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Touching Lives gives back to the community

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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King George Sixth school visit Labour Ward

BY ALICE NANTARA

400-plus King George Sixth students and their patrons gathered yesterday midday at the National Referral Hospital Square to fulfil the main goal of ‘Touching Lives’.

Opening prayer was done by the school Chaplain and the school Principal presented brief remarks on the purpose of their visit, reminding every student to be mindful of how they interact with sick patients and ensure that they always apply courtesy.

“This for sure will be a good experience for all of us here, students especially will get to interact with the sick, giving gifts, get well soon cards, singing a few songs and saying a prayer to enlighten and uplift sick patients.

“We hope that what we do will touch and inspire the lives of sick patients,” says KGVI principal.

Students were divided into classes and each class was allocated which ward to visit.

A school patron and a nurse in charge then escorted the students to their assigned wards.

Speaking on behalf of the Form Five Red students, their class captain Mr Kevin Tareamu shared that it was a second time that he got involved with touching lives and in comparison to past years, 2017 NRH visitation has improved a lot.

“School administration, parents, ex-students and some others I could not name have all contributed and helped in making 2017 NRH visitation a success,” Mr Tareamu said.

As part of their visitation, students also share encouraging messages to those that are sick and for those that are responsible for taking care of the sick.

Touching Lives is a school-based charity group that started back in 2013 and with the donations that they receive from Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare and other groups, 2017 hospital visit is a success.

2017 Hospital visitation was not only for the NRH but also some students were send up to pay a visit to sick patients at Good Samaritan Hospital at GPOL.

Selwyn College academic performance smashes records

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Principal of Selwyn College Mr Lionel Vuthia delivers his speech during the school’s graduation last week.

BY BEN BILUA

CHURCH-owned Selwyn College continues to produce brilliant academic performance and results each year.

Speaking during the 2017 graduation and prize-giving day last week, School Principal Mr Lionel Vuthia said Selwyn College semester-one pass rate smashed 95 percent with students achieving 3.9 GPA.

He said three form seven students from Selwyn College have already secured scholarships, two from AusAid, one International Award, the other Regional Award and one Taiwan Scholarship.

Vuthia adds that one student from Selwyn College also went to Japan on a look-and-learn invitation visit.

He said the school continues to strive to achieve higher academic goals and is now counting on the school’s form seven external semester-one results.

Vuthia said the national assessment for school’s examination classes for 2017 F3, F5, F6 and F7 will be determined after the external exams in November.

He told parents that the teaching staff of Selwyn College will continue to hold high in preparation for the student’s exams.

Mr Vuthia said two volunteer teachers from the United Kingdom have joined Selwyn College teaching staffs which promises to boost the students’ exam preparation.

“Lately in August, two volunteers from Project Trust Volunteers in UK joined the teaching staff.

“This is a pilot project on annual recruitment if successful.

“Welcome to Mr Noah Poole and Mr Ultan Wood, they are now settling in well at school in SI context,” he explained.

On the same note, Vuthia advises students to create for themselves a milestone in life for better future.

“To the graduands, what does this occasion mean to you?

“I hope you are not just passing time but should create a milestone in your journey to the world out there,” he said.

Vuthia calls on parents to continue to support the students in their education.

Considering further ways to aid the limbless

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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DEAR Editor,
You were considerate enough to publish a letter of mine this week in which I referred to the plight of the many people in the Solomon Islands awaiting the fitting of prosthetic limbs following surgery that had been occasioned following amputations accelerated my succumbing to diabetic disease and foot injuries.  The former NRH patients awaiting the fitting of prosthetic limbs, mainly legs, currently number more than 400 and the waiting list is increasing.
Advice I have received back from the NRH authorities, following my letter, has reported the Rehabilitation Workshop has been closed due to it being unsafe as a result of termite infestation and damage.  What work that is being undertaken, valiantly, by the rehabilitation staff is being done in temporary but inadequate facilities.
The making, shaping, custom fitting and repair of prosthetic limbs so successfully done in past years at the NRH is no longer possible, given what I have mentioned.
At the request of the NRH, I have outlined to Take My Hands Charity Trust (TMH) in New Zealand the need for extra mobility aids such as walking frames, crutches and wheel chairs to be sent, but more containers of such essentials will be held up until TMH receives a second payment for freight as a requirement of the MOU signed between the MOHMS and TMH.
Notwithstanding there will be delay in getting extra containers to the NRH, there might be the possibility of TMH exploring with professionals in New Zealand an idea of seeing to the needs of those wanting prosthetic limbs custom made and fitted.
I am not able to say more on such a possibility at this time but await further advice from the NRH and from TMH to be able to develop ideas and likely initiatives further and, hopefully, very soon.
TMH is a friend indeed and I have confidence in the charity doing everything possible to come to the aid of the NRH and its needs, including the awaiting limbless.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short

