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LONGEST JAIL TERM

Written by
Jennifer Kusapa
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The High Court of Solomon Islands. Photo by SIBC.

Couple killers to spend 53 years in prison

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

CHIEF Justice Sir Albert Palmer has imposed a minimum term of 53 years sentence on Jimson Erega Goufi and Raymond Keota before they can be considered for parole.

The prisoners Goufi and Keota were convicted on 6 September 2018 of the double murder of the Chinese couple at their town ground shop, and commenced serving their mandatory sentence of a life imprisonment on that date.

Sir Albert in his ruling on the minimum sentence yesterday said the determination of the court on the minimum sentence to be served was in line with recent changes to the law on the imposition of a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment for murder.

He said Section 200 of the Penal code imposes on a conviction of murder a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.

However, Sir Albert said there is no law which requires the imposition of a minimum term by the Court in such cases to be served before the prisoner is eligible to be considered for parole.

This, he pointed out, means once a conviction of murder is entered a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment is imposed.

Sir Albert explained that the requirement for the imposition of a minimum term came about with the enactment of new legislation, the Correctional Services Act 2007 (No 8 of 2007) the Correction Services (Amendment) Act 2008 (No 6 of 2008) and the Correctional Services Regulation 2008.

This included those serving mandatory life imprisonment sentence before they can be eligible for parole.

This has changed the landscape for sentences of life imprisonment for murder. Prior to this the court was not required to impose any minimum sentence for murder.

“I am satisfied this case falls within the very serious or most serious cases category,” Sir Albert said.

“I have indicated that this is one of those extremely rare case in which the attack involving the use of a weapon was pre-planned and the killing pre-mediated,” he added.

“They took time to carefully think through and plan what they going to do.

“They knew what was going to happen and, on the day, sought to implement to calculated ferocity and viciousness.

“After killing the husband, they did not stop there but proceeded also to kill the wife when she ran out from the kitchen to see what was happening.”

Sir Albert said the killing was done by none other than one of their own security guards (a supposedly trusted employee), who had engaged an accomplice to assist him in carrying out this heinous crime.

He said the defendants took advantage of a position to trust to commit the crime.

“The least the couple expected was to be attacked by one of their very own employees.”

Sir Albert said a clear message in terms of deterrence, needs to be sent out that this type of killing will not be tolerated in this country.

“Security guards should be men and women of honour, loyalty and trust.

“If they cannot discharge that honorable duty to their employer or master, then they should consider finding another job.

“The killing involved a betrayal of trust and confidence between an employer and an employee relationship.

“The couple were business people running a number of businesses at the premises they were killed.”

After assessing and considering all the facts of the case, Sir Albert sets a starting point of 50 years, for additional aggravating features, increase the minimum sentence by 5 years and reduce the term through mitigation that they are both first time offenders by a period of two years.

Therefore, the minimum term to be served by each prisoner is 53 years and commenced from the time both prisoners were remanded in prison for the said offence.

SolAir strikes deal to clean up country’s environment

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Press Release
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Solomon Airlines and Nufuels Ltd, a New Zealand-based clean technology company, have signed a partnership to work together to support the clean-up of plastics and other environmentally harmful waste from the Solomon Islands environment and to support local communities in sustainable environmental energy projects.

The companies will work with communities and corporate partners to develop regular environmental cleanups to maintain cleaner waterways and roadside areas and will train community representatives to use technology to convert that waste to energy to lower household poverty and create new work opportunities.

“Solomon Airlines has a historic commitment to community based waste solutions and to the development of tourism, particularly eco-tourism, so we are particularly pleased to support this program,” said Solomon Airlines CEO Brett Gebers.

“There are numerous positive outcomes from cleaning up our surroundings, waterways and coastlines and introducing new technology which converts that waste to lower emissions and reusable energy. Through this partnership, we can also discover possibilities to utilising by-products in our own operation,” he said.

“The initial focus will include Central Honiara, Henderson and Munda, and establish processes to mitigate potential pollution which could have a negative impact on tourism development,” Mr Gebers added.

New Zealand-based Nufuels Ltd are the developers of simple community-scale ‘waste to energy’ technology designed for the Solomon Islands and wider Pacific. The technology converts processed waste to usable energy which is in turn economically used by local communties.

