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In remembrance of HMNZS Moa

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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HMNZS Moa

BY GEORGINA KEKEA

IT was a cool quiet morning and the sea in Tulagi harbour was calm and peaceful when we arrived in the Central Islands Province on board the Patrol Boat Lata. Only a few canoes can be seen with smiling faces from the locals probably on their way to their gardens or doing some other Saturday chores.

John Chilton Oliver Moffat from Whangarei

It was so calm and peaceful that during the memorial programme when the last bugle call was played, one can even imagine how it must have been for the seamen on board the HMNZS Moa when it was attacked by Japanese aircraft 75 years ago.

It was on April 7, 1943, while refueling from an American oil barge Erskine M Phelps at Tulagi Harbour when the anchorage came under attack. Both vessels were caught by surprise and Moa suffered a direct hit and sank within four minutes. Five seamen died and 15 were wounded.

On this occasion for the memorial service, family members of one of the late seamen, travelled over from New Zealand to attend this memorial service. Four siblings who were late John’s nephews together with their spouses, took this trip to remember their late uncle who was their mum’s eldest brother.

“She took it really hard our grandmother. Because she lost at that time, her husband and then her only son,” Robert Utting, nephew of the late leading Seaman John Moffat, muses.

John Chilton Oliver Moffat from Whangarei was a leading seaman in the HMNZS Moa T233 and was only 22 years old when he died. He joined the New Zealand Navy just before he turned 16 and had been serving in the navy for six years already before he met his fate onboard the Moa.

“The wreck of Moa to this day remains a war grave and memorial for the men who served and died. As a nation, New Zealand is proud to be a part of the operations in the Solomon Islands and to help their neighbors in navigation areas and skilled crew in the Pacific’s time of need,” Captain Dave McEwan of the Royal New Zealand Navy said.

Meanwhile, before the last post, Robert Utting in his remarks presented this ode.

‘They have no grave but the cruel sea. No flowers lay at their head. A rusting hulk is their tombstone. Afast on the ocean bed. They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them. Lest we forget them.’

HMNZS Moa

Tulagi is now a renowned spot for scuba diving. Beneath the pristine calm seas, lies the wreck of HMNZS Moa including other wrecks from USS boats.

Whilst the memorial service was specifically for HMNZS Moa, one couldn’t help but reflect on the events 75 years ago and the war that took place on our shores then. The laying of wreaths was a solemn occasion as everyone on board the boat remember the young men who lost their lives and for the many others who fought in the battle of Guadalcanal for the sake of Pacific peace.

HMNZS Moa 4 gun

However the five young men who died on board the HMNZS Moa were Kenneth Bailey from Epsom, Auckland, John Buckeridge from Waihi, Hugh Dobson Crawford from Onehunga, Auckland, Collin Duncan, from Takapuna, Auckland and John Moffat from Whangarei.

“And as for those that have gone before us, we continue to remain committed to ensure our region is peaceful and prosperous,” Captain Dave McEwan says.

The memorial service was officiated by Father Hillary Anisi, Chaplain Honiara Port, Mission to Seafarers.

The occasion was held on Saturday, April 7, 2018.

Diplomats & dignitaries & family members pose for a photo shoot back in Honiara after the memorial service.
NZ Police Officer and RSIPF Officers
Robert Uttiing, nephew of late Leading Seaman John Moffat speaking on behalf of their family.
NZ High Commissioner H.E Don Higgins

Challenges and opportunities for SMEs

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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A series of practical articles by Chris Elphick, Breadfruit Consulting.

DURING this series I am looking at a number of issues relevant to all SMEs and identify both the opportunities and challenges associated with each issue.

Topics to be covered include planning; staff and recruitment; customers and service; marketing; competition; new products and services; being well organised; collaborating with others; understanding and analysing risk; managing the money; going into business with family or friends; grants, loans and investment; expansion and growth; technology and exporting.

Today my focus is on marketing and competition.

One major challenge for businesses, especially smaller ones, is not to be a well-kept secret!

It is easy to put all our effort into creating the business and forget about the need to sell what we are doing to others.

Marketing presents a number of challenges to SMEs – to do it effectively we need confidence, time and persistence.

We do not necessarily need to spend lots of money or to create expensive marketing materials.

We need to be clear who we are selling to and have simple strategies to reach them – no SME is marketing to the whole world!

Target your marketing efforts!

If you are selling a product or service to school children then work out how you are going to get your message to them.

