By Gary Hatigeva

THE National Archive of Solomon Islands (NASI) is amongst two Pacific Island nations that now have sections from its collection of historical documents approved for safekeeping in one of the world’s largest archiving programmes, the Memory of the World for Asia and Pacific (MOWCAP) Register.

This was declared following the MOWCAP Secretariat’s 8th General Assembly Meeting in South Korea’s Gwangju City, late last month.

In a low key ceremony, marking the achievement, Minister for Culture and Tourism Bartholomew Parapolo proudly announced to the local media and stakeholders, the inscription of the Solomon’s World War II Records in the global system, something he described as a milestone achievement for the country.

In an official statement, NASI explained that because of its rich heritage and significance to the nation and the world, the institute decided to nominate the World War II Records to be inscribed in the UNESCO Register programme.

“The WWII Records are the Administrative records created during the time of the war and the aftermath of the war.

“These documents are of immense significance to the Solomon Islands, Pacific region, the Japanese, the United States and the British Colonial history, and the world generally,” the statement explains.

Speaking during yesterday’s occasion, NASI Supervising Director, Mrs Margret Inifiri revealed that amongst 10 nominations that were voted on during the recent General Meeting, Tuvalu and Solomon Islands were the only Pacific Island countries that were voted for inscription, while the rest were from Asia.

She explained that to make it in is not that easy, and Solomon Islands is very fortunate to have its nomination considered and voted on.

When questioned on the process of getting recognition for inscription, Inifiri further explained that nominations are to be submitted to the MOWCAP Secretariat, which then go before a Sub-Committee for indepth research and assessment.

The Sub-Committee will then make the recommendations for the Assembly to vote on to be inscribed in the MOWCAP Register.

Meanwhile, the institute in its official statement added that as for the NASI’s nomination, it was submitted to the MOWCAP Secretariat in 2016, where training was provided by the UNESCO for nominator, where they were assisted and were guided by experts from the Secretariat of their prescribed format.

“E-copies of nominations were submitted to the Secretariat as they have biennial intakes. Nominations then goes before the Register Sub-Committee (RSC) which undertakes initial in-depth research and assessment of nominations.

“The RSC makes recommendation, referrals or rejection and to the nominations. NASI’s nomination was recommended for inscription to the Memory of the World for Asia and Pacific Register to be voted on during the MOWCAP General Meeting,” the statement adds.

NASI was represented by Inifiri who according to the statement, did a presentation on the nomination before the 8th General Assembly before it was voted for it to be inscribed in the Memory of the World for Asia and Pacific.

But when questioned on the beneficial aspect of being part of the Register, the NASI Supervising Director pointed out that by having the WWII Records inscribed, it means that UNESCO has said that these documents are significant to the World.

And inscription also gives one the right to use the MOWCAP (UNESCO) logo when it is directly associated with the inscribed documents (eg in an exhibition).

“Inscription to the register is also useful if you are applying for funds associated with the care and accessibility of the inscribed collection,” the excited Director explained.

On the question of rights or ownership status over the inscribed documents, the NASI statement clarified that they (documents) remain under NASI ownership.

“However, MOWCAP will take opportunities to highlight the inscription so that the world is aware of the significant documents held at National Archive of Solomon Islands. Eg news items, Facebook page, Instagram and website, and the documents will be permanently on the MOWCAP register.

“The only reason to remove them from the register would be if MOWCAP became aware that the descriptions, preservation and access to the inscribed documents was not consistent with information provided on the nomination,” the NASI statement further clarifies.

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

POLICE say investigation into the death incident at Koloale is continuing.

Supervising Police Commissioner Juanita Matanga said that the suspect in the killing has already been arrested but investigation continues.

Ms Matanga said from information received the suspect in the early evening was together with the deceased and whether or not the suspect is a neighbour or is living with the deceased is not yet confirmed.

She said the incident occurred around 7pm on June 17, the 31-year-old deceased is an employee of the Solomon Islands Government was found outside his rented home with a wound on his chest.

In relation to the death as the investigators continue to do their work the post mortem has been carried out, the Supervising Police Commissioner said.

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

POLICE have confirmed that the Japanese national who died on Monday, June 18, had died of natural cause.