Bina harbour communique signed

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Representatives of the different parties to the Bina/Talifu Land in a group photo with DCCG’s Policy Secretary of Productive Sector of the Policy Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit (PIMEU) Mr Celsus Talifilu ( extreme right) after the signing of the Bina/ Talifu Honiara Communique. Photo from PMO Press Secretariat

THE Government and the resource owners of Bina/Talifilu land have signed a historic communique on Friday last week.

The signing of the Bina/Talifu Honiara Communique was a result of three months of dialogue, discussions and consultations which started on July 28 at the project site in Bina.

From that first consultation meeting the Bina Tuna Processing Plant Project Sub Committee that was established by Cabinet earlier this year made a strategic recommendation to deal with each of the parties individually.

The strategy was useful and resulted in follow up meetings with the primary, secondary and other interesting parties.

The Chairperson of the Bina/Talifilu Sub Committee and Under Secretary (Technical) of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources Mr Ferral Lasi in his remarks before signing of the communique thanked the resource owners for their willingness to work with the Government.

“This marked an important milestone to this Project and it is a real opportunity for the people of Bina/Talifu and also Malaita Province to see this important National Project kick off,” says the Chairperson of the Sub Committee.

“Let me remind you again the government is ready now than ever before to implement this project.”

According to the Policy Secretary of the Government’s Policy, Implementation Unit (PIMEU)’s Productive Sector Mr Celsus Talifilu,

“The Communique continues to stress that the Committee and the representatives of the groups will continue to work closely together in the spirit of inclusiveness.

“In addition the communique contained ten commitment statements that formed the basis of working together by the government and the resource owners going forward.”

In addition to the ten commitment statements, the Communique further provided the five strategic steps that the Committee and the resources owners will take to ensure that the Title of the Land is properly settled by December in a manner that is transparent and in accordance with the relevant laws and customary practice of the locality.

“The resource owners are confident that the 5 strategic steps have provided them a very clear pathway for them to settle the issues that are for so long been the backbone of failure for this project,” says Talifilu.

The resource owners also thanked the DCC Government and especially the Cabinet Sub Committee for their untiring commitment in ensuring the groups are assisted with the most appropriate advice.

The resource owners and the Government through the Cabinet Sub Committee have made a commitment that by December 2017 the names of the trustees will be inscribed to the Titles sheet.

This will be the ultimate milestone for this project for this year 2017.

–OPMC PRESS

Solar panels manufacturing factory for Honiara

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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DURING a speech at Taiwan’s National Day celebrations in Honiara yesterday, the ROC Ambassador, H.E. Roger Luo, told the audience that leading Taiwanese solar manufacturer, Speedtech, would be coming to the Honiara to set up a solar panel factory early next year.
 
For many years, through the local media, I have raised the prospect of such a venture by Taiwan.
 
In the industrial zone of Eastern Bangkok, the Taiwanese helped to set up and manage a huge switch gear factory that employs more than ten thousand local people working three 8 hour shifts every day.
 
I saw the benefits the factory created for local employment and lifestyle opportunities the workers enjoy and often wrote expressing the hope Taiwan would help the Solomon Islands in what I deemed to be practical and tangible aid.
 
I am really very pleased to learn that the Taiwanese Government, after a request from Prime Minister Sogavare during his recent visit to Taipei, agreed to the business investment idea.
 
I very much hope more Taiwanese companies will explore further such business opportunities for investment in the Solomon Islands and help create jobs and aid the economy.
 
Meanwhile, yesterday, in Vanuatu, the Asian Development Bank and Vanuatu signed an agreement for a $US15.1 million project to increase the availability of renewable energy on Malekula and Espiritu Santo.
 
