THE revelation that Prime Minister Sogavare personally had a hand in the appointment of Robson Tana, his nephew, as Chief of Staff, in defiance of the decision by Caucus to abolish the position, raises more questions than it answers.

It easily passes for nepotism. But is it?

The Chief of Staff is really just a part of a much larger scheme involving largely lawyers.

How the appointment was handled speaks of some underlying problems the boss faces in running a Coalition that seems to have run out of steam, policy wise.

His action suggests that no one from the political appointees to the entrenched public servants listens to the boss any more. If anything, the fact that he had personally hand-picked his nephew for the job, shows he is frustrated. He wants things get done but is hum-strung by non-performing workers who surround him at advisory level or otherwise.

It happened during my time there as media consultant.

I have lost count of the number of times I’ve raised the limbo I’ve found myself in with the Hon Prime Minister himself. There was hardly any payment coming through for months despite the fact that I have received an appointment letter.

So much so that the Prime Minister’s Press Secretary and I found ourselves in the presence of the Prime Minister one afternoon expressing concerns about the delays in processing our payments as this was having an impact on our morale and work output.

At the end of the day, we too need to eat.

What we discovered astounded us. We found that the Hon Prime Minister had taken quite a bit of time from his busy schedule to write personally Minutes and Memos to those responsible for pushing the process forward. These went on for weeks without any response!

So it is quite possible that since the first Chief of Staff was removed mid-year last year and the subsequent action by Caucus to abolish the position, the Prime Minister was probably finding that he could no longer get things done on time.

That however cannot be used as an excuse to defy a collective decision or resolution by Caucus to abolish the post. Nor is it a legitimate excuse to use to depart from or abrogate responsibilities in sticking to procedures established by convention and other legal instrument such as the Coalition Agreement.

It is not even worth thinking about. But things have changed.

So could there be other forces at work, which make the Prime Minister behave the way he’s been behaving in terms of making political appointments without first consulting Party Executives?

Of increasing concern is the rumor making the rumor mill in Honiara that the government is relying less and less on legal advice from the Attorney General’s Chamber.

Of late it seems the DCC Government is obtaining advice elsewhere on matters of the administration of law in terms of political decisions in this country.

Hell’s Point is a case in point where the advice by Attorney General’s Chamber was ignored. It is public knowledge that the Attorney General’s Chamber recommended using the new powers of the Commissioner of Lands to resume the land. To date, the government is intent on paying $50 million for it.

Rumors have it that in the last few months the Prime Minister has completed a complete reorganisation of the decision-making apparatus within his government.

As a result, he is now surrounded by a group of highly intelligent individuals, largely lawyers, to do his bidding. They form an inner circle team which provides advice to the Hon Prime Minister on a raft of issues dealing with how to run this country.

At the head of this faceless inner circle team is none other than controversial lawyer Julian Ronald Moti, according to political observers I have consulted in the course of compiling this analysis.

Moti, once the nation’s Attorney General, could easily be the Prime Minister.

Moti had an interesting past.

He was flown by a PNG Defence Force plane to Solomon Islands in October 2007. On that secret flight with him was Mr Robson Tana, now the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, and lawyer, Chris Harper.

Mr Harper is now the Chairman of the Government’s business arm, Investment Corporation of Solomon Islands (ICSI). He will be looking after the Government’s 51 per cent share in the USD70 million [SBD560 million] new undersea telephone cables project being developed by Chinese tech giant supplier, Huawei.

Another lawyer, John Muria jnr, was this month appointed by Mr Sogavare as the Prime Minister’s special secretary or SSPM, replacing Mr Andrew Muaki, who probably did not fit in the mould of All the Prime Minister’s Men.

To cap this off, another lawyer, Wilson Rano, provides what is a full team of largely outsiders now running this country instead of Caucus, which under the law, is the policy decision-making body of the government of the day.

All four lawyers – Moti, Harper, Muria jnr and Rano – once worked for Pacific Lawyers in Honiara, a law firm once owned by Moti. They have now regrouped at the epicentre of power in Solomon Islands.

So if Caucus is wondering why it is being sidelined in terms of decision making, All the Prime Minister’s Men, probably provide part of the answer – I think.