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First test lane will come into operation soon

Written by
Alfred Pagepitu
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MID Permanent Secretary (PS) Stephen Maesiola

BY ALFRED PAGEPITU

THE Ministry of Infrastructure Development first Test lane site to provide professional vehicle inspection will soon come into operation in Honiara.

The test lane is set to offer customers a professional vehicle inspection with innovative technology from Maha Company.

The test lane consists of a side-slip tester, a suspension and roller brake tester as well as an automatic tread depth gauge will be soon introduce for safety and security reason of vehicles.

MID Permanent Secretary (PS) Stephen Maesiola in an inclusive interview with this paper said that work on the test lane is currently underway to begin the  installation of the test lane.

He said to make way for the installation of the test lane they have demolished the old building at the MID workshop area.

“We will request Maha company to install the first test lane and work has now begins.”

“I am happy to announce to the general public that MID is looking at security and safety purposes to quickly install test lane in the country,”

“If this test lane comes into effect I believe most vehicles will be monitor,” said Maesiola. 

He said MID would like to improve and make sure all vehicles must reach the standard and MID officers will soon work on this to improve compare with the manual test MID did at the moment. 

Maesiola urged the public to cooperate with MID officers when carrying out the test lane process.

He said that at the moment they are doing manual test but as soon as this test lane install they will see changes to improve other areas compared with manual test.

PS said the test lane fee will cost $130 and MIS is working on it to lease with Ministry of Finance as part of its revenue collection.

Maesiola compares test lane with other country that Solomon Islands is the lowest country with no proper test lane installed therefore, we need to increase all test lane in the country.

He said that work on the test lane to the provinces is still on progress to secure land and installed test lane there.

The test lanes from MAHA are the ideal aid for objectively assessing the safety and wear condition of vehicles.

MAHA Maschinenbau Haldenwang GmbH & Co. KG is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of workshop and vehicle inspection equipment.

As a company with an international outlook, MAHA operates two production sites in Germany and the USA and a global sales and service network in over 150 countries.

Gov’t hands $800K towards Aussie bush fire

Written by
Mike Puia
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Australian-bushfire.-photo-by-New-York-times

By Mike Puia

THE government last night handed SBD$800,000 towards the Australia bush fire disaster.

Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare, handed the support to the Australian High Commission to Solomon Islands, Dr. Lachlan Strahan during a cooperate dinner fundraising drive at Honiara Hotel last night.

The attendance to the drive was overwhelming. Those who attended represent the government, business community, civil society groups and non-governmental organizations.

Prime Minister Sogavare told the gathering that the drive is intended to support a country (Australia) that stood beside Solomon Islands during its darkest hours.

He said this country has witness the unfolding of the bush fire disaster in Australia and felt “devastatingly sad”.

The bush fire disaster in Australia has costed lives and destroyed over 2000 homes.

Prime Minister Sogavare said Australia always stand ready to help this country therefore it is a humane and correct thing to do to help Australia.

He said supporting Australia is not only reciprocating its help over the years but it’s about coming to the aid of a country and standing by its side in the face of challenging calamity.

The corporate dinner is part of a drive, which has the theme ‘iumi tugeda fo Australia, organized by a special committee that was setup by the government last Thursday

The committee is tasked to oversees, support and coordinate fundraising efforts towards the Australia bush fire disaster.

The committee is proposing to hold its second fundraising cooperate dinner next Tuesday.

Prime Minister Sogavare said the $800,000 handed to the Australian High Commissioner comes from the National Disaster Budgetary Support.

He said even though the support is small, the prayers and hearts that come with the support is what matters.

The PM appealed to all its citizens to help lend a hand and support Australia.

Many donations were made during the dinner which will increase the money handed by the Prime Minister.

The Solomon Islands Forest Association (SIFA), for instance, handed SBD$100,000.

Prime Minister Sogavare confirmed that he has written to the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, and conveyed this country’s thoughts and prayers to the people of Australia.

He said like Australia, countries in the region are prone to disaster which is why helping another country is a standing gesture in times of disaster.

The PM appealed to all countries in the region to stand with Australian people as Australia fight to recover from the disaster that sweep through the country.

Chief Justice disappointed

Written by
Jennifer Kusapa
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BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

CHIEF Justice Sir Albert Palmer has expressed his disappointment over zero allocation for Judiciary’s development budget for this year.