RNZI reported that the ADB’s James Lynch said the project will deliver an increased supply of clean, renewable electricity to households in Malekula and Espiritu Santo and have a positive effect on rural livelihoods.
 
About 75 percent of Vanuatu’s population lives in rural areas and have limited access to electricity nationwide, with the electrification rate at just 33 percent.
 
Where electricity is available, it is mostly generated from diesel and other fossil fuels.
 
Yours sincerely
 
Frank Short

PMO bites back at veteran journo

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Deputy Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare

THE Prime Minister’s office has ridiculed claims by veteran journalist Alfred Sasako on exorbitant entitlements of the special secretary to the PM and the PMO chief of staff.

And has called on the media association MASI to seriously ensure “journalists conduct themselves in the highest professional manner”.

In a strong media statement, the PMO said, “OPMC wishes to strongly inform that this is once again an example of poor journalism on the part of Alfred Sasako and reiterates the need for journalists to verify facts before publishing articles in the print media.

“Mr Sasako possesses the phone and email contacts of both the Chief of Staff and the Special Secretary to the Prime Minister (SSPM) yet he chose not to verify the article before going to print.

“This speaks volumes about the manner of professionalism displayed by Mr Sasako further to other such misrepresentations which have been made in the print media.

“Mr Sasako’s allegation of $12,000.00 for transport is erroneous. All SS4 contracts have a standard amount of $6,000 transport allowance before tax which includes the Policy Secretaries.

“However, had Mr Sasako verified his facts, he would have found out that the Chief of Staff has forfeited that allowance since being allocated a Government issued vehicle earlier this year which can be officially verified.

“The Government vehicle issued to the Prime Minister’s Private Office that is headed by the Special Secretary to the Prime Minister, is garaged at the OPMC Carpark.

“Further, Business Class travel is a standard term incorporated into all SS4 contracts.

“The negotiation of contracts is a standard exercise which requires substantive justification and is subject to mandatory approvals which includes the endorsement of the Public Service Commission.

“For someone who holds himself as a veteran journalist, such conduct is unbecoming and demeaning.”

–OPMC PRESS

Solomon Islands students studying Mandarin language

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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DEAR Editor,
It was mentioned in the SUN newspaper this week that the Prime Minister, on his recent visit to Taiwan, was surprised and delighted to learn that there were more than 100 Solomon Islands students in tertiary education centres in Taiwan studying Mandarin.
I offered by congratulations to all those students studying Mandarin as a second language for I, too, greatly benefitted from learning Cantonese at the Hong Kong Government Language School and found having the proficiency in Chinese, although not Mandarin, extremely useful when travelling in South-East Asia, particularly when returning to visit Hong Kong, in Singapore and also useful in mastering Thai, because both Cantonese and Thai are tonal languages.
I would encourage all Solomon Island students to consider studying a second language, especially those which will enhance their job prospects, travel opportunities and business development interests.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short

Miss Pacific praises PM Sogavare on women issues

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare stands in a group photo with the reigning 2017 Miss Pacific Islands to his right and the contestants to the 2017 Miss Solomon Islands Pageant.

THE Prime Minister Hon. Manasseh Sogavare MP was humbled by the high praise received from the reigning 2017 Miss Pacific Islands, Ms. Anne Christine Dunn this week.

The Miss Pacific Islands was responding to comments made by the Prime Minister during a courtesy visit made to the Prime Minister this week by the 2017 Miss Solomon Islands Pageant contestants of which she was part of.

“It is such a privilege and is so encouraging to hear from you [the Prime Minister] and how much you understand about the issues of women in your society,” says Ms Dunn.

Ms Dunn further reiterated that she is proud to learn that issues relating to women and girls such as challenges between traditional culture and modern society is being very well understood at the top national level.

According to the Prime Minister, “It is a challenge for many women and girls in this country to adhere to their traditional cultures thus performing their roles in the modern society.”

He further stated that platforms like the MSIP is important because it helps to boost and empower women to drive issues and matters that need their intervention, and also to make way for more women to be influential citizens in our societies.

Speaking on this year’s theme ‘Women in Peace and Harmony with Society’ of the MSIP, Sogavare expresses that another challenge is to have more women taking on leadership roles and it will be the challenge of the contestants to be able to drive the theme.

