WESTERN Province has been identified as the leading exporter of copra and log in the first half of the year.
Central Bank of Solomon Islands Quarterly Report states that Western Province has contributed a total of 27 percent to the total output for copra, making it the leading producer of copra this quarter.
Central Province sits behind Western Province contributing 22 percent, while Choiseul contributed 15 percent, Guadalcanal with 14 percent, Makira Province with 11 percent and other provinces contributed the remaining 11 percent.
Again, Western Province has come top on log production compared to other provinces.
The report states that Western province make up the largest proportion of log volume with a 30% share.
This is followed by Guadalcanal with 23%, Isabel with 12%, and Choiseul with 11%. Other provinces not stated above accounted for the remaining 24%.
Copra and log exports are two commodities that have seen improvement in the first quarter of this year.
THE National Cabinet has set October 31, 2021 as the date for all public servants and employees of government agencies and state-owned enterprises to take their first dose of covid-19 vaccine.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare in his nationwide address yesterday said by November 1, 2021, all public servants, and employees of government agencies and SOEs that have not taken their vaccinations will not be allowed to return to their workplaces.
He said the only exceptions will be for those officers with genuine medical contraindications as certified by the Incident Controller, and pregnant women who wish to be vaccinated but were unable to be vaccinated due to pregnancy.
“The Oversight Committee will be presenting an analysis of the implications of this decision on services and options to be considered to address any gaps that might result from public servants who choose not to be vaccinated,” he said.
In relation to all teachers, Sogavare encouraged all education authorities to ensure that all their teachers are vaccinated.
He said the government assists all education authorities through grants and wishes to seek the cooperation of all education authorities to ensure that all teachers and staff funded through government support are vaccinated.
“With regards to all other employers in the country, while it is outside the jurisdiction of the government to enforce its policies on your corporations or companies, I emphasise that you all have a duty of care to protect this country from COVID-19,” the Prime Minister said.
Sogavare said Solomon Islands must learn from other countries where all employers in the private and public sector cooperated to achieve the country’s national vaccination targets so that their borders can reopen quickly.
“I must emphasise that to achieve the 90 percent target, we need the support of all employers, all churches, all communities to increase our vaccination rate to reach 20,000 doses per week. This will ensure we can reopen our borders fully by June 1, 2022,” he said.
The Prime Minister said if we can increase our vaccination numbers above 20,000 doses each week, we will be able to open our borders earlier than June 2022.
Mr Elvis kikolo and his friend smile with cassavas on their shoulders
BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO
THIS year’s World Food Day was honoured with a variety of food displayed in style to raise awareness on the importance of food and to honour farmers in the country.
The three-day event commenced with a float parade starting from the Honiara City Council to Townground, featuring stakeholders and food farmers showcasing different food in their booths.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare who was the guest speaker of the event echoed, “We continue to invest in training our farmers, because the impacts of climate change on people’s live are really disturbing.”
One of the energy farmer enjoys the parade yesterday
He said his government will continue to invest in food security training in terms of supply of tools and equipment.
“We are committed a s government to growing the sector and making it more productive to support our business farmers to feed our nation, grow our economy for good living standard and to improve our health. In simple term this is our vison for the people of Solomon Islands and our nation,” Sogavare said.
Jimi Saelea, Food Agriculture Representative (FAO) on behalf of FAO Director General Mr Qu Dongyu and FAO Sub-regional Coordinator for Pacific Islands, said this year’s World Food day is celebrated under the cloud of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
“On this World Food Day (yesterday), we pay tribute to the Food Hero’s including our rural farmers, fishers, foresters, food processors, market vendors and the back yard gardeners who ensure we had food to eat.
Honiara Central Market vendors Association members
“This World Food Day also calls on all of us to become a food hero ourselves as we continue to transform the ways in which our food is produced, processed, stored, distributed and consumed,” Saelea said.
