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Premier Sikilabu speaks highly of Opposition Leader’s watchdog role

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Opposition Leader Hon Wale, Premier Sikilabu and members of the Isabel provincial govt

THE new Isabel Premier Rhoda Sikilabu has spoken highly of the important watchdog role played by the Opposition Leader.

Premier Sikilabu highlighted this when she paid a courtesy visit to the Opposition Leader Matthew Wale today.

She said the Isabel provincial government has a high regard and appreciates the constitutional role of the Opposition Leader.

“We appreciate and recognize the important role you continue to play in our democracy,” she said.

The new premier said her new executive is prepared to work closely with both the government and opposition moving forward.

She emphasized a united approach moving forward.

Opposition Leader Wale in response congratulated Premier Sikilabu again for creating history as the first female premier not only in Isabel but also Solomon Islands as a whole.

“The winds of change has shown that women can make a difference in this country,” he said.

Mr Wale has also spoken highly of the men who have supported the new premier and their vision for the province and her people.

The Opposition Leader also discussed with the premier the importance of decentralization and that its time that provincial governments must be trusted to manage its own affairs.

 Wale also encouraged the Isabel premier to pursue what is best for the province and her people.

New Isabel Provincial executive graces PM.

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Ysabel Premier, Rhoda Sikilabu and her delegation meeting with the Prime Minister yesterday.

The newly elected Premier of Isabel Province and the country’s first female Premier, Rhoda Sikilabu, and her executive have yesterday visited Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare in office.

During the brief courtesy call, honorable Sikilabu reaffirmed her executive government’s support to the national government.

She pledged to implement government’s policies relating to the strengthening of the provincial governments. Mrs Sikilabu affirmed that to be effective agents of the national government, her new executive must get its instruction from the government of the day.

Mrs Sikilabu also acknowledged that her executive as an agent of the national government aligns itself to the national government policies.

“My government is in support of the state government system,” she adds. 

In response, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare congratulated Mrs Sikilabu for her election victory to become the first female Premier.

“Thank you for acknowledging your position as agent of the National government,” said the Prime Minister.

PM Sogavare assured the Isabel Premier of government’s support to Isabel Province to ensure it becomes an effective agent of the national government.

PM Sogavare also acknowledged the social and economic contributions of Isabel Province to the national growth of the country.

He told the new Isabel Provincial executive (as he told all other provincial executives), his office is open whenever advice is needed.   

Positive Outcome to Dialogue between PM and Australian Envoy.

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PM, Foreign Affairs Minister, Police Minister with Special envoy and Australian High Com to Solomon Islands.

Solomon Islands and Australia reaffirmed mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty and agreed to work together as close friends.

Thanks to a ‘talanoa or tok stori’ session between Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare and an Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison’s Special envoy today which resulted in a positive outcome.

The meeting provided a platform for the two countries to better understand each other in particular on Solomon Islands decision to broaden its security partnership with China and other countries.

China remains an important trading partner for both countries. The meeting discussed Australia’s core security concerns, Solomon Islands reassured Australia that its security concerns are domestically focused and compliments current bilateral security Agreement with Australia and the regional security architecture.

Prime Minister Sogavare assured Australia, Solomon Islands will continue to roll out the implementation of its National Security Strategy and uphold its Foreign Policy of “Friends to all and enemies to none.”

Solomon Islands and Australia recommit their governments to cooperate more closely at all levels and tackle issues of common concerns.

“Australia remains our partner of choice.”

The Solomon Islands and Australian partnership is over very many years. Its growth continues to be robust.

Trust is being cemented between the two sovereign states.

17 in quarantine test positive

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Mavis Podokolo
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Chengs Quarantine Station

BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO

SEVENTEEN of the 179 people serving their mandatory quarantine period within the different quarantine stations in Honiara have tested positive for COVID-19.

Minister for Health and Medical Services, Dr Culwick Togamana said these positives cases and their close contacts are being held together for an extended period of days and for additional testings protocols.

