PREPARATIONS for Isabel’s popular ‘Kodili’ Festival in Buala township of Isabel province is 90 percent complete according to the Chairman of the Organising Committee Eddie Kanijama.

The Festival which starts on June 25 is expected to feature the unique arts and culture of Isabel province.

Mr Kanijama said the festival opening programme’s guest of honour will be the Minister of Provincial Government & Institutional Strengthening, Nestor Ghiro.

He said all three Parliament members of Isabel province plus all the Isabel provincial members are expected to attend including the Premier of Malaita province Peter Ramohia who has already confirmed his attendance.

“The Festival village features two large thatch houses to accommodate all sixteen wards in Isabel which are expected to showcase their Arts and craft.

“Another section which also features small thatch houses for individual people and companies who will also be there to showcase their products,” Kanijama said.

“SolPower personnel are now on the ground to connect electricity to the festival village before the festival opens whilst water supply to the venue has already been installed and running,” he said.

Kanijama added the festival is expecting a good number of youths from each ward to perform and display their arts and culture during the weeklong festival.

The ‘Kodili’ festival organised for this year is the second after the first one was launched in September 2016.

Playing of Kodili; custom dancing, singing, traditional sports and entertainment, showcasing the unique Isabel arts and crafts and scores of other local and modern activities will be on show day and night according to Kanijama.

It is expected that the festival will attract a lot of people from outside and within Isabel to attend the weeklong programme.

Premier of Isabel province, James Habu said during the inaugural lunching of Kodili in 2016, the festival was a provincial platform for tourism, encouraging business development and partnership with government and the private sector.

–GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATION UNIT

BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

KODILI Festival 2018 participants from Honiara begin their journey to Buala today.

The festival, which showcases Isabel province’s rich culture, is set to start on Monday, June 25.

Kodili festival was established in 2016, and takes place in Buala town from June 25-29.

Isabel’s Kodili Festival promotes cultural legacy, heritage, traditional knowledge and modern conservation.

The five-day festival being organised by the Isabel provincial government has a full programme of activities.

There will be traditional dances, songs, dramas, games, arts, speeches, pageant shows, and outdoor adventure activities.

According to Buala Provincial Headquarters Cultural Officer, Eddie Kanijama Kopala, it is expected that there will be more than 800 participants including specialised cultural groups and practitioners, as well as youths from the 16 Wards around the province.

“Kodili Festival 2018 will showcase cultural heritage and legacy, and conservation of natural resources in bold and innovative ways.

“The festival provides the opportunity to raise awareness and educate communities and resource owners about the significance of conservation of the natural environment and cultural heritage of the province. The aim of the festival also is to promote tourism in the province,” informed the Cultural Officer.

Isabel’s culture and tradition is captured through the participation of bamboo pan pipers, Kodili players and other selected unique performance by groups and artists.

There will be 46 participants each from Wards respectively; Kia, Havulei, Kokota, Hovikoilo, Buala, Tirotongna, Koviloko, Kmaga, Kaloka, Tatamba, Sigana, Japuana, Kolotubi, Kolomola, Susubona and Katova that will partake in the festival.

The festival supports the transmission of knowledge and culture to younger generation.

World Environment Day (WED) will also be celebrated with series of events and organised activities, showcasing the intermarriage of traditional knowledge with modern conservation.

The public audience and participants will be actively engaged in the two events that were integrated into the festival, fostering peace, unity and friendship.

From the shipping schedule received by Island Sun for the Kodili Festival 2018, Buala, IDC shipping’s MV Ortega will depart Honiara today (Thursday) 6pm mainly picking up Ward Youth participants from Kaevanga to drop off at Buala tomorrow morning.

MV Ortega from Buala will then be travelling straight to Baolo for pick up and is expected to drop off at Buala on Saturday morning.

Anolpha Shipping’s MV Maetalau is understood to depart Honiara on Saturday 6pm for Buala.

The trip will be mainly also for whoever amongst the ministries, companies, stakeholders and others wishing to travel to Buala for the grand festival.

DEAR EDITOR, I would appreciate you giving some coverage to this story since the provision of a mobile health clinic is much needed locally in view of the state of many of the nation’s run-down and decaying rural health clinics.

Quoting Radio New Zealand – June 20, 2018; “The Rotary Club of Rarotonga has handed over the keys of a new mobile health clinic to the Cook Islands Ministry of Health today.

“The clinic is housed on board a refurbished bus which will replace 27 village medical centres dotted around Rarotonga when it begins service next week.

“It is the culmination of nearly two years work by Rotary clubs in New Zealand, Rarotonga and around the world.

“Members of Masterton South Rotary in New Zealand are responsible for the purchase and fit-out of the bus which includes a machine for heart monitoring and a centrifuge for blood testing.

“It will provide medical care, blood donor services, health education and awareness for many of the island’s 13,000 people.” Copyright@2018. Radio New Zealand.