Permanent Secretary for Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Ethel Francis said speaks highly of all farmers inside the country.
PS for MAL Ethel Francis delivers his speech
“Let me thank all of you our women farmers around the country for your role in the homes and in farming. We who are here today (yesterday) know our women’s contributions to the homes and this sector because we all have farming mothers.
“Allow me to pay respect to our many hardworking farmers around this beautiful country of ours because they are the ones who keeps the wheel turning for us.”
“We often look at the figures and value and forget where and how it happened and what the person that makes it happen went through. These are our unseen heros, true Solomon Islanders,” Ms Francis said.
PM Sogavare and his delegation visiting the noni stall
BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO
THE Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock has launched its 10-year plan for Agriculture Sector Growth Strategy and Investment aimed at capturing the nature of Agriculture investment.
Speaking during the launching and commemoration of the World Food Day, Permanent Secretary for MAL Ethel Francis said this is the first-ever plan launched which will capture the nature of agriculture investment.
“Today (yesterday) we are officially launching our first ever 10-years Agriculture Sector Growth Strategy and Investment Plan 2021-2030.It is the first time we have a longer term plan to capture the nature of agriculture investment in that agriculture it takes time before you fully realise the return of your investment,” Ms Francis said.
Farmers taking part on the parade yesterday
“Our country vision for agriculture sector as presented in this strategy is for our nation to have a “A sustainable, competitive and profitable agriculture sector that enhances economic growth, food sovereignty and prosperity for all Solomon Islanders”. It identifies strategic opportunities and outline ambitious pathways to revitalise the sector,” Francis said.
She said the overall goals are to increase agriculture sector contribution to GDP, increase self-sufficiency through local food supply chains, decreased levels of stunting in children under five years, increased agricultural productivity and value addition , increased profitability for all value chain actors and decreased levels of people living below the poverty line.
Mr Daniel displays with his young helper dressed in copra bag
Jimmy Saelea on behalf of Food Association Organisation (FOA) commended the government through the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock for having accomplished a historic milestone in the development of the 10-year Agriculture Sector Growth Strategy and Investment plan.
“FAO is pleased to have collaborated in this significant achievement with mal and OFAD in putting the plan together.
“This is a significant achievement for the government and MAL and Agriculture sector, more so the country. The agri-food systems in the country will now have a clear plan with which development partners and others may wish to invest. FAO support for plan does not stop here. Already FAO consultants are developing project concept notes and proposals to implement the plan,” Mr Saelea said.
IN the Western Province, climate change has spelt death for many islands, but it has also given birth to one.
Across the jewel seas of the province, there are regretful scenes as small but beautiful islands fall victim to sea level rise caused by climate change.
A report published by Solomon Islands Government Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology on August this year states that, sea level is expected to increase between 0.29 to 1.05 metres by 2100 and will exacerbate coastal erosion and storm surges which already huge problems for low are laying islands.
In some cases, some coastlines may retreat by 30 metres by 2050.
The prediction is based on sea level data from the Honiara tide gauge with records starting from 1981.
A few minutes’ boat drive to the west of Gizo lies a wreckage of Nusa Ivili Island reduced to coral due to sea level rise.
Nusa Ivili was an inhabited Island but its beauty attracted people to frequently visit the island for picnics and leisure activities.
According to Freedom Tozaka, he and his friends last went to the island for a barbeque when returning from Choiseul province back in 2018.
Gizo resident, Freedom Tozaka
“I’m speechless to see how fast this island has sunk underwater. It is sad to see this island gone in a matter of 3 years.
“I was here in 2018 and this Island was full of life,” he said.
Further down, what used to be a ridge connecting Mburuburu islands, Nusa Belama and Sulumania Island has been reduced to sand drowning that one can barely see the landscape underwater.
Some of these small islands belong to Tozaka’s tribe and he said that with them some of their culture and traditional heritage have gone.
Tozaka is from one of the big islands in Western Province called Vella La Vella – few miles from the Islands.
