calamities.

Chief Ailo recommended conducting a study on the islands to identify local foods that can resist disasters.

He cited wild yam as a potential resilient crop, saying he himself has planted it across his island and consumed it all year round.

The Daily Post reports the Minister of Internal Affairs Christophe Emelee as saying the decision was made to allow enough time for 6000 new passport holders to be engaged in either the RSE scheme or the Seasonal Workers Program (SPW).

High demand and a large number of new passports being issued are among reasons why the suspension has been put in place.

Area Administrator of Central Tanna, John Bill Iamul, said the grandmother - accompanied by some of her children - went to do some washing at a creek almost two kilometres away from her home.

A landslide swept her over cliffs 100 metres away from where she had been washing.

Iamul said the situation highlighted that accessing water continues to remain the main challenge for this community.