He expressed his disappointment at the opening of the 2020 legal year yesterday.

Sir Albert said that their bid of SBD$2,411,800.00 for their development budget has not been prioritized by the government.

He raised his disappointment with a question “How can you expect us to cope and keep up with the many challenges and demands that is being placed on the Judiciary if you are not prepared to support us in expanding services to meet that demand head on? 

“If we had asked for $10 million or $5 million then I would not have been surprised if it was reduced to say $3 million, but we were only asking for $2.4 million.

“I do not know how we are going to meet the priority infrastructure needs in our Corporate and Annual Work plans.

“If you thought we were given $1million you can be forgiven, for what we were allocated came as a shocker, $0.00, ZERO $.  At least last year, we had $1million allocated, not this year”, Sir Albert said.

He said their bid is to enable them to draw up a concept design plans for new court buildings and offices in Honiara and in the provinces.

He said that the Judiciary has faced many challenges that court infrastructure needs will continue to feature prominently in any activities, for this is the face of justice in the community.

There are five courts in the country and each of these courts is in need of adequate court houses, office space etc. to conduct court sittings.

The Court of Appeal for instance is in need of a separate court building with judges’ chambers and facilities for court staff to enable them to conduct hearings without interference or disturbance. 

If a resident President or Justice of Appeal is to be appointed in due course, adequate facilities will need to be obtained to cater for the increasing demand for appeals to the Court of Appeal.

 Sir Albert said 41 years ago apart from the Magistrates’ Court building at Auki, the judiciary are still using court premises constructed during pre-colonial days. 

“Mind you, Auki Court house was built by RAMSI.

“I do not know if you noticed for instance when coming into this court building if you took the time to read the bronze plaque at the entrance and noted the year in which that foundational plaque was laid; 1964, which will make this building some 56 years old. 

“Some of you were not even born yet when this building was constructed.  Apart from its historic and cultural value, this building is a very important building, in the dispensation of justice to the country since we took it over.

“It is now in need for repair and refurbishment. If you look up, you will notice that there is some crack on the ceiling which will need to be investigated and repaired. 

“But this is only the High Court, and we are now running short of space not only for the courts but for our support staff as well”, Sir Albert said. 

He also revealed that the Magistrates’ Court in Honiara can no longer support the number of Magistrates that are being appointed to dispense adequate justice for the population in Honiara. 

He said they are now forced to share chambers, court rooms and space to carry out their duties.

“I cannot stress enough the urgency of the situation.  This is unacceptable”, Sir Albert said.

Police conducts investigation on PRT officers’ actions

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Admin
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ACTING Police Commissioner Mostyn Mangau says the Police will conduct a thorough investigation into the incident that occurred at the Tenaru area where Police Response Team officers cause injury to an innocent person.

Mr Mangau said that such incident is unfortunate however such incident not only happened here but around the world in some cases it happened where security forces caught up with unfortunate incidences.

He said the incident has drawn much attention in the media this week and police are taking the issue seriously and calling on the victim to also come forward to the police to submit his complaints.

Mr Mangau said RSIPF when such incident happened, involving officers the RSIPF will not take the issue lightly but a full investigation must be conducted.

He also said the issue is currently being investigated by the Professional Standard Internal Investigation of the RSIPF and when the investigation is finalized then a report of the incident will be released.

Mr Mangau said since investigation is ongoing he will not dwell much on what is happening on the ground during the incident.

When asked about whether they have received any civil suit against the RSIPF regarding the said incident, he said nothing has been received as yet but any civil suit is welcomed as it is part of the legal process to deal with such incident.

Police on earlier report said that as part of the ‘Hunt Man’ Operation following the escape of three inmates from the Correctional Services Solomon Islands (CSSI) Rove Prison, the Police Response Team (PRT) deployed as part of the Operation given the believe that the three escapees are armed and between 8 pm and 10 pm on the night of January 6 2020 they received information that one of the wanted persons has been sighted in the Tenaru area.

Prior to arrival at the Tenaru School Bus stop the PRT team met a male person which matched the description provided by the informant earlier that evening.

The PRT team clearly identified themselves as Police Officers to the male person. In actual fact the Team identified themselves as Police Officers, three times but the male person ran away from the PRT team.

The male person refused to stop and kept on running it was at that time that the alleged incident occurred.