To do that effectively we must really know and understand our market – who are they, how do they think, what needs do they have that my business can satisfy?

That means we must invest time – time that is used to effectively market our business needs to be seen as an investment in the future.

Some business owners feel unsure about marketing so they might do nothing or ask someone to do it for them.

If you do use a third party, maybe to write brochures or create a website, make sure they really understand you and your business and work alongside them.

When marketing your business ask yourself, ‘how do we stand out in the crowd’?

You need to find your USP – your unique selling proposition – something that you have or do that no-one else has or does.

It is hard to market if you are the same as all the businesses around you. It might be something quite small or the difference might be you and your people.

When planning your own marketing strategy start by looking at what your competitors are doing.

Competition is good in that it keeps us focused and alert, but we do need to understand it and we need to know how our competitors might be better than us.

We can’t do that by ignoring them!

The more successful you are in running your business the more competitors you are likely to have – success breeds success.

Others will want what you have! Don’t let competition frighten you. Use it to help you improve to be the best you can be.

Sometimes you might turn a competitor into a collaborator and join forces on specific issues or activities.

If a customer approaches you with a query that you can’t satisfy then be prepared to tell them where to go to get what they want, even if it is to a competitor.

The chances are that the customer will remember that act of kindness and come back to you in the future.

SMEs need each other – we are not big enough or have enough resources to do everything on our own.

Work with others to create joint marketing plans – two heads are always better than one!

Finally, we need to overcome the challenge of having the confidence to promote ourselves.

In the Pacific we tend towards being quiet and unassuming but if we have a good product or service then we must tell others.

If we tell others and they like it then they will tell others and do your marketing for you!

If you need help with marketing or understanding your competition or you want some feedback on your own practices, then please get in touch.

Chris Elphick is Partner in Breadfruit Consulting, formerly Learnfast Pacific, supporting the development of a range of businesses and organisations in Melanesia and other parts of the Pacific. He is an experienced trainer, coach and business mentor and has years of experience of working with Small & Medium Enterprises. He and his partner Hazel Kirkham live in Vanuatu.

$30k school grant missing

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY SAMIE WAIKORI

Auki

PARENTS of Nanakinimae Primary School in East Kwaio are querying $30,000 of the primary division school grant which reportedly went missing.

A parent, who is also a member of the school board, speaking to Island Sun on condition of anonymity, said that the issue began at the starting of this year after parents had a quarrel with a senior staff – they demanded he be posted out of the school.

The parent said the reason is for mishandling of school grant the school experienced during eight years the staff headed the school’s administration.

“After the disagreement the staff reacted to the parents by withholding the school cheaque which contain the school grant.

“In response to that the new school board wrote a letter to BSP bank in Auki to stop withdrawal of the cheque.

“However, the staff went over to Honiara in an attempt to withdraw the money but was infertile with the documents handed to BSP to discontinue withdrawal of the cheaque.

“After failing his first attempt, he went over to Auki and asked the Malaita Education Office to write him a letter to lift the ban on the cheaque,” the parent said.

The parent continued that after the staff got the letter he handed the letter to BSP bank and won the ban to withdraw the money.

“We knew nothing about what is going on behind the scene until recently somebody told us about it.

“We went over to Auki and checked with BSP bank and Malaita Education Office and confirmed the money was withdrawn on Monday March 26, 2018,” the parent said.

The parent said they didn’t blame BSP Auki or Malaita Education Office for the matter since they did not break any law.

However, the parent said the fact that the BSP bank and Malaita Education Office failed to consult the new school board on the matter is unrespectable.

The parent said after the staff took the money the school has not heard from him since.

“The school stationery is running out and we don’t know where to get them since the money to buy for them had taken.

“The new school board also working on plan for the improvement of the school, but still nothing will happen since the money was taken.

“Our call is only for the staff to return the money back to school as it belongs to Nanakinimae Primary Division and not you the staff,” the parent said.

Sport industry must be recognised

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

EARNING salaries through sports is probably a long way away from us in the Solomon Islands yet.

Overseas however, men and women involved in professional sports can earn a great deal of money at the highest levels.

The sport industry is a thriving one and overseas it is a lucrative market.

In the world, sports industry has become a source of national growth.

It has become important in offering employment as the domestic need of a country grows.

For Solomon Islands, it is critical that government have a clear mindset on what it wants and need to do in developing this industry.

In five years’ time, we will be hosting the Pacific Games and we are yet to see any tangible development in infrastructure.