His tribe’s connection to the islands came along way since head hunting days.
“These islands are our lives, we are connected to the islands and what lives within. We are helpless as climate change robbed us without warning. We cannot do much to save these islands,” Tozaka said.
A ridge connecting Mburburu Island, Nusa Belama Island and Sulumania Island reduced to Island due to sea level rise
When he was a child, Tozaka travelled to the island with his parents on a Seagull Engine for a picnic every weekend.
Now at sixty years old, Tozaka said the islands’ landscape has changed.
“These islands are getting smaller in size and there’s not much life within them, unlike in the 80s where we shared these paradise with the seabirds.
Patrick Vilaka, who worked as a boat driver for Western Province Education Authority, shares a similar sentiment saying that close to three small islands have perished recently around Gizo.
There is no official record on the number of disappearing Islands in Western Province. However people like Vilaka who frequently cruising the area have done their own math.
“For me, these islands are my traditional beacons when travelling at sea during bad weather. I used these islands for navigation. Now that they are gone, I find it quite difficult to navigate around these areas when travelling at night or during bad weather,” he said.
Amidst these sad events, there is a bright side of climate change that makes some people smile.
Approximately, 20 kilometres from Gizo, lies Leorava Island which recently came back to life.
Austin Beto, a 75 year-old local residence who live close to Leorava Island said the island was once a dinky little sand rising above the sea level but over the years, the island slowly expanded and in 2009, trees grew and full of life.
Austin Beto
Beto, who lived at Epanga Island in the late-1970s, recalled that his family used to go to Leaorava Island for picnics and fishing in 1990s.
“There was no trees that time but a beautiful beach filled with seabird eggs. Fish was also abundant on the island.
“It is interesting to see what the island has become,” Mr Beto said.
For Vilaka, Leorava Island is a new beacon when travelling eastward from Gizo.
“Leorava Island is like a transit destination for me when travelling from Noro to Gizo. I used to come and rest on the island before going to Gizo,” he said.
Like anywhere in the world, Solomon Islands is vulnerable to climate change.
In his statement during the launching of Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) this year, Minister of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology Titus Fika said Solomon Islands takes adaptation as a matter of survival and not just an option.
He said short to medium term adaptation priorities are set out in the country’s National Adaptation Programme of Action.
“Long-term adaptation plans will be captured in new National Adaptation Plan. Relocation of communities in low-lying and artificial islands must be supported now rather than later,” Fika said.
He said Solomon Islands is serious in meeting its mitigation targets as a moral contribution towards the goal of the Paris Agreement and at the same time to call on bigger emitters to drastically and immediately reduce their emissions to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 oC.
With its limited resources, below average support for resilience programs and other climate mitigation and adaptation activities, and a higher-than-average risk of climate-induced disasters, the people of western province are especially vulnerable.
Premier Suidani is carried on a platform as he and his delegation was welcome by Malaitans in Auki .
Second no confidence motion filed against Malaita premier
BY SAMIE WAIKORI
Auki
MALAITA Premier Daniel Suidani is poised to face his second motion of no-confidence within a year when the Provincial Assembly meets towards the end of this month.
Members of the non-executive group filed the no confidence motion with the Office of the Malaita Provincial Assembly Speaker in Auki yesterday.
“I received notice of the motion at 11am today,” Speaker Ronnie Butala told Island Sun yesterday.
“After looking through the content of the notice, I’m satisfied it had met the criteria under standing orders 106 and 107,” he added.
“The notice will take seven clear days (excluding Saturday and Sunday) from the date of submission before it can be tabled in the provincial chamber for MPAs to debate.”
Butala said the motion will be debated on 27 October.
He has not provided contents of the motion.
Following the sacking of his deputy Randall Sifoni and the subsequent resignation of six executive members, Suidani is believed to be running a minority government.
In October last year, Suidani defeated the first no-confidence motion that was tabled against him.
