BY GEORGE MANFORD

AUKI

AUKI Red Cross branch has a new board chairman and a new committee for 2018.

The newly elected chairman is Mr Robert Wale the deputy provincial secretary of Malaita province.

He was elected during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday along with new board members for 2018.

Speaking to Island Sun Auki after the AGM, Mr Wale said the betterness of any organisation or group depends on cooperation, dedication and commitment.

He appeals to all volunteers to work together with the newly elected committee and the branch officer for the future activities and programmes of Solomon Islands Red Cross.

Wale also told the volunteers yesterday that the Malaita provincial government will be looking at possible ways to assist the work of Red Cross in the province.

The Auki branch and its board committee will also work closely with the Red Cross headquarter.

“One of our priorities is to capture more volunteers to join Red Cross and to set the office into a new phase.

“We will be looking at building up good relationship with the other NGO’s and the other stakeholders in partnership through our activities.”

DEAR EDITOR, I was very pleased to read an article in yesterday’s edition of the Island Sun newspaper (March 29, 2018) that the Solomon Islands will be able to improve its access to climate change finance now the SIG has finalised a change and disaster and disaster risk assessment report.

As I reported in the local media recently, “The Green Climate Fund is to inject $US28 million dollars into the Vanuatu Ministry of Climate Change to help the country address climate change.

“The Green Climate Fund is a fund established within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.” Its stated purpose is to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices resulting from the impact of climate change.

Like Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands is prone to natural disasters such as cyclones, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, coastal erosion, flooding, loss of food crops and other vulnerabilities occasioned by climate change and I would hope the SIG will now be able to access international finance to help local conditions on the strength of the Change and Disaster Risk Assessment Report.

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT

By Mike Puia

PLAN to relocate South Pacific Oil (SPO) fuel storage tanks in the heart of the city to somewhere outside the city is progressing well.

Chairman of the SPO board, Gideon Zoleveke, confirmed that the initiative to relocate their tanks has been in the making for some years now.

Mr Zoleveke said a committee has been tasked to deliver this plan for SPOL within the next three to five years.

He said the committee is working on evaluating land issues, costings and forecasting, viability and more.

Zoleveke said part of the committee’s task is to acquire the AE Oval and adjacent land from Mr.Abraham Eke where the new fuel farm will be located.

He said the next step for the committee is to finalise arrangement to access the sea front at Ranadi for bunkering purposes in order to discharge the fuel from ships to shore.

Zoleveke said management have already completed design work and negotiated possible material sources.

He confirmed their Engineering Department is on site preparing to oversee the building process with help from local and international contractors.

“SPOL is ready to move once all the above issues are sorted out,” Zoleveke said.

He said SPOL has set aside capital from annual profits to cater for this relocation exercise.

Zoleveke said this project is also similar to their other initiative for Noro in the Western province. Currently, SPO is acquiring the land.

He said the move to address SPOL’s national storage capacity will enhance national fuel holding security for the future.

“Investments are also strategic investments as SPOL looks at its national distribution and support services requirement in the 21st century,” Zoleveke said.

He said SPO plans to deliver bulk supply to the provinces so that Honiara prices are passed to the provinces with the hope it will stimulate economic activities throughout the country.

SPO believes the country’s expansion will benefit the company.

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

POLICE Commissioner Mathew Varley has told newly graduated police officers to always bear in mind their oath to the office and maintain the high standards of the RSIPF.

Mr Varley said it is another milestone for the RSIPF to witness the graduation of the 70 recruits into the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force.

Out of the 70 graduating recruits, 14 are females and 56 males.

He said it is a fitting tribute to witness the recruits taking their oath of allegiance and graduating as they prepare themselves for duties as police officers.

“You will take your Oath of Office before me today. This empowers you as police constables, giving you the powers to perform police duties according to the law of the Solomon Islands.

“Today you graduate and become part of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force.

“Always wear your uniform with pride at all times.

“I remind you that there will be times when your integrity will be challenged, when wantok culture will make it difficult for you,” Varley told the graduate yesterday.

The RSIPF is now emerging as a more professional organisation that is placing a strong emphasis on employing well educated people and providing them with continued learning opportunities, Varley said.

“Therefore you are expected to deliver your duties with responsibility, impartiality, and diligence. To do otherwise undermines you personally, and your position as a Police Officer.

“I trust that you will build on your experiences at the Academy and quickly progress to become effective Police Officers not only in Honiara but also in the provinces.”

By Alfred Sasako

THOMAS Tome Siata is blind. He is looking for where to stay after the Honiara City Council has decided that where his hut stands “is dangerous and risky with big trucks turning right on the roadside where his hut is.

It was around 2007 that Thomas Tome Siata settled next to Top Timber at Ranadi. And settled he did.

Top Timber Proprietor, John Abba, who moved into the area around the same time allowed the man to stay on rent-free. In the ensuing years, Siata who comes from Ato village in the Baegu/Asifola area of North Malaita, decided to build himself a small timber hut which he called home, using timber he collected from the Top Timber yard.

This week, Siata, who appeared to have been blind from birth, was told the “bad” news. He had to move out as a result of a letter from the Honiara City Council which informed Top Timber that the roadside hut had to be removed or the company would face a hefty fine.

“Sorry Thomas but you have to move out. It is for your safety and it is the Council’s decision. It was good that in all the years you stayed in our area, nothing happened to you,” Mr Abba told Siata.

Mr Abba pledged $5, 000 towards materials for Mr Siata’s new home, just where he (Mr Siata) does not know.

Asked whether he had any relatives in Honiara, Mr Siata said yes. “I have three brothers, but I never saw them,” he said.

When Island Sun asked him whether he would like to go home to Malaita, he said, no. “I have no one to go back to,” he said.

“All I want is to find a safe place where I could stay and some help to find a place where I could build a small hut,” he said.