THE Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team will conduct a live demolition of bombs at Hells Point, in the Alligator Creek, east of Honiara today.

Officer In-charge (OIC) of EOD, Inspector Clifford Tunuki says, “The Hells Point Demolition Range in Central Guadalcanal area will be active from 8am to 12pm on October 18, 2018.”

“Fishermen, farmers, hunters and the general public in the Henderson area, Alligator Creek and Tenaru School areas are kindly warned to keep out from Hells Point while the Operation is in progress.

“This is a normal EOD task aimed to reduce the amount of Unexploded Ordnances stored at the site to a minimum level.

“The Air Traffic Control Tower at Honiara International Airport will coordinate the firing of each serial. No serial is to be fired without specific air clearance and permission from Honiara Air Traffic Control Tower.

“An EOD Operator/Technician from the RSIPF EOD Team will be posted at the control tower during this operation from the actual times of the Demolition and completion time,” says Inspector Tunuki.

–POLICE MEDIA

By Alfred Sasako

THERE’S been a bizarre twist to the lease of the motel-type building which houses the Ministry of Rural Development (MRD) at Ranadi in east Honiara.

Offices of all 50 constituencies are located there, costing taxpayers $245,000 in monthly rentals in the last two years.

The lease allegedly cost former Permanent Secretary Selina Boso her job for committing the government to a lease agreement which was never budgeted for.

An investigation by Island Sun has established that the two-year lease on the building lapsed at the end of September this year.

However, it was extended by a month to the end of this month based on an agreement the landlord did not have to refund the $490,000 bond.

The Ranadi Property is owned by hardware proprietor, Chengs Construction Ltd, which operates two large hardware outlets along the Kukum Highway in Honiara.

In its investigation, Island Sun found that a two-year lease was signed with a new landlord in the city’s central business district a few weeks ago.

The lease for the new premises, owned by an indigenous Solomon Islander, is believed to be at $150,

Now the Island Sun investigation has found that the first payment for the new lease, including the bond, which is equivalent to two months rentals, has been held up at Treasury.

Reason: Out of the blue, the owner of the Ranadi Property had offered a revised lease agreement, which MRD received two weeks ago. His new price is $190,000 a month for two years.

He earlier gave the Ministry of Rural Development a typed letter, offering to lease the building for $200,000 a month.

“Now it is the real thing – a revised lease agreement, which he had submitted,” one official told Island Sun yesterday.

“There’s some monkey business going on. And the Permanent Secretary Allan Daonga is caught in the middle of all this. It’s like a gun being pointed at you,” the official said.

The problem is the Ministry of Rural Development has already signed a new lease agreement with a new tenant. Now Mr Daonga is being placed between a rock and a hard place,” the official said.

“It is not clear what Mr Daonga is going to do. His problem is that he cannot commit the government to two leases for the same thing. But the pressure to renew the current lease is building up,” the official said.

BY GEORGINA KEKEA

A Chief from North Guadalcanal is questioning how the labour mobility programme in Canada will assist the Guadalcanal Provincial Government (GPG).

Benedict Garimane told Island Sun he has been wondering how the province will benefit from the programme.

He said over the years, Guadalcanal has been sending workers to Canada but tangible benefits from the programme is yet to be felt or seen.

He said lack of health and sanitation facilities continues to be a problem in the province.

Lack of classrooms and infrastructure are still a problem in Guadalcanal province and he questions how GPG will recover the monies spent on sending the workers to Canada.

“I do not have anything against the labour mobility programme. In fact I think the programme is a very good one.

“However I am concerned about the amount of money spent on these workers to go to Canada. How will GPG benefit from them?

“Do they send their remittances back to GPG to go towards development in Guadalcanal province as a way of repaying GPG or how do they help in the development of Guadalcanal province by working in Canada?”

Garimane says though the programme is highly commended, it still leaves more room for questions than answers.

He said even the selection of workers to go to Canada does not reflect a fair distribution of people from Guadalcanal province.

“We have 21 wards. They should select from the wards instead of just selecting workers from the two ends of the island.

“Even North Guadalcanal who is the biggest contributor in terms of bringing in money for GPG has not seen any of its constituent benefit from that programme.”

Garimane questioned if this programme is for the whole of Guadalcanal or for only certain parts of Guadalcanal.

He said why he is raising this concern is because GPG represents everyone on Guadalcanal.

“The government belongs to us. We want to know how GPG will reimburse the monies spent on sending workers to Canada.

“Millions of dollars had been spent on a few people only, while the majority looks on silently.”

In response to Garimane’s concerns, GP External Affairs and Communications, Mack Fadden Aoraunisaka says GPG only started sending workers to Canada towards the end of 2016.

He clarified that GPG never spent any money on workers going to Canada. Instead it is the employer that meets the travel costs while CITREC Canada meets all immigration costs, if there is any.

Aoraunisaka said that they (GPG) will benefit from remittance.

“There is a GPG account where money shall be remitted to. However please note we just started sending people to work in Canada, benefits and recovery is a long term prospect. We can’t just recover the amount overnight,” Aoraunisaka said.

He said there are lots of benefits for Guadalcanal province besides the remittance aspect.

“There is the education benefit and exposure benefit, meaning our workers working in Canada upon their return can bring in more skills and knowledge to boost our tourism and hospitality and agriculture sector.”

Aoraunisaka said GPG paid for CITREC the education component, trained the locals and have them graduated with Canadian standard in Tourism and Hospitality and Agriculture certifications.

“The applications to undertake CITREC training is done fairly since there is a quota per Ward and application must be endorsed by an MPA. Students who graduate from CITREC are job ready.