In the Solomon Islands, Nufuels and Solomon Airlines will identify and address areas where plastics wastes are visible or harmful to the local environment, including land, river corridors and fragile marine environments.

In the longer term, the partners will explore the development of bio-diesel for initial use in the Solomon

Airlines ground fleet, and establish a system that can be accessed in the Henderson area.

Under a United Nations Small Project Fund initiative, Nufuels currently has three waste conversion systems to be deployed to St Martin’s Rural Training Centre Honiara, Kaotave Rural Training Centre, Guadalcanal and to St Peter’s Rural Training Centre, Gizo, Western Province including the Plasticwise Gizo group.

The systems are being built by the Henderson based Design and Technology Centre in partnership with Nufuels Ltd, with some components coming from New Zealand. This initiative builds on a pilot project funded by the New Zealand Government and Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand.

In conjunction with local communities, 6-9 months of training and community coordination are planned to embed the systems within each community and to assist utilisation of the recovered energy.

“Using simple technology we can recover usable energy from collected waste plastic using a process called pyrolysis,“ said Leigh Ramsey, Managing Director of Nufuels.

“Under our program, we provide communities with this technology as well as operational training to extract the energy from plastic waste and we encourage substituting this recovered energy for purchased fuels to help support households.

“Our approach is to address environmental preservation and to provide an ongoing community benefit at the same time.

“By working with communities to regularly clean up our environments we are assisting education about the importance of environmental preservation and by converting gathered waste to energy we are illustrating new possibilities that can assist to combat poverty and support the creation of jobs.

“Access to recovered energy can lessen household running costs by using the energy for cooking, clean water, for lighting and small generators, and also support small business production such as food drying and small scale manufacture,” Mr. Ramsey said.

“Importantly the training, education, and operational aspects of our projects are achievable for men and women. We are particularly keen to see increased participation by women,” he added.

“We already have two communities with existing waste conversion systems in the Solomon Islands and are now establishing three more.

“Looking forward we will steer on-going engagement with the contracted community coordinators based in Honiara and Munda working with the three new communities and two communities with existing systems.

”Recovered energy has an estimated 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over standard fuels and over time we see more opportunities to work closely with like-minded eco-tourism businesses such as Solomon Airlines and to explore bio-fuels and associated emulsion fuel initiatives within Solomon Islands and the wider Pacific,” he said.

–SOLAIR PRESS

China to fund cardiac theatre

Written by
Mavis Podokolo
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The National Referral Hospital (NRH) in Honiara

BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO

THE People’s Republic of China have sealed an agreement with the Ministry of Health and Medical Services to finance a cardiac theatre aimed at dealing with heart diseases in the country.

This was confirmed by the Minister of Health and Medical Services, Dr Culwick Togamana yesterday in Parliament.

“One MOU signed with the PRC is to establish a cardiac theatre to deal with heart diseases related to Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) too,” Togamana said.

Togamana said this new cardiac theatre will be built on the East of the National Referral Hospital.

He adds that MHMS had also put together efforts in addressing this NCD, but this is a collective effort and should not be left to the Ministry alone to deal with.

 “Our people must be responsible and accountable for their own health as well.

“And it is important at the household level and community level we must continue to advocate importance of diet, important of healthy activities.

“These are vital to reducing NCD,” he added.

Forestry Bill still in the works, 3 years on

Written by
Eddie Osifelo
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By EDDIE OSIFELO

WORK on the outstanding Forestry Bill is still ongoing, three years on since the government came into power in 2019.

Attorney General, John Muria Junior confirmed this when responding to questions by the Chairman of Public Accounts Committee, Douglas Ete and Opposition Leader Matthew Wale in Parliament yesterday.

Muria Junior said the draft has been circulated and is in the process of ‘finalising’.

He said the ministry is trying to iron out some issues before finalising it and should be signed soon.

Island Sun understands the Solomon Forest Association had gone through the Drafting Instructions of the Forestry Bill last year.

The main objective of the Bill is to make amendments to the Forest Resources and Timber Utilisation Act, Cap 40, in order to make it more robust and forward looking in nature to cater for the new activities and developments which is occurring in the forestry sector now and into the future its fundamental aims and objectives.

