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Abuse of G vehicles by HR managers

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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DEAR Editor, I am very concerned that G Vehicles are continually abuse by Human Resource Managers of some Ministries.

Human Resources Managers are those who are well informed by the government vehicle policies and should abide and oversee the implementation the G vehicles policies and guidelines set down by MID and MPS.

Ministries’ HR Managers should lead by example and should carry out the implementation of those policies, instead they showed other government officers bad precedence/examples to follow.

Those very obvious HR Managers who often abused the G vehicle policies are HR Manager of Ministry of Lands and Customs Excise.

Though they are other HR Managers who are also doing the same unethical practice.

Moreover, this raises the question of those respective Permanent Secretaries capabilities in terms of their roles to monitor and control their officers from such inappropriate actions.

Human Resource Managers should be role-model for other employees in any organisation settings, re-directing others behaviour towards good employees.

J Diau

Honiara

Congratulations to the Honiara City Council – again

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

AS we push into 2018, one government entity appears to have found the right formula to get things done.

The Honiara City Council began at the beginning of the year with the announcement that tinted glasses would be removed from public transport vehicles, essentially taxis and buses from April 1.

Tinted glasses are still here with us. It is hoped that the Council moves to implement this. The Council should focus more on enforcements rather than announcements. It is difficult but not impossible.

For reasons of health, the Council also started on a major clean-up of restaurants and takeaway outlets – a move long overdue. Given the level of dust on our roads, the number of people suffering largely imported diseases, the urgency to act on food outlets is all the more pressing.

This week the Council moves a notch higher on a matter which should have been done a long time ago, but no one had the courage to do so.

It moves to ban foreign language labelling on items sold in shops in Honiara. It’s a commendable move indeed. However, it is not entirely clear whether the move would achieve anything, if at all. Foreign language labelling is merely a symptom of a major problem.

Consider the ability of Chinese companies to quickly replace these labels with those written in English. These labels could be replicated in no time. It would nullify the objective of such an exercise.

Removing the foreign language label is merely touching the surface of a much bigger problem. We need to begin training our own people to read one of the two Chinese languages.

Still, it is commendable that the Honiara City Council has begun putting its front foot forward. It’s no good putting up billboards along the highway announcing this and that without implementing the intention.

A clear example is the large billboard outside the National Referral Hospital, which says smoking is not allowed in buses, taxis and so on. The intention is brilliant, implementation is zero.

Who’s responsible for this?

There’s one other area that the Council should address immediately – Illegal Parking. Penalising illegal parking brings in much-needed dough into Council coffers. It also instils order on our roads as well as safety for all road users.

Go to the main market any day and you will see what I am talking about here. It is chaos at any time on any day. It is important that City Council police are properly trained to issue on the spot fines on drivers who illegally park their vehicles.

Parking lots for large vehicles bringing in local produce to the market should be clearly marked. Anyone parking outside these areas should be penalised for traffic infringements.

Furthermore, traffic police of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) should do spot checks on drivers to see whether or not they have a valid driver’s licence. Many don’t.

Such drivers should be kept off the road for the sake of other road users. Allowing the status quo to go on unhindered only amplifies the problem we are already witnessing on our roads. The worse is yet to come unless moves are taken to address major traffic problems on our roads.

Buses creating extra lane on pedestrian footpaths should also be punished as such practice endangers the lives of pedestrians and other road users. If national government entities are too slack to address the problem on our traffic, maybe the Honiara City Council should be entrusted with such task?

At least they get things moving, even if in a small way.

Congratulations are in order to the Lord Mayor and his Team.

Hou briefed on undersea cable progress

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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PM Hou and his officials meeting with the Australian delegation at the OPMC.

PRIME Minister Rick Houenipwela met with a high-level delegation from the Australia Government at the Office of the Prime Minister & Cabinet (OPMC) yesterday.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Hou reiterated his Government’s commitment in seeing this project progress further.

Hou was very impressed by the project’s progressive developments when briefed by the Australian delegation.

The Australian Government is committed to majority fund the project that would be a first for Solomon Islands, which is currently reliant on expensive and unreliable satellite communications.

The Australian delegation led by Deputy Secretary Penny Williams met with the Prime Minister to brief him on options to land the cable in Australia.

The delegation also met with other senior members of Government as part of their visit.

“I am pleased the study has found a number of solutions that would provide Solomon Islands with a high-speed internet connection from Australia at a competitive price,” Ms Williams said.

“Supplying Solomon Islanders with faster, more reliable and more accessible internet has the potential to bring about substantial economic and development benefits.”

The Solomon Islands Government is expected to formally consider the scoping study findings before the end of April, with project sustainability underway in the second half of this year.

The Australian delegation and telecommunications provider Vocus are currently here to present the findings of a scoping study into the new undersea cable from Australia to Solomon Islands.