“They have education and qualification of Canadian standard and can work anywhere in the Solomon Islands and in Canada with their qualification.

“However the misconception is that once you graduate, you should automatically fly to Canada and that there is a job for you over there, that is not the case,” Aoraunisaka clarified.

He said selection of workers going to Canada is merit based and done in Canada by the employer.

“GPG and GPEA and CITREC Canada have no influence over this part of the process.   The employer choose who he want to work for him.”

Aoraunisaka encourages Guadalcanal people to come to GP Headquarter to seek clarification on the CITREC programme.

THE Solomon Islands and Australian Governments are well underway in delivering high speed internet to Solomon Islands.

The Coral Sea Cable System will connect Honiara to Sydney and the Solomon Islands Domestic Network will link Honiara with Auki, Noro and Taro.

Weather permitting, later this week, the marine survey vessel, the RV Northern Endeavour will start its journey in Honiara, and make its way to Auki, Noro and Taro to map the route it will take to lay the domestic cable.

The Prime Minister, senior Ministers, and government officials together with the Australian High Commissioner and CEO of Solomon Submarine Cable will go on board the vessel to inspect its facilities, meet the crew and understand more about the process for delivering this key nation building infrastructure.

The preliminary planning by the RV Northern Endeavour ensures the manufacture and installation of the cable is as precise as possible, taking into account Solomon Islands’ unique topography. It also provides assurance the impact of the cable on the natural marine environment is minimised.

The transformational cable system linking Honiara with Sydney consists of two fibre optic pairs that will offer a quality and reliable connection to the internet. The combined fibre optics pairs will provide 20,000 gigabits per second capacity with built in redundancy. This compares to Solomon Islands’ current demand of around 341 megabits per second, which is reliant entirely on satellite connections.

Australia is partnering with Solomon Submarine Cable to deliver the Coral Sea Cable System and Solomon Islands Domestic Network. Australia will majority fund the project, with a co-contribution from Solomon Islands.

–AHC & OPMC JOINT PRESS

Confidence high in government’s camp to have its motion through

By Gary Hatigeva

AFTER three days of workshops and trainings, youth parliamentarians are all set to take part in a whole day debate session, with hopes high in the government camp, to have its motion voted and passed.

On Wednesday, the youths were given final coaching on their presentations and debates for the session, with recaps on the processes and procedures of parliament, particularly, Parliament’s Standing Orders or House Regulations.

Speaking on this, Chairlady of the National Youth Parliament Marisa Peppa, in an interview explained that the youths are all set and now hyped up for today’s session, with so much anticipation for a much higher level of debates and discussions into the motion to be tabled.

Ms Peppa further explained that yesterday’s session also saw all 50 participants separated into the three respective groups of parliament, which are, the Opposition, Independent, and Government, where heads of these groups were appointed.

Following the appointment of a Prime Minister and the formation of a government, those in the government side went through the process of allocation of ministerial portfolios.

“So they are all pretty much set for tomorrow (today), and are ready to make a good youth parliament debate session,” the NYP Chair explained.

The Minister responsible for the motion is expected to move it and present an opening speech before the floor will be opened for debates.

The Motion: “That this National Youth Parliament resolves that Compulsory Voting be introduced in the Solomon Islands to ensure peacebuilding and social inclusion” and the Youth Prime Minister is confident his side will pull things off, with the support of the other side of the house.

Peppa said this year’s session is very much a duplicate of an actual parliament sitting, which involves all the processes and protocols, including the activities that involved in the formation of a government, opposition and independent benches in parliament.

“Debates will be guided by Parliamentary Standing Orders and that means all the rules that are applied on Members of Parliament in actual sessions, also apply on these youth parliamentarians.

“They might also exhaust the voting procedures of parliament if the house comes a deadlock over the motion, where every single vote would matter most, especially for the Yes and No’s.

“We’ll see how things will go tomorrow (today), but there is so much to look forward to in this debate session, as it is expected to bring out the great potentials in our youths, as some of them have already been involved in politics arena and would have very good contributions and discussions,” she added.

Meanwhile, the NYP Chairlady pointed out that today’s debate session will be open to members of the general public, and those who are interested can make it up to Parliament early as the programme will start at 9am sharp.

A number of schools have confirmed their attendance to observe the session, with families of the participating youths, but the NYP Chairlady reminded that once in parliament, observers must always adhere to the rules and regulations of parliament.

“Remember, less noise when in the public gallery during parliament session and no photos when sessions are also on.

“Just basically, don’t do anything that will interfere or create obvious disturbances to the session, otherwise, all are welcome to listen and observe,” the Chairlady stressed.

The debate will also be broadcasted live on SIBC and televise on TV through the Telekom Television (TTV), with an additional feature, for it to be steamed live on Facebook.

POLICE at Taro in Choiseul province arrested a 19-year-old male for allegedly raping a six-year-old girl at Taro Station on October 10, 2018.

Provincial Police Commander (PPC) Choiseul Province, Superintendent Vincent Eria says, “The alleged rape incident occurred between 3pm to 4pm on October 10, 2018 in the Taro Township.”

“The suspect is currently remanded at the Gizo Correctional Services waiting for his appearance before the Gizo Magistrates Court on October 26, 2018.

“Although the remand application was granted my officers are continuing with the normal investigation.

“It is a sad incident to occur in our community. I call on youth, community and women leaders, chiefs and church elders to work together to discourage such attitude in our communities.

“Police will not tolerate such behaviour and attitude in our communities but will prosecute such incidents.”

–POLICE MEDIA