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT

AUSTRALIA has been recorded as the country that has the most nationals visiting Solomon Islands in the first quarter of this year.

Government Statistician Douglas Kimi revealed this while releasing the visitors statistics produced by the Solomon Islands National Statistics Office (SINSO) recently.

The travels were being recorded from visitors by country of residence, visitors by month, tourists, visitors by purpose of visit, visitors by age group, visitors by occupation and visitor by carrier.

“Australia continue to dominate the ranks of international arrivals to the Solomon Islands with 34.9 percent,” Mr Kimi said.

“The second largest group of visitors were from Other Asia with 15.1 percent, followed by Fiji 7.2 percent, Other Pacific 6.5 percent, Papua New Guinea 6.2 percent, New Zealand 5.7 percent and the United States of America with 5.1 percent.”

On visitor arrivals by month, Kimi said the month of March recorded the highest number of arrivals in the first quarter of 2018 with 2,360 visitors. “This was followed by month of January with a total of 2,081 visitors and February the least with 1,855 visitors.

On tourist, Kimi said 1,941 tourists arrived in the first quarter of 2018 and they spent an average of 15.5 days in the country.

“Australian residents still made up the highest proportion of tourists with 38.7 per cent for the quarter and stayed in the country for an average of 11 days. Residents from Other Asians made up the next largest group of tourists 11.5 percent, followed by United States of America 8.6 percent, Other Pacific 6.3 percent, China 5.3 percent, while Papua New Guinea, Japan and Other Europe with 4.2 percent.”

Kimi added that the most common reason for visitors visiting the country during the quarter was for other reason with 28.3 percent followed by visiting for holiday or vacation 27.0 percent, Business and Conference 26.1 percent, visiting friends and relatives 14.7 percent and transit & stop over with 3.8 percent.

“The distribution of visitor arrivals by broad age groups for first quarter 2018 showed that 77.1 percent of visitors were in the 25 years to 64 years age range.

“The youngest age group, 0 -14 years, represented 4.5 percent of the arrivals while the oldest age group, 65 years and over made up 7.1 per cent of total visitor arrivals. The remaining 4.6 percent were visitors who did not state their age. Male visitors represented more than half of the total visitor’s arrivals with 70.9 percent and female visitors made up 29.1 percent of arrivals in the quarter,” Kimi stated.

He added that visitor by Occupation showed that the “Professional and technical” category made up the largest percentage of occupations with 30.8 percent during the quarter. This was followed by visitors who stated their occupation was from the other occupation group 29.9 percent, administration & managerial positions 14.1 percent, no work 9.2 and production and related workers with 5.3 percent.

“The most popular carriers during the quarter were Solomon Airlines who carried 43.6 percent of total visitors, followed by Air Niugini with 29.5 percent and Virgin Australia 18 percent,” Kimi said.

–SINSO PRESS

BY GEORGINA KEKEA

THE Governor of Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI), Denton Rarawa last month during the launch of CBSI’s 2017 annual report called for a reform to transform.

Rarawa in his speech said 2018 is a special year for the country as we will be celebrating 40 years of Independence in July.

He said this reflection enables us to look back on our journey, our successes and failures.

“What do we want to achieve in the next 40 years? What kind of country do we want Solomon Islands to be in 40 – 50 years from now? What type of living standards do we want our people to enjoy in the future?” he questioned.

He said as this year is the final year for the current parliament and the Government before the national general elections, Solomon Islands is at an important crossroad in the country’s history.

He said people will soon have the opportunity to choose new leaders that will take the country forward into the future. He said Solomon Islanders have the opportunity to change how things are done in the country.

Meanwhile Rarawa said it is widely known that growth and development in the country have been far from inclusive.

“Let me give you some examples.  After harvesting and exporting 37 million cubic metres of our logs, 1.2 million tons of our tuna, 1 million tons of copra and 1.1 million tons of palm oil that earned us $32 billion in the last 40 years; many of our villages and communities are yet to enjoy the “social and economic livelihood for all” articulated in our national strategic vision statement.”

Rarawa said many of our people still do not have access to safe drinking water, access to affordable energy supplies, proper sanitation, proper schools and well-stocked clinics, all weather roads, airports and regular shipping services.

He said in order for the country to develop and progress, we must build buffers and be resilient to disasters.

He said the economy needs to grow, on average between 5-7 percent annually.

“This is the challenge facing our country going forward.  To prepare our country for the next 40 years, we must reform the structure of our economy.”

Rarawa also called for effective leadership as development partners are ready to assist the country but Solomon Islanders must take the lead in the transformation process.

Rarawa in his talk last month was based on the theme ‘Reform to transform’.

CBSI for this year’s 40th Independence celebrations will be issuing a new $40 note and a coloured $2 coin.

These currencies are expected to be released soon.