–OPMC PRESS

Hou wants more laws this year

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Prime Minister Hon Rick Hou during press conference with media on Monday

By Gary Hatigeva

PRIME Minister, Rick Hounipwela has urged the Bills and Legislation Committee (BLC) to quickly convene and start looking into the remaining government proposed legislations that are now ready for BLC deliberation.

Prime Minister Hou made this call when moving the special motion of adjournment for parliament on Monday after weeks of intense debate and scrutiny into the 2018 Budget, where he also urged the Committee to put high priorities into the bills.

Hou said he was hoping for the anti corruption and the whistle-blowers protection bills would have been debated in the first set of sittings however, with the unavailability of the required detailed reports from the BLC, it was not possible for parliament to deal with those legislations

“As I have outlined before on this floor in terms of the government’s 2018 legislative calendar, we have quite a number of bills yet to conclude this year, which feature quite prominently in the current government’s legislative calendar,” the Prime Minister added

Hou though agreed that a few of the legislations are yet to be submitted to the BLC, but assured that most of them are now ready for the Bills Committee’s deliberation.

“Sir I must stress that these are important legislations that require the BLC’s utmost priory as our people are waiting for these legislations to be finalised as soon as possible.

“I therefore, urge the Bills Committee to convene as quickly as possible to enable them to facilitate the hearings required by law for these bills to be submitted,” the PM added.

He also stressed that in an attempt to move things forward, the government is certain parliament’s adjournment to July 18, 2018 should provide the committee with time to deal with the bills which are currently before it.

However, when responding to the call, Chairman of the Bills and Legislation Committee and Member of Parliament for Aoke/Langalanga, Matthew Wale strongly emphasised for the government not to delay all its submissions until only a week or days left to the resumption of parliament on July 18 before submitting.

Wale explained that this is to avoid any unnecessary pressures on both parties and so as causing unnecessary breaks like it had happened at the start of this year’s sittings.

“Give those bills earlier so we have enough time to go through them, because of some of the processes involved, we definitely would need ample time to properly go through before they can be presented to parliament.

“We will do it as it is required of the Committee and we understand that.

“We want to work, we do recognise that this is the final year of this house and still have a lot to do and we want to make sure we get it done on time,” the BLC and Aoke/Langalanga MP assured.

It is understood that the Electoral Bills were submitted at the eve of parliament’s passing of the 2018 and the BLC Chairman also assured that his committee will this week, begin looking into it including the others that will be given in the course of the adjournment.

He however clarified that as for the Ant-corruption Bill, because it had already made it in parliament but was later withdrawn, like any new bills, the committee will have to start with the process of it all over again.

Island Sun also understands that bills set to be submitted to the BLC include the Anti-corruption Bill 2017, the Constitutional Amendment Dual Citizenship Bill 2017, the Citizen Bill 2017, the Constitutional (Amendment) (Electoral Reform) Bill 2018 and the Electoral Reform Bill 2018.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister confirmed that amongst the list of legislation lined up, the government has already submitted the Electoral Bill and added that they are also looking forward to reports on the Political Parties Integrity Act, which he suggested needs a few amendments.

SI students safe from TC Keni

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

SOLOMON Islands students studying in Fiji say they are safe after Tropical Cyclone Keni swooped over the country this week.

There has been no report of any Solomon Islands student injured during the cyclone.

According to the all staff and student email distribution at the University of the South Pacific (USP) in Fiji yesterday evening, the weather has improved as TC Keni is rapidly moving away from Fiji.

“Restricted movement advisory to all residential Staff and students within Laucala Campus issued at 1pm for Laucala Campus is hereby lifted from 5pm,” contained in the email.

“Please exercise caution when moving throughout campus at this time and report any hazards identified to E&I Supervisor on Call Mobile 9927202.”

“Also note that the Cafeteria Building which was open to receive evacuees is now closed, given that the weather has improved.”

“Be advised that bus services and shops out of the campus within Suva area remain closed until further notice by authorities.”

On further advisory in USP Fiji Campus reopening, SIG students have confirmed receiving confirmation that everything will be back to normal today.

“Classes will resume and working class people will resume back for work,” said SI students.

Most businesses were closed this week in Fiji purposely to not take any chances against TC Keni.

Australia presents scoping study for undersea cable project to SIG

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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(L - R) Australian Deputy High Commissioner, Michael Hasset, Deputy Secretary, Penny Williams & Head Undersea Cables Task Force, Pablo Kang.

BY GEORGINA KEKEA

(L – R) Australian Deputy High Commissioner, Michael Hasset, Deputy Secretary, Penny Williams & Head Undersea Cables Task Force, Pablo Kang.

SCOPING study into the undersea cable from Australia to Solomon Islands is now complete.

Leading a high-level delegation from the Australian Government is Deputy Secretary, Penny Williams who travelled to Honiara to present the findings of the scoping study to the Solomon Islands Government.