Supervising Police Commissioner Juanita Matanga said the Japanese was in the country with four others to do search on World War II dead bodies and unfortunately the deceased died.

Ms Matanga said the deceased is 64 years old and currently arrangements are in progress with the relevant embassy to send the body back to his country.

She said police received a report on Monday that a foreigner had died at the Mendana Hotel.

Matanga said that his four other colleagues checked on him on the next day when he did not show up and found him motionless in his room.

The body was taken to the National Referral Hospital and was officially pronounced dead by Hospital authorities.

BY ALFRED SASAKO

SOLOMON Telekom Company Ltd (STCL), the nation’s top telco carrier, has embarked on a massive redundancy exercise, with up to 120 staff across the board being laid off.

Chief Executive Officer, Loyley Ngira, declined discussing details of the redundancy exercise, when Island Sun contacted him yesterday.

However, an internal Memo to staff on the matter had been leaked to Island Sun. In it, Mr Ngira, said a 28-day redundancy notice has been issued to staff, effective from June 18, 2018,

“It’s an internal matter. We have not issued a press statement on this. For now, I would not be making any other comments,” Mr Ngira said.

Internal or not, the proposed redundancy exercise appears to be the first tangible evidence of a downturn in the economy. Others statutory bodies may follow.

In the Memo titled, Message from Loyley Ngira, Chief Executive Officer, Our Telekom, the management said the redundancy came as a result of an internal “organisational review conducted by Solomon Telekom Company Ltd”. It was approved by the Board, the Memo said.

“… a 28-days’ redundancy notice has been issued individually to all staff as of 18th June,” it said.

“During this period, STCL will be enforcing the following process to manage the last stages of the organisation review exercise as explained during staff presentations.

“This is to ensure staff have an opportunity to continue their employment with the company before exiting through Redundancy,” the Memo, dated June 20, said.

“STCL may directly support you to a role under new employment terms and conditions during the 28-day notice. Should you decline the offer you may be offered a new role within the new organisational structure.

“Should you decline both offers during the 28-day period, you will be paid a redundancy payment and your employment with the company will be terminated,” the Memo said.

“If your current role has been made redundant, STCL will try to deploy you to other jobs within STCL that match your experience and skills. If during the 28-day period STCL has not found a new role for your or you decline the redeployment offer, you will then be paid a redundancy payment and your employment with the company will be terminated.”

Ngira acknowledged the magnitude of the exercise, saying it is not an easy challenge for all.

However, he said “the objective is to have a workforce that will take Our Telekom into the future and to be competitive and to ensure that Our Telekom continues to be successful in the face of growing stiff competition.”

He appealed for staff support.

“In spite of the uncertainties as we go through the implementation of the reorganisation, I seek your full support to continue to support our customers in the best possible manner,” the Memo said.

Solomon Telekom Company Limited (Our Telekom) is a joint venture company between the Solomon Islands National Provident Fund, (SINPF) which holds 97.32 percent of the shares, and the government’s business arm, the Investment Corporation of the Solomon Islands (ICSI) which owns 2.68 percent of the shares.

It has a Board of directors comprising,

Adrian Wickham

Chairman

George Kuper

Director

Jerry Tegemoana

Director

Harry Kuma

Director

Kunal Nandan

Director

Bernadine Manuia

Board Secretary

By Ezekiel Talatau

INFORMAL urban settlements are rapidly growing in Honiara and along the city’s periphery, and government is taking an inclusive approach by accepting several well established settlements.

Within Honiara boundary, settlers have occupied about 36 informal settlements, informal household of about 4,000 and the population of 28,000 or around 40 percent of the Honiara Population, according to a report from the ministry of lands (MLHS).

Most of the informal settlements residents do not have legal tenure, adding to urban inequalities.

Luke Kiddle, an independent researcher from UN-habitat stated that informal settlements in Solomon Island like elsewhere in the Pacific are poorly provided with services. Infrastructure is limited, water supply is patchy. Electricity is also patchy and the sanitation and toilet services are limited at best.

Responding to the growing pressure, the Solomon Islands government is expanding its deep-seated urban management challenges.

The ministry of lands, housing and survey (MLHS) are now committed to upgrading the informal settlements through subdivision planning. The plan is to allow most informal settlements to settle within the Honiara boundary. The government has now accepted the permanence of many informal settlements on base lands.

