BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

ATTORNEY General John Muria Jnr has revealed during the talk back show on Sunday 19th April at the SIBC that two Bougainvillean were arrested at the Border last week.

Mr Muria said the two were arrested and being dealt with by Police who are currently stationed at the Border.

“They are being dealt with as we speak”, Mr Muria said on Sunday 19th April.

He explained during the talk back show that since there is of high risk at the Border the Government under the Emergency Powers COVID-19 2020 has imposed an order to restrict the movement of small craft vessels between the Solomon Islands and the Papua New Guinea Border which has now been declared as a second emergency zone in addition to Honiara.

Mr Muria reiterates that that penalty is much harsher due to the seriousness of the virus Coronavirus and anyone found will be penalized for a million or 20 years imprisonment or both penalties will be imposed on people found crossing the border.

He confirmed that the RSIPF officers and one Patrol Boat are currently stationed at the Western Border to monitor the movements and manned the border.

Meanwhile Special Secretary to the Prime Minister Dr Jimmy Rodgers said since there was a slight increase of cases in Papua New Guinea the oversight committee is looking at stepping up the normal measures and there will be joint taskforce manning the border assisting the RSIPF.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare in his fifth national address last Friday said the restriction of all movement including small craft vessels, across the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea Border which will remain effective until this Order is revoked or the State of Emergency is rescinded.

“Let us be reminded that a state of public emergency still exists in the country and due to the escalating situation in our neighboring countries, border measures will be tightened and government agencies are assessing and monitoring the situation at our eastern border while preparing to deploy police and border personnel as and when required.

“I encourage our people on western border with Papua New Guinea to please respect and abide by this Order. This Order is made to protect ourselves and country from COVIS-19. Our western border cannot be protected if we rely on the police alone. Our good people from the Shortland Islands must also work together with our police”, Prime Minister Sogavare said.

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

SPECIAL Secretary to the Prime Minister Albert Kabui has reminded the mainstream media and social media to be responsible in their reporting during the preparedness to prevent the coronavirus entering the country.

He made the comments during the talk back show at SIBC on Sunday 19th April saying that whatever media report to the public must be balanced and not making reports that can cause fear and unnecessary disturbances to the community.

He said during such situation people and the government must work together in that way whatever situations can be managed.

Kabui said while the media and the public have the right to freedom of expressions, rights always comes with responsibility.

“And that goes to the social media users exercise our rights with responsibility”, Mr Kabui said.

Previously the same sentiment has been shared by the Acting Commissioner Mostyn Mangau warning people to avoid spreading rumours of coronavirus because it causes fear and panic to the community.

He also said police is monitoring any posts or comments made by individual on social media or by word of mouth regarding coronavirus because it will cause fear among the communities of this country.

He also said people who loved telling stories to others must also be careful not to spread false information because once reported to the police that you are spreading rumours you will be certainly arrested.

People must always get facts and listen to Health authorities for right information about COVID-19, Mangau said.

By Alfred Sasako

WE may never know why winning candidates John Moffat Fugui and Jamie Vokia were singled out in election petition rulings following the National General Elections on 3^rd April last year.

Both men were the only winners removed from their parliamentary seats in controversial High Court rulings by use of a repealed Act.

Rulings by Justice Rex Foukona and Justice Immanuel Kohouta on the two election petition cases respectively have in fact raised more questions than answers. Written defence which appeared in letters to the editor columns by the Registrar of the High Court, Myonnie Tutuo, convinced no one but herself and those who support her view.

In the latest election petition ruling, Queen’s Counsel, Justice Terence Higgins, appears to have shot to pieces such a defence that the matter had been adequately dealt with by the High Court. It was not.

The crunch of the controversy is the application or use of a repealed Act or its provision to pass judgement against the two gentlemen. The argument simply does not stack up.

“It should be noted that, as a matter of statutory interpretation, the repeal of an Act or a provision thereof leaves the common law as it was before that Act was passed,” Justice Higgins said in a judgement on another election petition on Friday.

“It does not revive previous statute law,” he said.