More female students receive Pre-Service Scholarships

Written by
Eddie Osifelo
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Most of the female students will pursue Bachelor, Diploma and certificates at Solomon Islands National University, USP Honiara campus, regional universities in Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Australia and Asia.

They will be joined by the remaining 406 male recipients of the Pre-Service scholarship.

Rough estimates of 978 scholarships were issued to both Pre-Service and In-Service with the latter receiving about 234 scholarships.

The in-service recipients are mostly employees of the government and private sectors.

Among the lists, there were some Year 12 students who will pursue diploma courses and self-sponsored students under the scholarship lists as well.

Further to that about 100 scholarships were allocated to the 50 constituencies in the country.

Some students have also benefited from the Cost sharing arrangement between the government and their families.
Among the recipients, 37 scholarships were allocated to Master programmes and 3 doctorates (PHD).

Unfortunately, students who have missed out in the scholarship lists will need to find other sponsorships to continue their studies this year.

There were other students and employees who pursue their studies under the Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom Scholarships.

The Solomon Islands government has also received number of scholarships from other countries especially Peoples Republic of China (PRC) after the country severed ties with Republic of China (ROC) Taiwan in September last year.

Minister of Education and Human Resources, John Moffat Fugui told Parliament during the sine die motion last month that the government has attracted number of scholarships from Peoples Republic of China (PRC), Russia and donors like Morocco, India and Indonesia.

Fugui said following the normalisation of relationship with Peoples Republic of China (PRC), the ministry has received 103 internship scholarships.

Fugui said soon the ministry will transit Solomon Islands students from Taiwan to mainland China.

“We will negotiate few more scholarships from PRC come 2020,” he said.

He said Russia has also indicated over 20 scholarships.

Further to that, the minister said there are 10 scholarships from the government of Morocco and scholarships provisions from the government of India.

He said there were scholarship offers from Government of Malaysia and their closest neighbour Indonesia.

From the three billion, eight hundred and seventeen million, one hundred and fifty- five thousand, seven hundred and two dollars ($3,817,155,702) national budget passed.

The Ministry of Education got the biggest share of $1.2 billion in the recurrent budget, $77.3 million in budget support and $28.5 million in the development budget.

This will derive from the $3.8 billion budget Parliament passed last month.

British High Commissioner pays courtesy call on PM Sogavare

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Press Release
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BRITISH High Commissioner to Solomon Islands His Excellency Brian James Jones has paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare at the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, OPMC, on 09th January 2019.

He wished the Prime Minister, the Government and the people of Solomon Islands, a happy and prosperous new year 2020.

Mr Jones said the British Government, through his office is looking forward to working closely with Solomon Islands on important upcoming events. Jones also handed a letter from Britain’s Prime Minister to Prime Minister Sogavare regarding the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting tabled in Rwanda in June 2020.

Jones said one of the important events coming up is the UN Climate talks, 26th Conference of the Parties, COP26, which Britain and Italy will be co-hosting this year. He said Solomon Islands and other small Pacific Islands are more vulnerable to climate change effects.

He added Solomon Islands and other Pacific Islands may have high level of ambition and a strong regional voice on the issue.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sogavare assured Mr Jones of Solomon Islands support and cooperation with Britain through the High Commission Office.

Sogavare said with regards to the upcoming COP26, Solomon Islands maybe too small, but committed to support and work with other Pacific Islands countries to have a much stronger voice in the region.

He said the government is anticipating a very busy time in the coming months especially with parliamentary meetings.

Sogavare and Jones also shared their concerns on the horrific devastation caused by the bush fires in Australia and reaffirmed their support for the Australian people at this time.

HCC going tough

Written by
Mike Puia
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Betel nut selling at the Auki market

13 betel nut sellers arrested

By Mike Puia

THIRTEEN betel nut vendors were arrested and in custody as Honiara City Council (HCC) enforce tough measure against those illegally selling betel nut on the street as of yesterday.

The vendors were arrested during a Joint Operation by the Honiara City Council Legal Officer, Law Enforcement and Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) at Central market, and along the street from HCC to ITA area.

City Clerk Rence Sore said the operation is part of their clean-up campaign and will continue for an unspecified period of time.

He said charges would be laid against four males and nine females who are expected to face the court today.

“These “illegal vendors” are in police custody and charges will be laid against them.

Sore was unable to provide information about the level of fine betel nut sellers who are arrested would pay and what charges they would face.