The secondary objectives and purposes of the recommended Amendment to the Forest Resources and Timber Utilisation Act include:

Enable the Act to accommodate changes in the Forestry sector and establish the platform for changes in the Forest Resources and Timber Utilisation Act and its relevant Regulations [2005]

The licensing and enforcement of the relevant conditions of the License

One of the recommended Amendments is the Commissioner of Forest Resources” should be replaced with the word “Forestry Technical Committee” (Commissioner will issue License based on the advice of the Forestry Technical Committee).

According to section 10 (1) the word “appropriate Government” should be replaced with the word “Council of Chiefs” and the word “Customary Land Appeal Court” should be replaced with the word “Tribal Land Panel” (as Local Court will no longer have the power to hear Land matters).

Section 17, a fine of three thousand dollars or imprisonment for two years or to both such fine and imprisonment” should be replaced with the phrase “a fine of fifty thousand dollars and five years’ imprisonment or both’.

There will be a Forestry Board established to:

To receive appeals from the Minister of Forestry and Research from aggrieved parties

To advise the Minister to lift suspended license and reinstate cancelled Felling License.

To advise the Minister of Forests on appeal matters generally

Any other matters that are referred to the Board by the Minister.

Make decisions on issues pertaining to all Forestry plantations either owned by individual, family or community.

To call up relevant expertise to advise on technical matters when needs arise.

Deliberate on the Declaration of a Moratorium when the need arises

Deliberate on forest clearance for other development purposes e.g., Agriculture, Palm oil, mining, major settlements, infrastructure developments,

To advise the government of the day on Forest Policy issues, e.g., policy review.

Forestry Board’s decision is final

Furthermore, the Ministry of Forestry and Research will put in place a Budget for all Timber Rights Hearing. The total amount should not exceed $80,000.00 dollars per sitting.

Govt exercises caution with federal constitution

Written by
Eddie Osifelo
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Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare

By EDDIE OSIFELO

GOVERNMENT is taking a cautionary approach in dealing with the Federal Constitution to give state governance to the provinces in order to avoid disintegrating the country.

This was after big provinces like Guadalcanal, Western and Malaita demanded self-autonomy rather than being the agents of the National Government under the Unitary system.

Guadalcanal has given the National Government until 2026 to become a state government.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare told Parliament yesterday they are concerned about national unity because the country has been coexisting before independence and inter-marriage has already spread throughout the country.

He said the formula inside will come down to kind of powers to state government to encourage not to break away.

Sogavare said there are also close ethnic ties between people in eastern region with Vanuatu and people of Western Province and Choiseul with Bougainville.

“We need to handle it very carefully.

“When we give state government, we guarantee a country that survive. Not everyone will go one time,” he added.

Opposition Leader, Matthew Wale urged the Prime Minister to exercise maturity and responsibility and not react to passing emotion.

It needs two thirds of Parliamentary support to pass the Federal Constitution System.

The development of the draft Federal constitution started in 2004 with support from UNDP.

More than $100 million was spent on awareness and consultation on the draft constitution.

The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands resisted it base on costs and consultation started again in 2009 but could not reach any resolution.

The Constitutional Reform Unit in the Office of Prime Minister continued the work on the draft Federal report in 2011 and 2014.

The Government has also engaged eminent constitutional scholar, Professor Yash Ghai to review the draft Federal Constitution.

The push for the change of governing system came about after bigger provinces like Western Province and Guadalcanal argued that most of the revenues in the National budget derived from their resources.

Govt plans to table TRC Report before term ends

Written by
Eddie Osifelo
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National Parliament of Solomon Islands

By EDDIE OSIFELO

THE Democratic Coalition Government for Advancement (DCGA) plans to table the longstanding Truth and Reconciliation report in this 11th Parliament.

The two five-volume reports have many recommendations on how Solomon Islands could heal from the trauma of the ethnic conflict between 1999-2003.

The National Coalition for Reform and Advancement (NCRA), led by Gordon Darcy Lilo had managed to table the TRC report at end of Parliament’s life in 2012.