BY GEORGINA KEKEA

 HONIARA City Council (HCC) Law Enforcers yesterday demolished betel nut market stalls at Rove.

The demolition came about after a notice issued by the Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID) for the removal of these stalls so that local contractors can be able to do their job.

Roadworks in the western side of the city was supposed to start from HCC roundabout in Central Honiara to White River in the western side of Honiara.

The demolition notice issued on June 6, 2018 highlighted that the road at Rove is currently disturbed with potholes due to no proper drainage outlet to the sea to contain the waste/storm water runoffs during heavy rain.

The notice said that the contractor cannot address the drainage problem until appropriate measures are taken to improve the drainage system.

The notice also said that consent was given by FTE holders of the said property for the drainage work at Rove seaside.

However the demolition yesterday was said to put up a protest from another person who also claimed title to the said land at Rove where the demolition exercise took place.

He claimed that there was no consent given by him for the removal of the market stalls on his property.

More than 50 vendors were understood to have been removed as part of the demolition exercise.

HCC on the other hand stood its ground on the powers vested upon them through the HCC laws to carry out such exercise.

THERE has been complaints raised that some retired police officers are still residing in police houses, a cause of frustration to current serving officers without accommodation.

One such frustrated officer, who is still without accommodation, said some officers who have retired as far back as 2015 and even before that are still occupying police houses – not bothering to leave, and blocking living space for serving officers.

The officer who requests anonymity said it is frustrating that this injustice is allowed to continue under the watch of a knowing management.

The officer calls on the responsible people within the RSIPF to quickly deal with these retired occupants as they are denying the rights of serving officers who are in need of accommodation.

The officer said if their benefits are not settled then RSIPF management should settle their issues and ask them to leave the houses.

“Retired officers should leave police houses in timely manner rather occupying and continue creating problem to serving officers who are struggling to be accommodated,” the officer said.

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

THE Australian Defence department will continue to support the Royal Solomon Islands Force Police Maritime.

Police Commissioner Matthew Varley said this recently when responding to questions raised on the issue of the new patrol boat that will arrive at the end of 2019 that the Australian Defence will continue to support in terms of operational cost and maintaining of police patrol boats.

Mr Varley said the RSIPF with the Solomon Islands Government will also support but the Australian defence programme is still continuing, adding that it is a very generous donation from the Australian Government.

He said the purchase of the new patrol boat will boost the capability of the police maritime.

Varley also said that the new patrol boat will be arriving at the end of 2019 and it will be the replacement of the Patrol Boat Lata.

He said that prior to the arrival of the new patrol boat, maritime officers will undergo training and there will also be upgrading of current facilities.

This year Patrol Boat Auki is due for an overhaul and will be going over to the Australia.

Cost of the repairs and maintenance will be met by the Australian government under the Australian Defence programme, Varley said.

BY LYNTON AARON FILIA

THE World War II record in the National Archives of the Solomon Islands (NASI) has been inscribed in the Memory of the World for Asia and Pacific (MOWCAP) Register.

Solomon Islands gained recognition for its WWII history after being nominated to MOWCAP in 2016 and receiving the award during the 8th General Meeting in Gwangju City, Republic of Korea which was held from May 28 – June 1 this year.

Government Archivist Mrs Margaret Inifiri said NASI was nominated because of its rich heritage and significance, not only nationally but universally as well.

She said the WWII records are the administrative records created during the time of the war and after the war.

Mrs Inifiri said such the documents are of huge significance to the Solomon Islands, the Pacific region, Japan, the United States and British colonial history and the world generally.

She said NASI’s nomination was submitted to the MOWCAP Secretariat in 2016.

Training was provided by UNESCO for nominators, where they were assisted and guided by MOWCAP experts so that their nominations follow a prescribed format.

E-copies of nomination were submitted to the Secretariat as they have biennial intakes.

Nomination then goes before the Register Sub-committee which undertakes initial in-depth research and assessment of the nominations.

The RSC makes recommendations, referrals or rejection and to the nominations.

NASI’s nomination was recommendation for inscription to the Memory of the World for Asia and Pacific Register to be voted on during the MOWCAP General Meeting.

Amongst 10 nominations that were voted during the recent General Meeting, two were from the Pacific, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu and the rest from Asia.

By having the WWII Records inscribed, it means that UNESCO has said that these documents are significant to the world.

Inscription gives one the right to use the MOWCAP (UNESCO) logo when it is directly associated with the inscribed documents—example, 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 documents remain NASI ownership.

However, MOWCAP will take opportunities to highlight the inscription so that the world is aware of the significant documents held at NASI—example news item, face book page, Instagram and website.

The documents will be permanently on the MOWCAP register.

The only reason to remove them from the register would be if MOWCAP became aware the description, preservation and access to the inscribed documents were not consistent with the information provided on the nomination form.