BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

THE Chief Electoral Officer Mose Saitala has warned people to abide by the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission regulations.

Responding to questions asked yesterday after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force, he said that when people want to transfer from anther constituency to another they must be sure to put accurate and true information of where they reside.

He said penalties of false and misleading information is $50,000 and five years imprisonment or both can apply.

He said when you want to register for next year’s election and wanted to change registration make sure you fill up the form B and put all right information about you.

He made an example yesterday that if you are registering in West Honiara and you fill up the form B where it says place of residence and you put West Honiara, but actually you are from weather coast and residing there.

“You are making false and misleading information by way of this form and that is an offence, and its penalties are very heavy and I want to warn people not to do such,” Mr Saitala said.

He said if the SIEC finds you out tough penalties will be imposed.

Because comes the objection and omission period and your names are being objected to and eventually if you are guilty that you cannot defend your-self that you have the right to vote there in another constituency and you cannot defend that you are actually from there then you breached the law under the provision of false and misleading information.

Therefore Mr Saitala has warned people to must register in their constituency of residence and not to transfer with providing false and misleading information.

He adds that if comes nomination period and nomination filed and complains raised that a certain candidate has lured people to vote for him and if there are evidence proving that the said candidate is doing such then it is breached of the SIEC ACT.

There is an offence of undue influence trying to influence someone to vote in one way or another to benefit you but that Act will apply when a person is filing his nomination to be candidate.

By Ezekiel Talatau

SOLOMON Islands handicraft sellers benefit a lot with their marketing through the tourism industry for years. And it is well known that this has picked up more and more, recently.

A Ms Rose Sasali said that she is privileged to be a handicrafts seller, saying that the returns she gets from the business is encouraging, so much so that she looks forward to each sale day.

This in turn depends on tourist visits, such as the one yesterday.

She said when a tourist boat docks at the Point Cruz wharf, all handicraft sellers see it as another profitable day.

These special days see more earnings compared to normal days, when sellers display their handicrafts for passers-by in Honiara.

Sasali says while she enjoys the money earned from the trade, another aspect she is proud of is the promoting of Solomon Islands abroad, through the souvenirs that the tourists buy and take back with them to their countries.

However, on the flip side, Sasali mentioned that handicraft sellers see that an area in which authorities could improve on is the marketing strategies.

“If the ministry of tourism can provide online marketing for advertisement, this could be more efficient for the handicrafts business staffs product to increase the marketing strategies within the pacific region.”

Currently, about 10 tents outside the art gallery are selling their handicrafts, waiting for the new art gallery building to be completed in a few months before they can move in properly to sell their products.

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

THE Director of Public Prosecution is proposing an exchange programme with his counterpart from Singapore to send one senior prosecutor from his office on an exchange programme with his office in Solomon Islands.

The DPP is currently in Johannesburg attending to The 23rd International Association of Prosecutors annual conference for prosecutors around the world.

Mr Talasasa said he specifically asked for a prosecutor who has knowledge and experience on the use of Information Technology in prosecutions.

“I always emphasise to my staff that the best way to gain experience is by doing. But that must begin properly. It must begin from an informed background. So I value the ongoing training through attachments in other offices as well as our own in house continuing legal education programme.

The proposal will be brought back to the Attorney General of Singapore who will make the ultimate decision, Mr Talasasa said.

On another arrangement Mr Talasasa said that the Attorney General of Palestine asked for a bilateral meeting with DPP Solomon Islands and during the discussion the Attorney General asked for further collaboration between Palestine and Solomon Islands Prosecutions Office. The Attorney General also proposes to sign the MOU after finalising it.

Talasasa thanked the Attorney General for his goodwill gesture, and the time spent discussing the importance of prosecutor’s network but with regard to the MOU, he will consult with his home Government which will assess if it does not cross sensitive boundaries.

Usually at IAP Conferences, prosecutors from around the globe, network and have bilateral meetings to enhance cooperation.

It was during such ocassion that DPP Talasasa had a senior prosecutor from Chillawack, Canada who was attached to the ODPP SI for two months in 2017. He did a number of trainings for prosecutors during his time.

The Conference was opened on September 10 and ended on Thursday.