This disallowed Members of Parliament to deliberate on the report.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare told Parliament yesterday the Ministry of Traditional Governance, Peace and Ecclesiastical Affairs (MTGP&EA) is working on a metric to give a bird’s eyeview on what demands the government to address.

Sogavare said the Ministry will produce the metrics to the government and table in Caucus and Cabinet to look at it.

He said precedent had set where the government paid around $300 million on loss of properties to victims of the tension.

Sogavare added there are other demands that come which some are new.

“We need skills.

“Then we can make decision on the precedent set,” he added.

Furthermore, Sogavare said another cost is to print the two volumes of the report and distribute to Members of Parliament.

“We want to table in 11th Parliament and take one to two weeks to deal with it,” he added.

Parliament continues with the 2022 Appropriation Bill 2022 at 9.30am today.

Gov’t reveals Wale plotting to stall 2023 Games

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Press Release
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Opposition leader, Matthew Wale

Government is concerned that the Leader of Opposition has gone overboard to scheme up a plan to stall the 2023 Pacific Games.

Government revealed that Matthew Wale’s plan is detailed in a publication by THE STRATEGIST- an online website.

Government revealed that Wale has suggested to Australia to ‘review’ its aid support and specifically suggesting to Australia, United States and other aid donors to withhold support for the 2023 Pacific Games.

“The Leader of the Opposition went to the extent of suggesting to Australia and USA to influence other Pacific Countries not to participate in the 2023 Pacific Games,” the government stated.

Government is concerned that such a plan is designed to make Solomon Islanders to suffer. To achieve what? Just to turn the public against the Prime Minister so that he can be Prime Minister.

“This is a one-man crusade for power. Unfortunately, he has cunningly used our innocent people to execute this evil plan of his,” the government stated in a media release.

“Wale’s plan shows his lack of humility and empathy of the suffering our people have already suffered because of his planned November Riots. He does not care if people go to prison, all he cares about is removing the Prime Minister so that he can be Prime Minister”, the government statement pointed out.

Government further revealed that Wale’s selfish plans include asking Australia to prevent Solomon Islanders from traveling to Australia via Brisbane.

“Wale further claimed that ministers in the government are not happy with the security pact with Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) and claimed that this will be the cause of the downfall of the government. Wale seem to forget that Cabinet endorsed this Security Agreement and it was not one that was entered into by the Prime Minister,” the government statement added.

“What is more alarming, Wale is using the ignorance of the majority of Solomon Islanders to claim that everyone is against the security pact with PRC. Wale knows too well that the majority of Solomon Islanders are based in the rural areas, these are men and women who are concerned more about their day- today living than the political rhetoric in Honiara which Wale is huffing and puffing away with,” the government pointed out.

Government has made it clear that the security pact is to, amongst other things, protect and safeguard peace loving Solomon Islanders and their properties. It is to prevent what has happened in Myannmar from happening here in Solomon Islands.

“The Chinese built infrastructures are ours. Last Friday the training facility for our people and athletes was officially handed over to the Government and people of Solomon Islands,” the government said.

Government also highlighted that Wale’s continuous claim of an early warning he sounded to Australia’s embassy in Honiara is highly questionable as someone in the know claimed that the Australian ambassador never recalled having an audience with the Leader of Opposition in 2021 or thereabout.

Government has made it publicly that Australia remains the partner of choice in development needs of the country, and that sentiment will never change as long as the government is in power.

Government already had a fruitful meeting with a USA high level delegation and the meeting sets the basis for another meeting in September. On Monday the Government also had a meeting with a high level delegation who flew in from Tokyo.

“We have escalated our engagement with our bilateral partners and they have responded, all with the aim of developing our beloved country. Sadly, Wale is only interested in being the Prime Minister and not development,” the government stated added.

Wale’s hunger for power, is an open book. One has to go back to the election of the Prime Minister to the last motion of no- confidence to get to know the end-game that Wale has been aspiring for.

“Since his time as a Member of Parliament honorable Matthew Wale has been a minister only once and that was more than 10 years ago. His ambition to become Prime Minister has blinded him and he will go to the ends of the earth to achieve it, by using our unsuspecting people to do his dirty work,” the government concluded.