Ms Williams and her delegation, the Undersea Cables Taskforce met with Prime Minister Houenipwela yesterday and other senior members of Government to discuss options to land the cable in Australia.

From the scoping study, a number of solutions had been provided. One of the solutions is the design of the cable system.

The cable system is proposed to connect Australia to Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Solomon Islands.

The study identified the Coral Sea in the North East coast of Australia as the location of an undersea hub that will connect the cables from Australia to Port Moresby and to Honiara.

With the completion of the scoping study, Australia is once again reaffirming its support and commitment in ensuring this project continues into the next phase.

“At the moment all we’ve done is contracted Vocus to deliver us this scoping study, we haven’t given any companies to project manage the construction base yet,” said Pablo Kang, Head of the Undersea Cables Task Force.

Meanwhile, Vocus, had been selected by the Australian Government to engage in the scoping study because of its experience to manage undersea cables. A decision that supersedes the Solomon Islands government’s choice of Huawei. The Solomon Islands Government will formally consider the scoping study by the end of April, 2018.

Once connected via undersea cable, Solomon Islanders will be able to have access to a faster, reliable internet service presumably at a very high capacity of terabytes per second.

Head of the Australian delegation, Deputy Secretary Williams is pleased that the study has found a number of solutions that would provide Solomon Islands with a high-speed internet connection from Australia at a competitive price.

Warrant of arrest against Garimane

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

MAN facing grievous harm charge will appear again on April 24 for pre-trial conference.

Ripson Garimane was charged with one count of grievous harm in relation to an incident which occurred in Guadalcanal last year.

The case was called in the Honiara Magistrate Court yesterday but the accused failed to turn up in court and prosecution applied for a warrant of arrest, but that warrant will lie in the file and if the accused failS to turn up again on April 24, it will be executed.

Principal Magistrate Augustine Aulanga then adjourned the case to April 24 and orders that PTC documents be filed prior to that date.

Office of the Director Public Prosecution appears for the crown on the case while the Public Solicitor’s office is representing the accused.

Ruling on Auki bank armed robbery today

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

THE court will today make its ruling on the committal hearing on the Auki BSP bank armed robbery incident.

Prosecution has made an application at the Honiara Magistrate Court on the bank armed robbery cases to be committed to the High Court so that higher penalties can be imposed on the cases.

This is the case where five men were alleged to have involved in robbing the Bank South Pacific in Auki in relation to the incident which occurred on November 27, 2015.

Police said the men were armed with dangerous weapons and one of them had a gun and fired a shot while standing outside the bank as lookout, the court was told. While other accused stayed in the getaway car

Two others went into the bank and filled up bags with about SI$200,000 and US$10,000, the court heard.

The prosecution also said that another shot was fired before the accused left the bank.

Office of the Director Public Prosecution appears for the crown.

Charges remain for accused

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

Prosecution has not changed its charges against an accused, Rodney Tatahu, court was told yesterday.

Public Prosecutor John Zoze told the court that from instruction obtained charges against the accused will be maintained.

The court was told that investigation into the case has been completed and already served to the defence lawyer.

Meanwhile a lawyer from the Public Solicitor’s Office who represents the accused told the court that since the prosecution will maintain the charge he needs time to consult his client on the charges before a plea could be entered on both charges.

The defence then sought a week’s adjournment on the case.

The case is then adjourned for April 17 for the accused to take his plea on the charges against him.

No cut for Fiji SIG students: Tito

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
Director of NTU, Mr Clement Tito

By Alfred Sasako

SIG-SPONSORED students at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji have been assured their monthly allowance would not be affected, students at the Laucala Campus told Island Sun yesterday.

They said the National Training Unit [NTU] director, Clement Tito, gave the assurance when he met with the students last Sunday.

“He flew over on Saturday and met with us on Sunday,” one student said.

“The Director assured us that our allowance would not be touched. It was a huge relief and we thank Island Sun for raising our concerns,” the student said.

The Fiji visit by Mr Tito followed concerns expressed by students with some suggesting that it would be better to return home rather than continue with their studies.

Last week students were given just $800 in monthly allowance each, causing not only concerns but confusion within the SIG-sponsored student community at the Laucala as well as other tertiary education campuses in Fiji.

After paying rentals of $550, the students were left with $250 in their pockets.

The country’s Education Attaché at the Solomon Islands’ High Commission in Fiji, Samantha Teitei Bob assured the students that their concerns would be looked into by the appropriate authorities.

The assurance by NTU director Tito appears to show a change of heart by the Government.

Three weeks ago allowance of SIG-sponsored students attending AMA in the Philippines were slashed by as much as 50 percent.

SIG-sponsored students studying in regional tertiary institutions were to follow.

The Government which on Monday passed its 2018 Budget has not made any announcement on any change in terms of the allowance.

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