By EDDIE OSIFELO

LEADER of Independent Group, Robertson Galokale has raised his opposition towards the appointment of the Development Bank of Solomon Islands (DBSI) interim board.

The Interim Board members are;

1. Gane Alva Smibe;
2. Trevor Manemahaga;
3. Robson Tana Djokovic;
4. Andrew Manepora’a; and
5. John Osmond Muria (Jnr).

The appointment is back dated to July 10, 2019.

“I think political influence and interference played a big part in DBSI’s past failure, therefore it is absurd to revive the bank with the appointment of political cronies to the Board.

“It would be prudent to have people with appropriate knowledge and standing in the banking sector to revive the Bank,” Galokale said.

He said these are his burning questions in mind:

1. How will DBSI be recapitalised?
2. If the bank is to commence operations this year, where will the funds come from?
3. What is the proposed structure for the Bank management?
4. How will the government continuously support DBSI thereby providing support for SMEs?

DBSI is a vital project for economic development in Solomon Islands. The Bank was established when the Assembly enacted an Ordinance in 1977.

Its initial role was to provide access to sources of finance to businesses in the areas of commerce, agriculture, fisheries, tourism, and transportation in Solomon Islands.

The demise of institution has left a gap in the SME sector, especially the need to provide financial assistance to local and indigenous businesses in the country.

By EDDIE OSIFELO

SOLOMON Islanders will not be needing visas to travel to the Republic of China.

China and Solomon Islands will be signing the visa waiver arrangement this month in Tuvalu along the margins of the Pacific Islands Forum.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, Jeremiah Manele confirmed this during his contribution last Wednesday on the debate on the Speech from the throne delivered by the Governor General last Monday.

Manele said it is their hope they will also exchange notes with Japan in early September.

Further to that, Manele said the Indian High Commissioner in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea is awaiting instructions to proceed and sign the proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

He said there are taking the first step to have the arrangement for official and diplomatic passport holders with the view of extending that to ordinary passport holders.

Furthermore, Manele said his Ministry and the wider government system have had consultations with the Peace Corps scoping team who are currently in the country since July 19.

“Aim positive that the assessment undertaken by the Peace Corp team will see the return of Peace Corp back into the country.

“Since 1971 to 2000, some 744 Peace Corp have served in Solomon Islands,” he said.

On the other hand, 450 volunteers of the Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteer have served in Solomon Islands since 1979.

In the meantime, Solomon Islands was identified as a country candidate under the Millennium Challenge Cooperation (MCC) Threshold programme.

Manele said they are expecting to receive the MCC delegation again in three weeks’ time.

“It is our hope that the United States will support Solomon Islands national priorities not only through the Threshold Programme but hopefully as well as through its Compact funding,” he said.

BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

REMAINING candidates of the 2019 National General Election (NGE) failing to submit campaign ‘Statements of Account’ are now referred to the police to impose penalties.

It is up to the police now to put together cases for the Court said Solomon Islands Electoral Commission (SIEC) Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mr Mose Saitala to Island Sun.

He confirms that all those who were late and had not filed their statement of account have been referred to the Police last week.

“It will be for the Police now to put together these cases for the Court to impose penalties depending on the severity of the case and mitigating factors candidates might be presenting to the Court,” said CEO Saitala.

SIEC for the past two weeks since after the due date on July 20 for submissions of campaign statements of account has been calling for NGE remaining candidates who have not submitted campaign statements to file them in order for the daily $100-fine under Section 69 of the Electoral Act 2018 to cease.

If not then SIEC said the fine will continue to accumulate till the candidates are prosecuted and penalised.

It is understood that from the much awaited SIEC List of 2019 NGE candidates who had submitted their Statements of Account to SIEC released last week, 14 candidates out of the 331 contesting the 2019 NGE have not yet submitted their statements.

Under the electoral law, it is a requirement that all candidates, successful and unsuccessful, must file their campaign Statement of Account 90 days after the publication of NGE election results.

2019 NGE results were published on April 19 seeing July 20 was when the 90 days period given for submission of statements of account lapsed.

Under Section 69 on campaign expenses in the Electoral Act 2018, it states;

1. Within 90 days after the publication of an election result under section 107, a candidate in the election must submit to the CEO a statement of account specifying:

(a) All expenses incurred by the candidate in relation to the candidate’s campaign for election; and (b) the source of all funds (including the amount received from each source) used to meet those expenses.

2. The regulations may make provision for the preparation and content of the statement of account.

Under Section 125; Campaign expenses and donations:

(1) A candidate whose election campaign expenses exceed $500,000 commits and offence.

Maximum Penalty: 50,000 penalty units or 5 years imprisonment, or both.

(2) A candidate who fails to comply with the requirements of section 69 commits an offence.

Maximum Penalty:

(a) 20,000 penalty units or 2 years imprisonment, or both; and

(b) 100 penalty units for each day the offence continues.

(3) A candidate commits an offence if the candidate accepts a campaign donation from:

(a) A person who is not a citizen of Solomon Islands; or

(b) A company with at least one shareholder who is not a citizen of Solomon Islands.

Maximum Penalty: 50,000 penalty units or 5 years imprisonment, or both.

(4) In this section, “campaign donation” means any transfer of property made, otherwise than by will, without consideration or with inadequate consideration that is intended to be used, or is used, solely or substantially for a purpose related to an election.

On their website, SIEC commends the candidates mentioned in the submission of campaign statements List who have complied with section 69 of the Electoral Act 2018.

“Although some candidates have filed their statements of account later than the deadline, SIEC is still appreciative of the fact that they have complied with section 69 of the Act.

“Remember that the obligation of a candidate, who contested the 2019 NGE, to comply with section 69 of the Act, will not go away until he/she has filed his/her statement of account,” said SIEC’s CEO.

By EDDIE OSIFELO

LEADER of Independent Group, Robertson Galokale highlights that corruption is still high despite the establishment of Solomon Islands Independent Commission Against Corruption recently.

Speaking on the debate on the Speech from the throne delivered by the Governor General last Monday, Galokale said in 2018, Solomon Islands scored 44/100 and ranked 70/180.

This was based on the Global Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International which ranks 180 countries around the world each year by their perceived levels of public sector corruption on a 0 – 100 scale where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

Galokale said this showed some improvements in that they gained 15 points up on ranking compared to 2017.

He said it goes without saying “corruption is rampant in all levels of our society”.

“Fighting it is a huge but highly important task for all Solomon Islanders, SICAC alone cannot be our final answer to tackling corruption in our society.

“We face many corruption challenges in terms of our geographical features, weak institutions, low state interventions, specific governance challenges, weak political system, outdated public service systems and so forth,” he said.

Galokale said corruption also manifests itself in many forms in their society, ranging from petty corruption, embezzlement, grand and political corruption, get-rich-quick money scams and various forms of nepotism and patronage networks.

He said corrupt practices in the management of natural resources are specific areas of concerns given the current prospects of transitioning from a logging to a minerals-based economy in the coming years, which as far as he can see, the country is ill-prepared for this transition.

“Hence the work of SICAC must start immediately to mitigate some of these concerns.

“But most importantly, SICAC must be given independence and autonomy to operate and conduct investigations that are not subject to any influence or interference of politicians, government officials, political parties, wantok system, or the government of the day itself,” he said.

Galokale said this is essential to ensure that it fulfils its intended objectives and to ensure public confidence is maintained.

Parliament has adjourned to Monday, August 26.