By Alfred Sasako

AS authorities pored through details of what went wrong in the sea tragedy involving the West Are’Are Constituency ship, MV Taimareho last weekend, a relative of one of the 27 people who perished in the accident has called for “a thorough and transparent investigation”.

“What the authorities must realise is that the 27 people who lost their lives have relatives right across the island of Malaita. They were not just from West Are’Are. So as relatives, we want answers,” Charles Karamauri told Island Sun yesterday.

“The answers we are seeking can only come from a thorough, transparent and timely investigation. We do not want the investigation to end up being a whitewash.

“We want to know for example who authorised the ship to leave, knowing that a cyclone warning was in force when the MV Taimareho left at mid night on Thursday last weekend. There is also the question of alleged overloading,” he said.

“These are the details that families of the 27 people who perished in the tragedy are seeking,” Mr. Karamauri said.

MV Taimareho was on a Constituency charter when it was hit by giant waves in the crossing between Guadalcanal and Malaita Province at midnight on Thursday last week. Six bodies have since been recovered from the 27 people, mostly high school students, who allegedly fell overboard.

The Solomon Islands Maritime Safety Authority (SIMSA) confirmed last week that two parallel investigations were underway – one by the maritime authority and the other by police to establish criminal negligence or otherwise.

However, since the investigations were launched, the SIMSA Board has imposed a news blackout until reports into the tragedy were completed.

Mr Karamauri said it is important the investigation is thorough, transparent and timely.

“I am saying this because we fear that political interference could undermine the independence of the investigation and the confidence the public has in the two institutions that are carrying out the investigation.

“It has happened before and there is no guarantee it would not happen again. And that is what we do not want to see happen in this case because of the number of lives lost in the incident,” he said.

By Alfred Sasako

LABORATORY equipment and test kits to help the Solomon Islands’ Government in its fight to keep the COVID-19 at bay are expected to arrive in Honiara next week, it was confirmed last night.

The announcement of the Honiara-bound consignment comes as Beijing extends its help to countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Italy – countries that are battling the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chinese government provided 1, 000 ventilators to the State of New York, while in the United Kingdom it has provided 20 invasive ventilators along with 1.86 million personal protective equipment for the frontline workers there.

In Solomon Islands, the laboratory equipment and test kits bound for Honiara were bought with a USD300, 000 grants from the Government of China. These equipment were manufactured by BGI Genomics, the world’s leading provider of genomic sequencing services and proteomic services, now serving customers in more than 66 countries around the globe.

Half the money was used to buy the equipment and test kits while the balance was partly used to cover other costs such transportation fee from Hong Kong to Sydney Australia.

This leaves a balance of USD100, 000 which would be handed over to the Government once the equipment and test kits have arrived.

It is understood the laboratory equipment and test kits are expected to be flown to Sydney, arriving there on Monday 13^th April. The Government is understood to have arranged with Solomon Airlines to pick up the consignment later in the week.

Other items such as the 125, 000 medical gloves and donations by a provincial government and private companies are due to arrive by boat later.

The Chinese government has also donated additional items, such as 500 medical protective clothing, 500 medical facial masks, 500 medical goggles and 100 Infra-red Thermometers. Beijing is also donating 2, 000 pieces of medical protective clothing and 5, 000 surgical masks.

Guangdong Provincial Government has also donated 20, 000 medical facial masks, 2, 000 surgical masks and 500 medical protective clothing.

China’s State-Owned Enterprise (SOE), China Harbour Engineering Company, has donated 20, 000 medical facial masks, 200 medical gloves, 80 infra-red thermometers and 100 N95 masks.

Private company, Jia Shu Rong He International Trade Company has donated 20,000 facial masks, 200 infra-red thermometers and 200 medical protective clothing.

The Honiara-based Solomon Chinese Association has donated 50,000 facial masks.

-Government’s state of emergency playing into hands of employers, also exposing evil deeds

-Indigenous employees fall victim

By Alfred Sasako

THE State of Emergency, declared by the Government on Friday, March 27 in the fight to keep the deadly COVID-19 at bay appears to be working against Solomon Islands indigenous workers in a number of industries.

The State of Emergency has since been extended by four months with the introduction of new emergency measures, including a nine-hour nightly curfew starting at 8pm last night.

Police will set up roadblocks between Alligator Creek and Poha River – the area declared as emergency zone under the state of emergency. Those who defy the curfew face a $10, 000-fine or a five-year jail term

But these measures are having a toll on the very people they were set out to protect.

Many who have been made redundant because of the COVID-19-induced state of emergency orders told Island Sun their employers never gave them a penny when they told us “we were being laid off.”

Tourism-related industries such as hotels and restaurants are the hardest hit.