According to HCC Market Ordinance if anyone found guilty they face a maximum of $1000 fine or three months imprisonment or both.

Sore in his earlier statement said that they have approved amendments to their ordinances and regulations to impose higher penalties on those illegally selling betel nut on the street.

He said HCC will not only targeting betel nut sellers but also those selling other items illegally on the street.

The move has gained praised from members of the public. But, some urged HCC and the police to be consistent and fair when carrying out the operation.

A social media commentator said he heard of such operation in the past but there was no complete solution was achieved.

He said he hope this joint operation will not be a repeat of what had happen in the past as he wanted to see betel nut vendors cleared off Honiara streets completely.

He added these vendors need to be given tough legal consequences for helping to make the city filthy.

1 escapee recaptured

Written by
Jennifer Kusapa
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BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

POLICE have recaptured one of the three escapees, Willie Olo, on Monday 5th early morning at LDA area at Betikama.

He was recaptured between 4am and 5am following assistance from the members of the community.

Olo escaped the Correctional facility on December 15, 2019 with two others Frank Firimolea and Dilo Faiga who are still on the run.

The hunt to recapture them is still ongoing and police is renewing its call on the members of the public to support and assist them with information.

Olo following his arrest was brought to the Honiara Magistrate Court by the police for remand.

Police confirmed through a statement that the prison escapee Mr Olo was recaptured at LDA area at Betikama in East Honiara between 4am and 5am on Monday 5th January 2020.

Police said the successful recapture of the prison escapee was done following assistance from members of the community who provided information to police.

Police are grateful for the assistance, which has led to the recapture of the prison escapee.

RSIPF continue to appeal to members of the communities in and around Honiara to help police with information on the location of the two remaining prison escapees.

The two prison escapees Frank Firimolea and Dilo Faiga are still at large and are danger to the communities and business houses.

Meanwhile the Commissioner of Correctional Service Solomon Island (CSSI) Mr Gabriel Manelusi has issued a letter of interdiction to a Senior Officer (Chief Superintendent) last Friday.

The decision was made after a full investigation was conducted by Professional Standard Unit (PSU) into his allege involvement of influencing the current interdiction and serving officers of CSSI to incite traitorous act against the leadership of Commissioner Correctional Solomon Islands and CSSI executive.

“This attitude will build a mistrust and disunity within CSSI organisation and also has undermine the integrity and good reputation of CSSI leadership,” Commissioner Manelusi said in a statement.

He added that the incident occurred on the third and fourth quarter of 2019 until to date.

He said such conduct is a totally breach of CSSI Act and Regulation and can be liable for dismissal or termination accordingly.

“I encourage you my good serving officers or interdiction officers to refrain from such behaviour we have an ACT and Regulation, Rules and protocol to safe guard our action,” CCSI Commissioner Mr Manelusi said.

USA to strengthen democratic election

Written by
Alfred Sasako
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By Alfred Sasako

TEAMS from the United States are due to arrive in Honiara early next month to map out Washington’s support for strengthening democratic elections and democracy in general in Solomon Islands.

The first team comprising IT experts will arrive on 2nd February, according to the Chief Electoral Officer, Mose Saitala.

“(they) will assess and take stock of our (electoral) Database system and how it can be improved to cope with changes to continuous voter registration, creation of Solomon Islands’ Electoral Commission (SIEC) provincial offices, combining the conduct of provincial and national elections on the same day (and) out-of-constituency voting.

“The second team will arrive a week later to assess more closely our technical requirements due to … major changes to the way SIEC will be  conducting election(s) in the future,” Mr. Saitala told Island Sun yesterday.

In December this year, the SIEC for the first time held a provincial election and a national bye-election in one day in the Makira/Ulawa Province. That trial reportedly went well.

The visits by the Americans early next month are in support of wide-ranging electoral reforms announced by the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission (SIEC) last month.

Among the proposed changes, an independent candidate will no longer be nominated to contest the position of Prime Minister.

At the same time section 66(2) of the Constitution shall be repealed, abolishing the position of the Leader of Independent Group in Parliament.

The SIEC say the proposed reforms would save costs.