For the Solomon Games, some provinces had not been able to host the games because of lack of infrastructure.

Infrastructure is one, recognising the potential of Solomon Islanders in physical activities is another.

The recent win by Jenly Wini in acquiring a bronze medal is the first for Solomon Islands in any Commonwealth Games since the country appeared in the games in 1982.

Jenly has made history for the Solomon Islands, not only as the first medal winner but as a female winner at that.

Press for progress is the slogan for this year’s (2018) International Women’s Day celebrations and I must admit that we in the media also lack to promote women in sports.

Maybe because we see their activity as a hobby and not as a profession?

But if we look clearly with the intention to see, we will see that this is an area which women also need the support and encouragement to develop.

On the whole, government must take the leading role in ensuring the sporting industry is recognised thus paving the way for women to also develop and take on leadership roles in this sector.

Lau/Mbaelelea people suffer bad roads and bridges

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
A truck struggling to cross a broken down bridge at Kolofe, a community of Lau/Mbaelelea constituency. Photo courtesy Phathrishia Phakhanie

BY LYNTON AARON FILIA

A truck struggling to cross a broken down bridge at Kolofe, a community of Lau/Mbaelelea constituency. Photo courtesy Phathrishia Phakhanie

COMMUNITIES of the Lau/Mbaelelea constituency have called on the national government to address the problem of their deteriorating roads and bridges.

Driving up north of the Lau/Mbaelelea constituency is a major challenge to service providers and passengers as current status of roads and bridges is not safe and under deteriorating conditions.

Such situation imposes negative impact to communities of Lau/Mbaelelea, giving them insecurity when traveling to Auki and returning, doing business, high transport fee and low customer support.

Just last week, during the heavy rain, one bridge at Kolofe broke down and the road was too muddy that trucks could hardly passed.

People used ropes to pull trucks through huge mud bogs; and this practice is common there.

Community leaders from the Lau/Mbaelelea constituency are calling on their Member of Parliament and the national government to look at this situation which has been left unsolved for years.

Speaking in Lau/Mbaelea Forum, Mr Ambrose Dolofera said most bridges in North Malaita need repair or thorough maintenance.

With the bad state of roads and bridges, Dolofera said it’s always the cry of every man, woman, and children there.

“The collapse of Kolofe Bridge is a wakeup call for responsible authorities to come out from their hideouts to do something about,” Dolofera said.

Recently, MP Augustine Auga under National Transport Fund purchased new heavy machines for construction of highway road to mountainous region of Lau/Mbaelelea constituency.

The new machines are planned for the construction of new roads and fixing the old ones.

Women leadership and peacebuilding workshop in central Kwara’ae

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
Francis Kairi, deputy director Malaita peace office.

BY GEORGE MANFORD

AUKI

Francis Kairi, deputy director Malaita peace office.

THREE days of leadership and peace building workshop conducted for women in ward 29 in central Kwara’ae has successfully ended over the weekend at Faarau community.

The training was conducted and facilitated by the Ministry of National Unity Reconciliation and Peace (MNURP) Malaita desk.

The training is part of the ongoing process where the Government through its policy directives to deliver its services in terms through the Ministry by providing trainings such as this for rural women in Malaita.

The training integrates leadership, peacebuilding, trauma and mindset transformation with aims to empower local women leaders to become active participants in their communities and dealing with issues that usually affects them.

This training brought together over 30 women community leaders from ward 29 in Central Kwara’ae to gather at Faarau Village over the Easter Monday.

Deputy Director for the Malaita Peace and Reconciliation Office Mr Francis Kairi was the key facilitator of the training.

This is the first of its kind for women around this part of Central Kwara’ae according to a village elder who has highly commended the Malaita Peace office for choosing their region to be considered as the host for the training.

Many women have also echoed the same sentiment that this is the first of its kind to be held in their region.

“We never have trainings such as this before.”

“It opens up our minds and helps empower us women to make a difference in our communities and makes us feel that the government does recognise us as well,” one of the participating women said during the closing programme.

It was an emotional closing ceremony where many of the women said that this training really gave them a new perspective in life and they hope to carry the message back to their communities.

They expressed their sincere appreciation to the National Government who through the Ministry of National Unity, Reconciliation & Peace, and Malaita Desk has made this possible for them.

This is also the last and the final training to be conducted by Mr Kairi as Deputy Director of the Malaita Peace & Reconciliation Office as he is retiring from the public service.

However, Kairi expresses that he will always be available whenever his services are needed by the Ministry.

