Unauthorised contract awarding will be stopped, says city clerk

BY NED GAGAHE

HONIARA City Clerk Justus Denni says effective as of January 4, 2023 Honiara City Council (HCC) is taking a tough stance on procurement and awarding of contracts for small works done for HCC.

In an interview with the Island Sun yesterday, Denni said in the past procurement and issuing of contracts were done without approval or authorisation before work is carried out, goods are delivered or service is provided.

These works include brushings, tree felling and clearance, building repairs, vehicle repairs and maintenance, printing of HCC documents and receipt books, supply of uniforms, supply of office equipment, supply of stationeries, supply of cleaning detergents and toiletries, supply of toners and provision of security service.

Denni said such practice has to be stopped.

He further said that the current administration has seen the importance of accountability and having proper management of how these processes were done.

Denni also confirmed that most of the small contracts providing these services for HCC have already expired at the end of 2022 with only few still have valid contracts to continue this year.

He further added that effective as of January 4, 2023 no procurement and contract for small works will be recognized and honored unless prior approval is obtained from or is duly authorized by the City Clerk.

He said the office of the City Clerk will not authorize payment for any procurement or contract which does not get prior approval or authorization before work is carried out, goods are delivered or service is provided.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday January 4, 2023 HCC also issued a statement. The statement was directed to government ministries, state owned enterprise, private sector entities, organisations and individuals.

“This restriction order applies to and includes procurements and contracts for brushings, tree felling and clearance, building repairs, vehicle repairs and maintenance, printing of HCC documents and receipt books, supply of uniforms, supply of office equipment, supply of stationeries, supply of cleaning detergents and toiletries, supply of toners and provision of security service,” the statement says.

BY IRWIN ANGIKI

Copen drug is evolving and becoming more potent, a Borderline resident warns.

Kwaso, the illegal home-made liquor, is reportedly the latest ingredient in the production of Copen.

This poses greater risks for Copen users and their communities.

The East Honiara Borderline resident, who requests anonymity, says kwaso replaces water when making Copen to provide a ‘stronger kick to that high feeling users get when taking Copen’.

The resident also warns that authorities need to act fast because the Copen business is highly lucrative with a huge turnover, and that more and more people are becoming users.

“Copen profit is just too much to resist. You spend say $100 for ingredients and production, and end up earning $600.

“Producers spend $100 and cook Copen, produce 120 packets, sell each for $5. This process can be repeated four to five times per day because of the high demand.

“A normal sales day rakes in thousands of dollars for producers and salesmen and women.

“Users range from children as young as five, to primary and secondary students, unemployed boys, girls, men and women, employed men and women, non-smokers and smokers.

“Marijuana sellers are switching to selling Copen, even marijuana users are switching to Copen.”

People have reportedly become ill from Copen, with stories of Copen being implicated in the death of some people, the resident says.

“In our neighbourhood of the huge Borderline settlement, people have become ill from Copen. Mid last year a group of men and women came and chased the producer who is my neighbour, demanding compensation because their kid had fallen ill after taking Copen purchased from him.

“I hear several stories of some people having died, one who was reported to be drunk and took Copen and it was believed she accidentally swallowed it,” the resident said.

Students are reportedly losing the interest to go to school, or are doing poorly at school in relation to Copen usage, the resident adds.

“Most of the users in my neighbourhood are young girls, teens, followed by young students. More and more of these children are not going to school, preferring to hang out with their peers and get high on scoop [street name of Copen].

“My neighbour is having a hard time with her two young children, having to force them every day to go to school.”

Last year Island Sun reported the extent of Copen in the country with incidence reported from Choiseul and Western province in the west to Temotu province in the east.

It is reportedly prevalent in Honiara, Renbel province and Wagina, Choiseul province.

Copen is still to be recognised and defined by law as a drug or as an illegal one. This remains to be an obstacle to law enforcement against the substance.

Drug and Alcohol unit of Community policing could not be reached yesterday for comments, however, an officer told Island Sun in November last year that because the law does not recognise Copen, police cannot do much against it.

“There is a lot needed to be done on Copen such as research, laboratory studies and investigation, and as for now, we can only do limited awareness on Copen to schools and communities we visit,” the officer said.

Initially, the Copen problem was left to parents and communities to tackle.

But, on December 5 last year, minister for Health Dr Culwick Togamana took a new turn on the campaign against Copen by revealing that it has caught his ministry’s attention.

He said the Health ministry will take Copen head-on with a to-do list which includes: sending samples overseas for testing, upgrading the lab here to enable Copen testing to be carried out locally, working with police against Copen, put together a communication plan against Copen, work with the Education ministry to carry out a survey nationwide to gauge the effects and impacts of Copen.

Copen is made using household items and tobacco leaves. Its ingredients are readily accessible in the country, which is seen as a factor to its huge prevalence.

Growing unemployment must be urgently addressed, says Vunagi

By EDDIE OSIFELO

GOVERNOR General Sir David Vunagi has highlighted the need to address the growing unemployment in the country.

This comes after university graduates and school drop outs could not find any jobs in both public and private sectors.

Delivering his New Year’s message on the 1^st of January 2023, Sir David said it is obvious there is no quick solutions to this problem.

He said the seasonal mobility schemes in Australia and New Zealand may assist to alleviate the situations, but not the panacea.

Sir David said maybe the graduates and schools should try to create job opportunities and not merely waiting around to be employed.

Furthermore, he said Solomon Islands is abundantly rich in resources, which are divine gifts for us to use and enjoy.

“In view of that, universities, schools and training centres need to review the curriculum they offer to the students.

“The status quo for schools and university to prepare their students for white collar jobs or even blue-collar jobs is no longer true,” he said.

Sir David said very often students graduated with theory and academia, something very abstract but lacking economic strategy.

“I believe economic strategy is a missing link that needs to be incorporated into the schools’ curriculum.

“The economic strategy should instill in students what is available to them after graduations, including what financial facility is available to help them create jobs,” he said.

Further to that, Sir David said students must be encouraged to exercise resilience and the freedom of taking risks to pursue tasks to create jobs.

He said it is the morale responsibility of the nation to see these things available for newly graduating students from our universities, schools and training centres.

Moreover, he said it’s been a practice that school levers drift to urban centres in search for job opportunities.

However, he said constituencies that make up the nine provinces are resource owners.

“That said, provincial governments are indirectly resource owners, so they should engage in economic activities to provide job opportunities for their working age populations in their provinces.

“Let us not put all the eggs in the national basket,” he said.

Sir David said after 44 years of Independence, we should now be able to define the manpower needs of this country.

He said in the pre-independence era, scholarships were offered to successful candidates who would occupy jobs that are available to them when they graduated from universities.

However, he said that is not happening now because we are offering scholarships to students that do not have jobs to come back to.

“In view of that, we must establish a general conscious plan for training where our human resources development can take us to.

“It is only those who do not know where they are going, can afford to travel without a map,” he said.