“Cabinet will consider issues identified to entrench a political party system by way of the Constitution particularly the following:

i) Repeal section 66(2) of the Constitution [abolishing the position of the Leader of Independent Group] ii) Amend Schedule 2 of the Constitution to stipulate that:

“(a) An independent candidate is not allowed to be nominated as a candidate for the position of Prime Minister; and;

(b) Notwithstanding the existing procedure under this Schedule made pursuant to section 33(1), where a Coalition Agreement has been signed demonstrating that the total number of MPs in the Coalition is more than 50 per cent of elected MPs, the Governor General shall invite the Leader named in the Coalition Agreement to be sworn-in as Prime Minister,” the electoral reform strategy framework, said. 

Some 360, 000 people registered to vote in the 2019 National General Election, according to figures provided by the SIEC.

Of this figure, 86 per cent or 309, 600 actually cast their votes.

This could be misleading, given that double voting was allegedly widespread during the April 3 election.

Some 26 election petitions resulted and are pending before the High Court. Two have since been thrown out for largely lack of evidence.

Hayward making waves

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Andrew Hayward in a Maori's jersey (middle) with his mother Mei and father Robbie pose for family photo after witnessing Andrew's debut appearance for the NZ Maori U18 over the weekend

By PETER ZOLEVEKE JNR

HE might not yet be a household name to the Solomon Islands rugby community but in New Zealand, 17-year-old Andrew Hayward is making waves in the New Zealand high schools rugby competitions.

Sun Sports caught up with his uncle, Tekaai Nemaia a rugby player himself, to learn more about the boy who could likely one day wear the All Blacks jersey.

Andrew was raised as a boy at White River, an urban area locally on the outskirts of the western side of Honiara City.

His Father is part Solomon Islands from Wagina and of New Zealand Maori heritage, while his mother is also from Wagina, a Solomon Islands – Gilbertese located in Choiseul Province.

A second-born child in the family, Andrew moved with his family to New Zealand in 2009 when he was 7 years old, and later became a permanent resident there.

“The now 17-year-old got in the sport of rugby at an early age, a family legacy from his maternal side”, says his mother’s younger brother, Tekaai.

“We all play rugby in the family. As brothers, we played for the Marist rugby club in the domestic competition here and Andrew grew up among us, amused, he inherited the sport.

In 2017 when he was 16 years old, Andrew made it into the Super Rugby team Hurricanes youth team and again in 2018 when he was selected team captain for the Youth Council U18 tournament.

He featured for his home town school, Hastings boys rugby school team, also known as the young magpies in the 15s code early this year where he successfully led the school team to high schools rugby title.

The title earned Hastings boys school team the right to represent New Zealand, and a place to compete in the Sanix World Rugby Youth Invitational tournament in Japan next year in February.

He came home to the Solomon’s for holidays back in August and had the opportunity to feature for Henderson Hammerheads (HHH), during the Solomon Islands Rugby Union Federation Soltuna 7s competition.

“Since Marist rugby club is no longer competing in local rugby scene, we decide to introduce him to the Henderson Hammerheads (HHH), a few relatives are also part of the team,” Tekaai explains.

A proud uncle Tekaai, says his family at White River always support him with the passion he has for the gentlemen’s game.

“When he came for the holidays in August he wanted to keep his fitness, so on his request, we engage a local trainer for Andrew.

“He then was trained under, one of Team Solomon’s trainer, Fa’amoana Tupoe doing fitness training at the Town Ground rugby stadium.

“We are all proud of where he is at and will continue to support him. As a family, we want to encourage other parents to involve their kids in sports and not give up on them because there are always opportunities out there,” uncle Tekaai said.

That is not the end of the journey for 17-year-old Andrew Hayward.

Last Saturday he captained the New Zealand Maori U18 rugby team dubbed as Whatukura during the New Zealand World School 7s tournament, after being selected from the New Zealand nationals youth 7s tournament.

NZ Maori U18 made a clean run through the pool stages against; the Cook Islands, Australia and Canada in Auckland last weekend.

The Whatukura’s reached the semi-final playoffs of the World School 7s tournament but were eliminated by the New Zealand Barbarians in the semis.

 “I love the contact of the sport, and that’s how I keep playing, I guess. It’s good to play against other countries, seeing what they got,” Andrew told World Rugby 7s magazine in an interview over the weekend.

With his current form and discipline, the future looks bright for Andrew Hayward. His future in the gentleman’s game is no doubt on the right course.

Hopefully, this could see him wear the All Blacks jersey one day and represent New Zealand, Solomon Islands and the Wagina Kiribati community in Choiseul Province.

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