He said the remaining people are serving the normal 10 days mandatory quarantine period and will undergo two COVID-19 tests, one at day five to seven and the second test at day 10 of quarantine.

“Extended period of quarantine days and testing for a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 in quarantine is 24 days, with three additional tests.

“First additional test is to be conducted on day 10, second test after another seven days (day 17) and the third test after another seven days (day 24),” Togamana said.

He adds that Honiara is starting to report an increasing number of cases due to more people starting to come into the Solomon Islands.

These will not be counted as case count in Honiara.

Togamana further confirmed that of the 179 persons in quarantine, 171 are from international flights from Brisbane, Fiji and Kiribati and eight from the provinces.

CT scan to go live May

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Mavis Podokolo
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The National Referral Hospital (NRH) in Honiara

BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO 

THE CT scan machine services at the National Referral Hospital is expected to go live May next month.

 Minister of Health and Medical Services Dr Culwick Togamana confirmed this in his covid-19 situational update on Tuesday evening.

“Fellow Citizens and friends, the installation of the CT Scan machines and all its accessories, soft and hardware is underway at NRH,”Togamana said.

He said the installation process of the CT scan machines and all its accessories is led by the Team of experts from Australia with support from the country’s very own local Information, Communications, and Technology (ICT) professionals.

“Once these final tasks are completed as per timeline, the CT scan services should go live, May next month,” Togamana said.

Worrying future as economy shrinks

Written by
Ben Bilua
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Honiara is the beating heart of the country's economy.

BY BEN BILUA
Gizo

THE country’s Macro Poverty Outlook shows a worrying future for the country’s populace.

According to the report, the economy is expected to shrink by -2.9 percent in 2022, reflecting the negative impact of the recent civil unrest and widespread community transmission of the coronavirus.

These events have broad-based economic impacts and create pressure on the fiscal accounts.

A further spread of the coronavirus, higher imported inflation, a return of social unrest, and climate-related disasters will double down the risk to the local economy.

The projection of growth by 2.9 percent this year reflects the impact of recent riot and lockdown in most parts of the country.

The figure represents a sharp deterioration compared to the pre-unrest projection for 2022 which was expecting to gain 4.5 percent growth.

The report states that investments to replace damaged productive capacity caused by the riots are unlikely to gain pace until later in the year.

High demand for imported construction materials and machinery will drive current account into deficit.

The report further stated that the lockdown to contain COVID-19 contributes to shrinking the output in contact-intensive sectors, including services, which represents about 55 percent of output.

“A combination of lower economic activity and elevated spending on COVID-response and business recovery will increase the fiscal deficit.

“The deficit, in turn, will be financed by a further drawdown on the cash buffers and a combination of domestic and external lending.

“Infrastructure investment, a return of business tourism and increased mining activity are expected to support growth over the medium-term.

“An expected rebound of economic activity and spending consolidation will lead to a narrowing of the fiscal deficit in 2023-2024.

“Similarly, the current account deficit will shrink over the medium term reflecting smaller fiscal deficit and reduction in construction-related imports,” the report states.

It states that COVID-19 remains a major risk to the economic outlook.

A low vaccination intake particularly among low-educated and ill-informed populations may lead to the maintenance of a closed border policy, while a further community transmission may have human capital implications and hamper economic recovery.

Judgment on fire-arm case today

Written by
Jennifer Kusapa
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BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

THE man charged with a count of being in possession of a fire-arm will know his fate today.

Judgement on a firearms related case is set to be made today at the Honiara Magistrates Court.

Principal Magistrate Felix Hollision will deliver the judgment via zoom.

This is the case of Alfred Maefalea who was arrested and charged after police allegedly discovered a firearm inside his vehicle in the early hours of June 6, 2020.

He denied the allegation and a trial was conducted on his case.

Police said after they discovered the gun in his vehicle, he was immediately arrested and escorted to the Central Police Station watch house with the firearm where he was formally arrested and placed in police custody.

He then was charged with one count of possession of firearm without license contrary to section 5 (2) (a) of the Firearms and Ammunitions Act.