The informal settlements upgrading strategies supported by UN-habitat is taking first initiative, addressing the nexus between land, services and governance issues, although progress has been mired by unclear roles and responsibilities from the local level up and concerns about how interventions may affect (informal) land access and power relations.

Better opportunities for urban management are exist. Coordination between key agencies, including national government, Honiara City Council (HCC), the utilities and non-government organisations could be greatly strengthened. Financial shortfalls mean that development partners, both private and donors, will be needed for a timely and comprehensive settlement upgrade programme, although cultural fit and sensitivity will be key.

The urban management are exist yet they are weak in enforcement, lack of national lead agency for urban reform, corruption and wantok businis. Reported by UN-Habitat.

Improve and strengthen urban government, established a national leading agency to advance the urban agenda and strengthen the technical capacity of planning board at the local is something the government and the responsible authority need to addresses.

TRANSPARENCY Solomon Islands (TSI) has commended the provincial secretary Jeffery Wickham to call on the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) for an immediate audit of Western province’s coffers – before a new Western provincial government is formed.

Wickham said funds have been misused and the only way to find out is to carry out auditing of financial statements that contain funds the Western provincial government has expended in the past years.

He urges the new government to comply with Financial Management Ordinance as required under the law.

TSI sighted the OAG report on provincial governments in 2014 to 2016 revealed Western provincial government has made some significant improvement during these years as the number of issues identified and the severity of the issues were reducing.

The Auditor’s office recommends provincial governments to control its account payables to meet its obligation on a timely basis, comply with Provincial Financial Management practice.

Corruption gravely undermined development in the country. Clear examples of such corrupt acts undermining our development can be noted from the 2017 Auditor General’s report that TSI have sighted.

The said report clearly shows blatant corrupt acts of some public servants within some of our government line ministries.

TSI praise Auditor’s General Office in fighting corruption by identifying corrupt practices and reporting them to the appropriate authorities like Leadership Code Commission (LCC), Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), and Police.

–TSI PRESS

THE Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) is deploying three more officers to the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Darfur, South Sudan in Africa. They will depart tomorrow.

They are Inspector Agnes Ape, Sergeant Charles Alisineuli and Sergeant Andrea Kierre. This contingent will be headed by Inspector Ape.

“This mission marks another great achievement for Solomon Islands, more particularly the RSIPF,” says Supervising Police Commissioner, Juanita Matanga.

“To the three officers, let me congratulate you for successfully meeting all the criteria that are required of you. As you have experienced in you preparations, this is not an easy task, but you have stepped up to the mark.

“As you prepare to leave the country, I want to remind you that RSIPF and the country are expecting you to be our ambassadors at the international level. We do not ask for more or less but we ask you to display professionalism at all times when serving abroad. Your journey is yet to begin and I wish you all the best as you are ready to be deployed.

“To your family members, you should be proud of these officers for having successfully achieved the criteria as outlined by the UN Mission. Having a family member away for a year won’t be easy. There will be a lot of challenges ahead not only for you but also for them. And in order for them to complete their mission, the RSIPF will look to you to support and understand them so that they too can complete their mission.”

Speaking at the same occasion, Minister of Police National Security and Correctional services, Moses Garu says, “I wish to congratulate the three of you and applaud you for demonstrating your excellent commitment and professionalism for this UN Mission.

“To our first female officers for the UN Deployment; you are truly an inspiration and a beacon of motivation for other female police officers to work consistently towards being accepted for UN deployment missions overseas in the future.

“To the three officers, the Government, RSIPF and the people of Solomon Islands pledge our full support to you for your mission overseas. And we will pray for your safety and security as you serve in the UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur, South Sudan.

“To your families who will remain back in the country, I acknowledge your tireless support, understanding and cooperation as well with the three officers. I trust that we will collectively support our officers for this important deployment.”

The three officers, who leave Honiara this Saturday June 23, 2018, will be deployed for one year, along four other RSIPF officers who left late last year on the same Mission.

The RSIPF started deploying officers to the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Darfur in 2016. With the three officers just commissioned, it brings the total number of RSIPF officers deployed so far on the UN Mission to 12.

–POLICE MEDIA