BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

MEMBER of Parliament (MP) for Ngella Constituency Hon Bartholomew Parapolo has planned a hundred room cruise ship float within Ngella’s Islands.

This is his first major plan on major tourism developments for Ngella Constituency.

Parapolo revealed his plan after being questioned by Ngella Constituents at Haleta Village (Central Ngella) during his last Constituency Tour as MP.

Parapolo was being questioned on what his plans are or if there were any of his major tourism development plans to carry out in the Constituency since he is the Minister of Culture and Tourism. This also goes with the understanding of Ngella’s rich tourism environment.

According to Parapolo, because of disputes on lands and marine sites, he cannot make promises on such development activities.

But he revealed that he is planning to bring a hundred room floating cruise ship from mainland China and station it between the Ngella Islands at different locations. This is so that tourists and guests can spend nights in them and travel ashore spending money on the mainland tourism destinations.

“This is one of the very first things I am planning to do in terms of tourism development for the Constituency.

“By this time I tell you my people to prepare in sorting your customary lands and sites being suitable for tourism as tourists will be coming into the Constituency areas.

“There will be then a time you will enjoy the benefit of the tourism industry as it is not a hazardous industry as others only being friendly and a good contributor for the economy of the country.

“We will not throw money on agreeing for our sites to be developed for tourism as visitors are the ones who will bring in money for us so let us work together and develop,” Parapolo said.

Parapolo also enlightened the Ngella people that the Taiwan Government only wants two things.

For locals to allow their sites to be registered and they will assist in building hotels, resorts and other infrastructures suitable for tourism development.

BY BEN BILUA

THE workshop on ‘Reporting Corruption’ for journalists that is currently underway at the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Cooperation highlights that most anti-corruption institutions in the country have no power to directly deal with corruption.

Presentations from the Ombudsman Office, the Attorney General Office and Leadership Code Commission proved that there are certain weaknesses within their institutions due to lack of provision in the respective laws.

Ombudsman, Frederick Fakarii said the role of the Ombudsman Office is to deal with administration misconducts and is subjected to LCC.

“Our office investigate reports but not prosecute perpetrators because the law does not allows us to do so.

“Our role focuses on administration misconducts and not criminal matters and we are answerable to Leadership Code Commission.

“Upon completion of our investigation we submit the report to the leadership code commission for further deliberation.

“Our role ends there,” he said.

Chair of the Leadership Code Commission (LCC) Mr Solomon Kalu also share similar sentiment saying that LCC has very limited power.

He explained to journalists that the power given to LCC is given to the Commission and not individuals as such conducts are based on commission decision.

Mr Kalu said LCC is a body established by an Act of Parliament and that all procedures and operation are subjected to the Act and not beyond.

He told the journalists that any request from media for information have to go through the Commission Board and not individuals.

Veteran Journalist George Atkin said, weak legislation cannot guarantee media with important resources to report corruption.

He suggests there is a need for stronger legislation that would empower anti-corruption institutions and the media to fight corruption.

BY SAMIE WAIKORI

AUKI

MALAITA Provincial Secretary, Mr Jackson Gege said the last sitting for the provincial assembly this year will be made known soon.

An executive meeting is being held today whereby the date and program will be deliberated on.

Gege said they are anticipating the Provincial Assembly meeting to be held next month.

In a separate interview with Island Sun, Clerk to Malaita Provincial Assembly, Mr Matthew Maefai said there should be a meeting soon.

However this will be decided on by the Premier, Provincial Secretary, Speaker and the Clerk.

Maefai said prior to the Provincial Assembly meeting, Heads of Departments need to come up with their budget to be deliberated on in the session.

BY ALFRED PAGEPITU

GIZO

PRICES in shops in the Western Province continues to change every week. A prominent man from Kolombangara in the Western Province, Douglas Saru raised this concern over the way prices of goods in the shops has changed within short periods of time.

“I am a regular customer and I noticed this change of goods price nearly every week.”

“We travel by boat to Gizo weekly and the current pace of inflation is becoming annoying,” he added.

“The increase of price is not in cents but in dollars and this cannot be happening overnight. This is robbery”, Saru said.

Saru is calling on the authorities who are mandated to carry out price control to do something about this matter.

He said this issue cannot be ignored. He said the price and control unit needs to do an urgent assessment. He said people in the rural areas have been neglected and struggle to make ends meet daily.

Residents from TC area also shared the same sentiments. They say responsible authorities from the provincial government must also inspect shops to check for business licenses.

They alleged that a majority of the shops currently operating within Gizo have no business licenses.

They say the price control team must seriously address these issues before it is too late for them to comply with simple rules under business ordinances of the Western Provincial government.

By Gary Hatigeva

IT has been revealed that a total of $10.9 million allocation was approved for the Provincial Elections set to be held for seven provinces next year.

This comes as part of the major projects and programs of the Ministry for Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening (MPGIS). This makes up part of the recurrent budget allocation for 2019.

Explaining this before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Permanent Secretary, Stanley Pirione said they have originally submitted a total of $13million, but stressfully shared that it was unfortunately reduced, with a cut of $2.1million.

The approved figure is however said to be insufficient for the Ministry to fully execute its election programs for the provinces whose terms lapse next year plus other election related activities.

Pirione said the reductions will likely affect some of the Ministry’s preparation programs for the Provincial Elections.

“Provincial elections will be held next year but this excludes Western and Choiseul Provinces, which have already held their election in the middle of this year. We hope that the list in which the SI Electoral Commission is working on, if finalised, should give us time to carry out elections for our provinces except for Western and Choiseul”, Pirione said.

When questioned on the expected timeframe for elections to take place, Pirione explained that discussions are currently underway between the Ministry and the Office of the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission.

He noted that the Ministry has considered options to allow for the national elections to go ahead first and the formation of a government before the provincial elections are carried out.

“And because of this intention, the Ministry is looking at June of 2019 to hold provincial elections. Except for the Western and Choiseul Provinces, as they have already held their elections in the middle of this year,” Pirione adds.

Not all seven provinces are expected to hold their elections within the same period. Makira Ulawa Province, has a late dissolution to its Assembly around September and October of 2019.

Meanwhile, the Ministry is seeking legal advice on the possibility for them to do carry out the provincial elections around the same time towards the end of the year.