The Director of the Miss Solomon Islands Pageant (MSIP), Ms Joyce Konofilia also expresses her gratitude to the Prime Minister for his continuous support to the MSIP.

–OPMC PRESS

FFA distances itself from MFMR’S blue boat controversy

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Wez Norris, FFA’s Deputy Director General

BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

THE forum fisheries agency (FFA) has clarified that it had requested to use only one of the three Vietnamese blue fishing boats – NOT all three.

This puts in question why the other two were not destroyed by Iona Firi as agreed with the Ministry of fisheries (MFMR).

A source within the ministry tells Island Sun that the contractor was not given instructions to hold up the demolition of the other two boats – thus the question of ‘why the delay?’

Meanwhile, FFA has clarified its position to distance itself from ongoing controversy revolving round the Vietnamese blue boats, which were supposed to have been destroyed four weeks ago.

Wez Norris, FFA’s Deputy Director General, tells Island Sun that the Court had accepted FFA’s request, ordering one boat be put aside for research – however, this plan did not proceed due to lack of funds.

“The court decision directed that one boat be set aside to participate in this trial and the MFMR has been very helpful in making sure this happened.

“It is our job to monitor tuna vessels for the Pacific countries and we wanted to undertake a trial to see if we can also use technology to help in finding blue boats.

“Unfortunately when we started planning the trial, we discovered that it would cost far more than the budget that we had available.”

Public are questioning MFMR why the destruction of the other two boats had not proceeded as ordered by the court.

The Ministry of Fisheries (MFMR) had struck a deal with contractor, Iona Firi, to have the three boats disposed of within four weeks – a deal which cost $400,000 for taxpayers and government.

Interestingly, that four-week timeframe lapsed four weeks ago with the blue boats still lurking around Honiara and Tulagi – many miles away from the proposed demolition site in Langalanga, Malaita province.

This has sparked much public concern that this deal was another fishy scheme by the fish ministry to dupe taxpayers of $400,000.

Making matters worse, MFMR has decided to keep silent to questions posed by media to clarify the blue boat fiasco.

In social media, public are suspicious of this fruitless deal between MFMR and Iona Firi, and are calling for clarification from the ministry.

“In other words, the ministry is breaching court order by prolonging the boats’ destruction. And the ministry’s silence raises suspicions even more,” one Facebook commentator chirps.

Island Sun is still after response from the ministry regarding this issue.

MEHRD hides benefit from retiree

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY JARED KOLI

A retired teacher has slammed the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MEHRD) for barring her from her long and dedicated service benefit (LDSB).

Ereteta Nantara, who was a teacher for 35 years prior to retirement in 1996, applied for LDSB in 2015 but since then has not received a dollar from the concerned ministry.

“It has been two years now since my application and it seems that the officer have been stalling me all along with requests and excuses that seem to be unreasonable.

“I was told to produce a letter from my Education Authority, and that I did alongside a medical report from the doctor as proof that I was really sick,” Mrs Nantara said.

She said she produced all the documents requested last year only to be told that the budget for LDSB had run out hence would have to come back again the following year.

Early this year, Mrs Nantara returned to Honiara from the Western Province and went back to see the officer in-charge and collect her LDSB but was told that the fund was already deposited in her account in 2012.

She then went to the bank to confirm the transaction but her bank statement showed no such amount was deposited into her account in the said year.

She then went back to the MEHRD office with her bank statement as evidence that she did not receive the amount of $13,405-40 in her account.

Mrs Nantara informs that the Officer claimed that a mistake was made and that they did deposit the money but not in 2012 but much earlier, in 2009.

Bank statement for 2009 also shows no money being deposited as claimed by the education ministry, hinting that Mrs Nantara had been sent on a wild goose chase.

“I am old and tired and I don’t understand why they would deposit my LDSB six years even before I applied. I have provided all the documents they required but still no positive feedback.

“Even all the information they have concerning the years I spent in service and what level I am at is all wrong.

“I was told to produce a letter from controlling authority that was in charge of me and that I did alongside a medical report from the doctor as proof that I was really sick.”

Attempts to speak with the Ministry of Education and Human Resources turned unsuccessful yesterday as responsible staff was out from the office when the paper called in. However, the paper is seeking comments from the office.

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