Non-communicable diseases rising in Northwest Choiseul

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

INCREASE of non-communicable diseases currently reported at Northwest Choiseul is believed to be caused by the rapid change of eating habits and lifestyle.

Mr Nerio Ulemiki the media coordinator for Christ the King Parish at Voruvoru reporting said locals are now urging its citizens to make a strong u-turn with commitment to decrease consuming refined foods from shops.

“This includes heavy consumption of smoking and alcohol as well,” said Mr Ulemiki.

“Change from local foods and local cooking styles to refined foods and modern cooking styles spark it all in contributing to people becoming lazy and ignoring the old system of relying on healthy local foods because they turn to depend on foods from shops instead.

“A strong u-turn with commitment must be done to make the old system work back again.”

Kengava reminds Choiseul to be serious over voting

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

FORMER Premier of Choiseul Province Mr Clement Kengava urges Lauru citizens to seriously make good choices when voting for their MPA leaders in their nearing provincial election.

He said confirmation by the Permanent Secretary (PS) for the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening (MPGIS) at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recently that Choiseul and Western Provinces Provincial elections are to be held in June this year should be a relief for voters, after their rights to choose new Assemblies in September last year was suppressed through deferments.

“I call on Choiseul voters not to take the provincial election lightly or as a game, but be serious about it because Choiseul needs a new roadmap in its relationship with the National Government,” said Kengava.

The former MP of Northwest Choiseul and also former Premier is encouraging people who believe in developing Choiseul Province to go ahead to another level in contesting for the provincial’s 16 seats Assembly.

Call to install all early warning systems in one place

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY MAVIS NISHIMURA PODOKOLO

A call to install all early warning systems in one place was made during the launching of the wrapped-up event of the Solomon Islands Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology Capacity Development Project (SIMCAP) last week.

This call was made by a concerned outspoken staff working at the division of Meteorology under the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorological (MECDM).

He said the early warning systems are meteorology, seismology and hydrology equipment, to name a few, which function to produce relevant and timely information in a systematic way prior to a disaster in order to make informed decisions and to take actions.

“Having few of the leading systems located in different ministry has been a problem in regards to our work.

“Hence we want all lead sources (early warning systems) to be located in one place to help us predict and mitigate the harm of natural and human- initiated disasters and other undesirable natural disasters.

“With this appeal we want the second planned phase of the SIMCAP project to consider this seriously and address it.”

In response to the request, Permanent Secretary of the MECDM Dr Melchior Mataki said this issue has been a long standing request to have two sectors under the ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Election which is the seismology and hydrology sectors to transfer meteorology service under the MECDM.

“I would say maybe there are reasons why they set these systems historically but we need to relook at it and consider it in terms of early warning aspects,” he said.

MID has new PS

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
Permanent Secretary Stephen Maesiola

By Alfred Sasako

New Permanent Secretary Stephen Maesiola taking control of MID

FOR 18 years, he served as under-secretary in as many as eight ministries, twice as provincial secretary.

But last week Stephen Walaodo Maesiola landed the big one – he was appointed Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID).

Island Sun caught up with him over the weekend, when he was “familiarising” himself with his new office environment.

You have no computer on your desk, I remarked.

“No, I don’t. Police have taken the computer as part of their investigation,” he said.

“I’ll be getting a new installed soon. There are lots of challenges here, I can see,” Mr Maesiola said.

“I can see cleaning up the Ministry administratively is a challenge – things like the accounts here, the shipping grants and so on,” he said.

These challenges are not new for the man who entered the public service in 1996, when he was appointed Provincial Secretary for Makira/Ulawa Province.

The two-year appointment was the stepping stone for more to come. In 1998, he was under-secretary for the Ministry he now heads. Two years later, he was appointed Provincial Secretary for Guadalcanal Province, a position he held for another two years.

He held under-secretary positions in a number of other Ministries, including the Ministry of Youth, Women and Sports [2001-2002], Ministry of National Unity, Reconciliation and Peace [2003-2004] and the Ministry of Development Planning and Aid Coordination (2004-2005).

When Mr Maesiola was under-secretary of the Ministry of Police, National Security and Correctional Services (2011-2017) he was tasked with securing funds to settle gun owners’ claims.

Despite some minor hiccups, in general the program went smoothly, with gun owners receiving payments after waiting more than a decade.

Maesiola holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Development Studies from the University of the South Pacific where he later graduated with a Master of Arts in Governance.

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