Incompetence, financial mismanagement and abuse of office were some of the reasons given by provincial assembly member David Baerara for bringing the no confidence motion against Suidani last year.
However, when the motion was finally moved it was defeated by 24 votes to nine.
Suidani is an outspoken critic of the national government’s decision last year to switch Solomon Islands’ diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China.
His government’s refusal to allow any aid from Beijing into the province has been a source of friction at both the provincial and the national levels.
The vehicle that was involved in the incident at the Tenaru bridge. PHOTO BENJAMIN AFUGA
BY JENNIFER KUSAPA
THE man charged for causing death to five people at the Tenaru bridge in July this year is facing manslaughter.
Yesterday the Public Prosecution substituted the charges of causing death to five people by reckless and careless driving to that of manslaughter.
Having the initial charges substituted to manslaughter charges the defence is seeking time so that they obtain further instruction from the defendant for a plea on next occasion.
Deputy Chief Magistrate Ricky Iomea then adjourned the case to October 25 for possible plea to be entered.
This is the case of Danny Benson who was arrested and charged in relation to the fatal road accident at the Tenaru Bridge East of Honiara on July 7, 2021 that took the lives of five people.
Police said the man was carelessly driving the vehicle from the Burns Creek area and his way up to Tenaru Bridge, the driver of the land cruiser saw an incoming vehicle on the Bridge and a parked vehicle at the western end of the Bridge, so the driver of the land cruiser decided to drive through the old Tenaru Bridge where a fundraising was happening.
The vehicle drove straight towards the crowd, hit several people and later stopped. The driver of the land cruiser escaped after the accident but was later arrested. It has been confirmed that the suspect was drunk. Some unknown person later burnt down the land cruiser into ashes.
Emy Rusi of the Public Solicitor’s Office appeared in court on behalf of her colleague Henry Kausimae who represents the accused yesterday.
A total of 100,620 doses of Pfizer covid-19 vaccine has been confirmed to arrive in the country on October 29, 2021.
Permanent Secretary for Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) Pauline McNeil said this over the weekend.
“We are expecting our 100,620 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine will arrive in the country on the 29th of October 2021,” McNeil said.
McNeil said this is administered through the COVAX facility with the support of UNICEF.
“In preparation for the arrival of the Pfizer vaccine, we have now had the ultra-cold chain the equipment which is positioned and stationed at the National Medical Store,” she said.
McNeil said the equipment has the capacity of minus 70 and minus 80 degree Celsius to store the Pfizer vaccine
“So, we have that installed and positioned lo medical store and we are expecting four smaller versions for that equipment that will be arriving,” she said.
Dr Sarah Habu (far right) of the Ministry of Health with Solomon power staff at the main head office.
COVID-19 threat to our health and lives is indiscriminate, every single person more especially those unvaccinated are at risk of getting very sick, admitted to the hospital and die from COVID-19.
As seen in many other countries including our neighbours Fiji and Papua New Guinea, the devastation of COVID-19 spans far and wide affecting almost all socio and economic sectors of the country.
Therefore, it is only fitting that collective efforts to fight against COVID-19 by every single member of the society and across all sectors.
Last week, the Ministry of Health is pleased to roll out COVID-19 awareness to staff of each department of the country’s electricity power provider, Solomon Power.
This includes corporate division, finance and customer services, regulatory and metering team, transmission, distribution, and generation.
A wonderful opportunity indeed that saw many whom have already taken their vaccines doses attending the sessions to increase their knowledge about the vaccines to spread the message to their families and friends.
MHMS’s Dian Maggie Row presenting to Solomon Power Staff COVID-19 vaccines.
Few who are yet to get their jabs had the opportunity to ask questions to Ministry of Health’s health promotion officers and doctor accompanying the team to ensure that all concerns, doubts, fears and anxiety properly addressed.