One large hotel stood down almost 200 workers, but under-reported the figure on the number of workers it had stood down.

“We are in a very bad situation,” one redundant worker told Island Sun earlier this week.

“They told us almost on the spot that due to the COVID-19 measures introduced by the government, the company was not in a position to keep us. That is fine. We understand that, but they should at least pay us some money, because these are big companies.

“In our case, they did not,” one redundant worker told Island Sun earlier this week.

“We have families. What they did to us is inhumane and immoral. These companies should be made to fulfill their social responsibilities to their staff,” she said.

“Some of us actually asked if we could take our annual leave so that at least we can have some money to live on. That request too was refused,” the worker said.

One other worker said she was paid for the four days of work before she was told she was being stood down.

“But when I checked my bank, the $300 or so paid into my account had been deducted to cover my loan repayment. I had thought the banks were putting loan repayment on hold until the state of emergency was over. Now I know it is not true,” she said.

Another worker who was made redundant last week said her employer had not even paid her anything when she was told she was being stood down. While trying to withdraw her savings from the National Provident Fund (NPF) under the government waiver, she found out she had only $800 in her NPF account.

“My employer has been deducting NPF contributions from my pay since 2012 when I started. Now it seems he has not been making payments on my behalf to the NPF,” she said.

It was reported that The NPF planned to audit companies along the Kukum Highway to White River. It is not clear whether the planned audit has begun.

By EDDIE OSIFELO

THE Government has approved a targeted fiscal and economic consolidation strategy to cope with the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on Solomon Islands.

Fiscal policy measures thus far have focussed on additional spending to support COVID-19 preparedness and containment efforts.

Minister of Finance and Treasury, Harry Kuma told Parliament on Tuesday that immediately after the Strategy was approved by cabinet, MoFT has imposed the following measures under the general orders vested in the Minister and Permanent Secretary of Finance under Part 3 sections 7 and 9 of the Public Financial Management Act 2003.

He said that focusses on the management of Public Finance and in consistent to the Prime Minister’s power under the Emergency Powers Act Regulation recent gazetted by the Governor General.

These measures include:

1. Prioritization fixed and mandatory expenditures and COVID-19 related spending pressures, and other priority commitments approved by cabinet;
2. Stop and defer all discretionary and non-essential expenditures;
3. Reprioritization or reallocation of the 2020 budget to fund additional COVID-19 emergency pressures and
4. Other payments from now on will be deferred and payments relating to the broad categories below will not be entertained until further notice.
5. Training – local and overseas
6. Stationeries and toners
7. Printing of documents and
8. Purchases of laptops and desktops

Minister Kuma said the execution of these measures will be difficult and challenging for all ministries in the management and implementation of programmes within respective budgets.

“However, Solomon Islands is already in a state of public emergency and our greatest priority now must be refocussed to protect and minimise the COVID-19 impact on health, social and economic security of the people of Solomon Islands,” he said.

THE Leader of Opposition, Matthew Wale describes the sacking of Dr Claude Posala, Head of the Eye Department at NRH by the government as ill-considered and a decision based on bad judgment.

Mr Wale said “Solomon Islands needs all the qualified professionals it has in the country to be harnessed to the fight against covid-19. Unless a health professional has committed an offence so grievous that would negatively impact the effectiveness of the fight against covid-19, he or she should not be removed.

“In this case, it appears Dr Posala has been summarily dismissed for the slightest error in posts he made on Facebook,” the Opposition Leader adds.

Wale stressed that merely posting an internal memo from the PS Health cannot be grievous enough to warrant removal.

“Although the memo was an internal memo, no damage is done in making it public. There is a place for transparency around these kinds of internal directions that is healthy and must be encouraged.”

Posala is the President of the SI Medical Association and should be accorded some understanding to allow him the space to advocate for his members’ interests.

“What benefit is gained by dismissing a frontline health professional? What cost was incurred from the Facebook post?” Wale asks.

“In weighing the benefits in retaining Dr Posala in the healthcare system at this time against the loss from his removal, surely our need to retain him should totally outweigh any wrongs he committed in his Facebook posts.”

Wale said, “I pray that common sense prevails in this case, and all matters given their due proportionate weight.”

Further, Wale added, “Regulation 26 of the Emergency Powers (COVID19) Regulations 2020 is a potential obstacle to the free flow of information from frontline experience to decision makers.

“Frontline professionals should be allowed free speech so we know what issues they are facing and must be addressed. To ban their free speech may result in lives lost, if the virus gets here,” says Wale.

Wale therefore calls on the Prime Minister to immediately reinstate Dr Posala, and to review Regulation 26 to exempt frontline professionals from the media gag.

–OPPOSITION PRESS