DEAR EDITOR, in September this year Taiwan set up a $US2 million medical fund to boost co-operation with countries in the Pacific Islands Forum, including the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands, all six being diplomatic allies of Taiwan.

It was announced at the time the medical fund was set-up that all Forum members could apply for funding to support medical teams from Taiwan travelling to their countries to provide medical services at Republic of China (ROC) embassies or representative offices.

Soon after Taiwan had announced the creation of the medical fund, a Taiwanese mobile medical team visited the Solomon Islands and spent 8 days touring Small Malaita where the team did much good work in treating a large number of patients and providing advice on infectious diseases.

At the time of that visit I wrote and expressed my personal thanks for the excellent and very timely work the medical team did in aiding the rural population in Small Malaita.

I am not aware that there has been any further visits by a fresh medical team and I remain concerned for the health needs of rural communities in Isabel Province in the Western Province and on Russell Island in particular, given the broken down state of the Tatamba medical clinic, the Panueli medical clinic and the many derelict and abandoned medical clinics in the Western Province.

If I am correct in believing the last medical team visit was the one undertaken in Small Malaita over two months ago, could some indication be given by the Taiwanese Embassy or the Solomon Islands Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) when a new visit, or visits, will resume given the funding that was allocated for such visits at the inception of the medical fund I have mentioned?

I am well aware, and appreciative, of all that Taiwan is doing to support the National Referral Hospital (NRH) and with outreach programmes advising schools and communities on diet and proper nutrition to help offset diabetes and health complications arising from non-communicable diseases.

I was especially appreciative of Taiwan’s help to the NRH in upgrading the Dengue laboratory and for lectures on mosquito borne diseases.

I am mindful, too, that the Dengue laboratory at the NRH was set up after the first big dengue outbreak in 2013 and designed by the Tropical Medicine Center (TMC) of Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital (KMUH) under a grant support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Taiwan.

Yours sincerely

Frank Short

Dear Editor,

DETAIL expenditure report of the North West Choiseul Development Fund over the last eight years must not be left unexplained. This is the desire of the people of the constituency so is an urgent call to Hon Connelly Sadakabatu from the people he is representing. It is expected of him (the MP) will take this on boat as part of his campaign highlights during this election season.

A number of funds under the name of Constituency development namely; the RCDF, church assistance fund, education – School fee fund, and as well as the disaster relief fund; just to mention a few have reached the control of Hon Connelly Sadakabatu over the last 8 years, yet no significant existence of any development is seen around the constituency.

While distribution of solar panels, iron roofing, water thanks, as well as part payment of out-boat motor Yamaha engines were made to those striving to get them, thousands of families and individuals are still watching and wondering what’s going on.

Hon Sadakbatu must not go without proper explanation of how he spend the funds and how many communities or individuals have benefited of those funds during his time of MP.

There are obvious doubts of the decisions he took regarding the scholarship awards under his eligibility as MP, as well as the distribution of the school fee grants. A number of students and parents voiced out disappointments over negative comments from the MP over the years when approaching him requesting school fees. Some even return with tear drops of their eyes.

December 17 2018 will be the end of his second 4 years term as MP for the people of North West Choiseul. A strategy to regain victory in the coming election so he could make an history to become the first North West Choiseul MP for 3 consecutive terms has been put in place and is currently implemented seeing dozens of supporters are now camp at his residence in Lunga, east Honiara at the expense of the whole population of the constituency. The camp is currently working hard on the distribution plan of the material (Solar powers, water tanks, roofing iron etc.) to individuals, families and the so called tribes within the constituency. The tricky part is who will be the recipient and who will not. The so called community reps are really working tirelessly to be very certain of who should be prioritised to receive the limited supply. The criterion for disbursement is not clear. It appears that it doesn’t really matter whether or not someone already receives something before. The aim is to keep the voters intact so the Hon could return and to make the history – come 2019. The neutrality of the decision to whom the supply should go is unknown but the guiding principle appears like “you vote you receive”, or “you receive you must vote”.

There has been a huge out cry of the majority of the North West Choiseul people over the last eight years. So many doubts need to be cleared. Even the purchasing of the MV Vatate, is still not known how much money the government is spending on the ship. Rumours said $3m and $5m. Which of these two figures is correct on the actual cost of the ship? People have the right to know the cost as the ship is purchased for them, at the same time it’s the right thing to do so is transparent and accountable.

Doubt over the RCDF money is significant. While materials such as roofing iron, solar panel, and water tanks are given to some, there is still doubt the RCDF fund was really spent as it may be reported. A number of materialised suspicious developments surrounding this matter involving the MP himself and his cronies need careful consideration. One good example is the rapid expansion of the MPs residential area in lunga. It is not clear if part of the RCDF fund was used to build the houses erected in his area. If the RCDF fund is involved, the question is “what will happen to those houses if the MP will not return in the next election?”

We don’t want the MP to go into the communities and brain wash people with fake or false information during this peak period of the election campaign. Our eyes could not believe the millions of dollars earmarked for rural development over the last 8 years just vanished without any real development.

There is also a need to clearly explain and provide evidence of part-payment of OBM engines. The question is “is there any approved system that MPs do collect cash payments directly from voters; and if so, how does it work so it is transparently known to the public. We also seek to know how does the collected part-payment of the OBM is accounted for. Doubts must be cleared even if those kinds of deals are genuinely taken. Unless the report is made public, all these questions will continue to remain in the minds of the public of North West Choiseul.

Good day to all North West Choiseul Citizens.

By Roderick Meva

North West Choiseul Constituency

Choiseul Province