Police said the Honiara City Response Unit (CRU) was on a routine patrol in the Kukum area when they came across a car parked in the Guzo Point area along the Kukum Highway.

On checking the vehicle, officers discovered the driver asleep in the driver’s seat and believed to be drunk. They also discovered a modified point-22 firearm wrapped in a bag in the boot of the suspect’s vehicle.

Office of the Director Public Prosecution appears on behalf of the crown

ALL EYES ON COVID VARIANTS

Written by
Mavis Podokolo
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Corona

Health focuses on preventing new threat

BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO 

THE Ministry of Health and Medical Service says it remained focused on putting together efforts to prevent the entry of any new variants of covid-19 and its potential community transmission in the country.

Minister of Health and Medical Services Dr Culwick Togamana said the variant the ministry is fighting to prevent is Omicron and BA2, its sub variant.

“If not contained, it can lead to the so- called 2nd wave of COVID-19 infection amongst our population,” Togamana said.

He said in the past days and weeks some communities have either tested positive for COVID-19 or reported COVID-19 like symptoms.

“This means the virus is still transmitting in our communities. So, while the cases are showing a downward trend overall, let’s not let our guards down but continue to uphold and practice public health measures and protocols,” Togamana said.

He said in the Ministry’s effort to swiftly detect Omicron, its subvariants or other COVID-19 variants, the Ministry of Health continues to send samples abroad for genome sequencing, the laboratory procedure to identify and determine the type of COVID-19 variant.

Togamana said recently the Ministry has sent a total of 84 samples, 37 being sent as recently as last Friday to Australia for Genome Sequencing.

“So far, the COVID-19 variant detected is still Delta. Samples sent are selected based on certain criteria to ensure they are valid for genome sequencing,” he said.

Water reservoirs project awarded

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Solomon Water’s General Manager Mr Ian Gooden

Solomon Water has awarded a USD$7.1m (SBD$57 m) contract for the Honiara Water Reservoirs Project (Bid No. SW0662021) to Pacific Engineering Projects ION Exchange joint venture.

Pacific Engineering is a New Zealand based engineering and construction company.

ION Exchange is a water supply and environment management company based in India.

Funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank (WB), the joint venture will construct and commission three new concrete water reservoirs and other works associated with the project.

The three new reservoirs, able to hold a total of approximately 9 million liters of water are as follows:

1.  Titinge Reservoir, a new concrete reservoir of capacity 3ML.

2.  Tasahe Reservoir, replaces an existing steel reservoir with a new concrete reservoir of capacity 3ML.

3.  Panatina Reservoir, replaces an existing steel reservoir with a new concrete reservoir of capacity 2.5ML.

Solomon Water CEO Ian Gooden said “We are thrilled to award the first of our major donor funded Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Sector project projects.  The reservoirs are essential to increase our storage capacity for treated water so that we are able to supply water to all customers with less disruption when we experience network problems or shutdown water supply because of high turbidity or pump breakdowns. The total capacity of the new reservoirs means an extra six hours of storage across the network”.

Solomon Water received two bids, both from joint ventures. 

Construction should start around June and will run for 18 months.

13 charged for illegal border crossing

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Police officers patrolling the Western border with Bougainville. PHOTO ABC

Gizo and Noro Police in the Western Province have charged 13 people out of the 17 who had crossed the Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Solomon Islands (SI) border to Buin last month.

They were charged with one count of restriction of movement of small craft vessels contrary to clause 4 (b) and (c) of the Emergency Powers (COVID-19) (Restriction of Movement of Small Craft Vessels) (Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea Border) Order 2020, to be read with Regulation 17 (1), (a) (i) and (3) of the Emergency Powers (COVID-19) (No.3) Regulation 2021.

Provincial Police Commander (PPC) Western Province Chief Superintendent Mathias Lenialu said the 13 defendants have been released on strict bail conditions while waiting to appear in court on April 18.

Mr Lenialu says communities have to be responsible and take ownership through changing their attitude.

“We are not in normal times. If we decide to ignore the regulations then we will face the consequences.”

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