—PMO

Wale highlights need for quality infrastructure in SI

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Press Release
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OPPOSITION Leader Matthew Wale has highlighted the need for reasonable quality infrastructure in roads, bridges, wharves, airstrips and public amenities.

In his recent Budget Debate Speech, Wale said the Government does not have the resources to meet all the infrastructure needs in the country.

Therefore, he said it must be prioritized.

He said to prioritize infrastructure needs; the government must adopt a transparent set of guidelines and rules that apportions weight based on economic as well as social considerations in determining which projects make the priority list.

“Of course, there will always be political considerations to take into account. But to make politics the overriding determining factor for prioritization of infrastructure projects is neither good nor strategic, and is likely to result in poor quality expenditure,” he said.

Mr Wale said the quality of workmanship and therefore poor-quality outcomes continue to mark infrastructure investments by the government.

He said there is need to strengthen the technical capacity of contractors to ensure quality work and the need for the procurement system to eliminate poor quality contractors over time.

“The re-establishment of provincial PWDs needs to be fast tracked. These units need to be adequately equipped and trained to be responsible for the regular upkeep of provincial roads, bridges, airstrips & wharves,” he said.

The Opposition Leader said the technical capacity of the MID is overstretched for the workload funded in the 2022 budget, to say nothing of the broader infrastructure needs.

He said this has a significant bearing on all the issues affecting budget outcomes.

As part of the 2022 Budget, $12m is for the National Transport Initiative programme, comprising of and increase in number of shipping vessels in 2022 and procurement of plant & machineries.

Poor quality infrastructure is the result of underinvestment, underfunding, poor procurement systems, design issues, lack of robust timely inspections and accountability,” he said.

Wale said MID needs the technical capacity to consistently maintain high standards for infrastructure in the country.

“Government must invest in MID’s technical capacity. This budget underinvests in infrastructure. But even with this underinvestment, ministry capacity is a clear bottleneck for effective execution,” the Opposition Leader said.

—Opposition Press

Bomb team meets with visiting Japanese Delegation

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OIC EOD Inspector Tunuki and the Japanese Vice Minister for foreign affairs Uesugi

The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) of the Royal Solomon Island Police Force (RSIPF) met with the Japan’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Japanese delegation upon their visit to Hells Point today 26 April 2022.

Speaking during the visit, Minister of Police, National Security and Correctional Services (MPNSCS) Anthony Veke acknowledged the important work the government of Japan is doing by its continued support and assistance in dealing with the unexploded ordnance (UXOs).”

Minister Veke said this is an establishment that has recently received dedicated support from the Japanese government to achieve its goals.

“Our government is committed to ensure that this EOD unit remains an integral part within the RSIPF.”

“However, it is only fair to say that the technicality and specialty of this unit will require outside expertise and support to deliver. And therefore, we greatly appreciate all the support that has been rendered,” Minister Veke said.

Mr Veke said this funding assistance will not be taken lightly, but with deep praise and admiration.

“This support will greatly compliment the ongoing work that the Australian government is currently engaged in with the EOD unit.”

 “Thank you to the vice minister for Foreign Affairs for your visit to this establishment. Please be assured that my government will forever be grateful to what the government of Japan has done for us in terms of our social, economic and security development programs,” he added.

School assessment results will be released this month

Written by
Mavis Podokolo
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Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Education, James Bosamata

BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO

RESULTS of the assessments carried out by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development ENDOC team will be made public end of this month.

This was revealed by the Deputy Secretary for the Ministry of Education James Bosamata.

“The ENDOC education has started this assessment on schools,” Bosamata said.

“And they have started with schools in Honiara and the report will be produced by the end of this month to tell of what the assessment discovered in terms of schools readiness and preparedness for schools opening,” he added.

Bosamata said regarding reopening of schools it was affected by the current surge of the covid-19 cases but advised parents to listen out for future announcement.

He added by appealing to unvaccinated teachers who are eligible to get their jabs to vaccinate as soon as possible and also those who are due for second jab.

“If they do not comply to this no jab no job policy, they will not be allowed to enter classrooms.

“Currently the MEHRD is working together with the Ministry of Health and Medical Services on the Pfizer vaccine roll out at schools.”

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