Director Health Promotion Adrian Leamana said that health promotion unit engaged to manage risk communication related to the current COVID-19 vaccine roll out is encouraged to see requests from various organizations and institutions for COVID-19 vaccine awareness.
“It was a pleasure indeed for our team to have conducted the session with Solomon Power last week and more importantly that even those who already had their jabs also attended to acquire more information about the vaccines to share with their families and friends,” Leamana said.
“There is significant level of limitations that our teams are facing in pushing these messages right down to the majority of our population at homes and in our most rural and remote communities,” he added.
“Therefore, using family and friends network can be effective and efficient in ensuring these messages trickle down to where it should reach.”
PRIME Minister Manasseh Sogavare says the top-down approach inherited by the Government under the 2021 Policy Redirection will continue to support the overarching twin objectives of the Government.
And that is to keep Solomon Islanders safe from the spread of covid-19 and to maintain our economy afloat and accelerate economic recovery.
Mr Sogavare in his speech during the launch of the 2022 Budget yesterday said the proposed 2022 Budget Strategy Framework is crafted to support the Government’s priority intention and to build a strong resilient economy.
Therefore, he said it is incumbent that the 2022 budget is formulated to achieve the following principles;
Protect our people from the spread of COVID 19. To continue to strengthen our domestic COVID-19 response “firewalls” and ensure all Solomon Islanders are protected from the deadly COVID -9, especially the delta variant.
Support realistic development investments. The government commits to focus on new targeted projects or investments that have already started in 2021 which are expected to yield higher economic returns in the short to medium term.
Streamlining operational costs. Improving the quality of spending through managing critical pressures, removing unproductive areas of wastages and ensuring critical operational expenditures are considered.
Promoting sectoral and stakeholder coordination. Improve planning and implementation of the budget through greater sectoral coordination and collaboration to improve service delivery.
And most importantly, to strengthen macro fiscal stability and discipline and to build back SIG finances.
Sogavare said building on from the 2021 budget, the Government will continue to prioritise the Productive and Resources sectors.
He said these two sectors are major drivers and enablers of economic growth.
“This does not mean that other sectors are not important, they will continue to be supported,” he said.
Under the Productive Sector, Prime Minister Sogavare said the Government is aiming to support infrastructure and communication investments, support food security, create employment and entrepreneurship to empower youth and women.
“We will provide support to value adding projects, encouraging new MSMEs, recapitalization and revitalization of CEMA, support exporters through DBSI and CBSI credit facilities to encourage private sector growth,” he said.
Sogavare said the Government will also support and diversify our export base to increase production of exportable goods and facilitate access to finance through DBSI and CBSI credit facilities to encourage private sector growth.
He said this includes support to land reforms.
Under the Resource Sector, the Prime Minister said the Government aims to build a resilient environment to support socio-economic development, create innovative development models, review and strengthen development frameworks of extractive industries, support strategic development through Public Private Partnership (PPP), and maximize economic benefits from our natural resources.
“Ladies and gentlemen, under the Fundamental Sector, the government aims to address the ongoing development constraints through embarking on structural and institutional reforms across the government including tax reforms, improving good governance reforms and developing robust legislations and policies to drive investment and growth,” he said.
Sogavare said the Government will also prioritise and make commitment to ensure the Solomon Islands National University (SINU) and Provincial Government PCDF program are adequately supported in 2022.
He said this is to ensure the ongoing services and developments in these sectors are supported to strengthen the Government’s commitment to build and strengthen our resilience.
“In these developments, the government encourages strong collaboration and coordination amongst all ministries in terms of planning and implementation of the 2022 budget, to ensure key sectors establish working relationships to address cross-cutting needs through cost sharing arrangements to fast-track implementation of key government priorities,” he said.
Furthermore, the Prime Minister said to advance better partnership and fruitful relation, the Government will also work closely with our development partners during the 2022 Budget preparation to prioritize key Government investments in 2022 and onward.