So were the judgement against Mr. Fugui and Mr. Vokia – judgements without charge, prosecution and conviction – merely a cover-up for a much larger forces at work?

And is the cover-up intended to stop Solomon Islands and China from normalizing diplomatic relations?

Indications are that the removal of Mr. Fugui and Mr. Vokia from Office is the sum-total of this power-play which many unsuspecting Solomon Islands nationals, often used to being pulled by the nose, know little or nothing about.

To understand the background to all this, it may help to go back to the beginning. Support for normalizing diplomatic relations between Solomon Islands and China was gathering momentum from mid last year. The move irritated Taipei immensely. Solomon Islands’ traditional allies such as Australia and the United States felt equally uncomfortable.

So Taiwan got to work, allegedly offering money to politicians to keep its four decades old relations with Honiara intact. The Taiwanese Embassy in Honiara even went to the extent of drafting a letter of support for Taipei.

About 13 MPs, including senior government ministers, signed the letter, which the Embassy deliberately leaked to the media. It hit the headlines.

An investigation by Island Sun found that the text of the letter was in fact prepared by the First Secretary of the Taiwanese Embassy in Honiara. The move worked against Taiwan.

For when Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare got a copy of the email circulating the text, it was the last straw on the camel’s back on the Solomon Islands-Taiwan relations.

Prior to the switch last September, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare set up a parliamentary bipartisan committee to investigate the pros and cons of the proposed switch.

Mr. Fugui was promptly appointed Chair of the Committee. Mr. Vokia became his Deputy. The 10-Committee members visited the Pacific Island Nations that have diplomatic relations with Beijing. Their brief is to compare China’s support in those countries in terms of infrastructure development versus Taiwan’s cash diplomacy.

The Committee began in Vanuatu. Two days later they were in Fiji to take the first eye witness account of what China had done there in terms of infrastructure development. Their next destinations were Tonga to be followed by a visit to Apia, Samoa.

While they were in the Fiji’s capital, Suva, something very interesting happened. An investigation by Island Sun has confirmed that the Committee received a diplomatic cable, ordering the visit to Nuku’alofa, Tonga be aborted. Committee members were to return immediately to Honiara.

According to committee members, the terse explanation for the recall was no senior officials would meet the parliamentary committee. The cable was from none other than the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Colin Beck. Before taking up the post, he was Solomon Islands’ High Commissioner to Australia, based in Canberra.

But who might be behind the cable? No one seems to know.

The Committee defied the order and traveled on to Nuku’alofa. Contrary to the contents of the cable, the Committee met with senior government officials including a member of the Royal Family of the Pacific Kingdom.

To get to Samoa, Committee members had to travel back to Nadi, Fiji, where there are direct flights to Apia. In Nadi, yet another diplomatic cable was waiting. The diplomatic note simply asked the Committee to discontinue the visit to Apia, citing lack of accommodation, owing to the Pacific Games there at the time.

Again, the Committee defied the return-to-Honiara-immediately instruction and traveled to Apia where they were met by senior government ministers and officials. So who was behind all the futile diplomatic notes?

Could it be Prime Minister Sogavare trying to undermine his Government’s own Committee? Or was it Taiwan, Australia and the United States behind these bizarre diplomatic cables?

Is it possible that Mr. Fugui’s and Mr. Vokia’s removal from their parliamentary seats the punishment for pushing Solomon Islands’ foreign policy change? Is it possible too that the High Court might have been used to remove both gentlemen from Office to avoid suspicion?

Now, a third winning candidate, Anthony Veke, is staring down the same fate.  As Premier of Guadalcanal Province before entering national politics last year, Veke was a pro-China advocate.

He is now a staunch supporter of the switch to China last September when Caucus voted 27 for the change, six MPs including former deputy prime minister John Maneniaru, abstained. They were sacked immediately after the vote.

The High Court has postponed the ruling on Mr. Veke’s election petition four times this month, prompting his supporters to ask why. The alibi for the indefinite delay is that the judge is having eyesight problem, reading.

Is it really? Or is there a much more sinister motive behind all this?

We may never know.