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Atori cattle farm into fencing

Written by
Samie Waikori
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Grass-planting activity under the pasture establishment component of MPG funded Atori Cattle Reestablishment project in East Malaita.

BY SAMIE WAIKORI

AUKI

THE Malaita province funded cattle project at Atori in East Malaita is ready to go into its fencing stage. This is after work on timber processing for post of the farm was completed.

Officer In-charge of Auki Agriculture Office, Mr Dennis Tafea told this paper they are waiting for funds from MPG to begin the fencing of the project.

The first two components; farm brushing and pasture establishment of the project were completed in the last two months.

Tafea said the next stage after that was timber processing for farm post and was tendered as sub-contract by MPG, where the contractor has already completed the work.

He said now posts are at the project site and they’re waiting for MPG to source funds for the fencing and stockyard construction under the project.

This paper understands that the reestablishment of Atori cattle farm is part of MPG’s plan to revive four main cattle projects in four regions in the province.

The plan is to establish these four major projects to breed heads to supply interested cattle farmers from each regions in the province.

At the moment, Dala cattle farm in the central region of the province is in operation; work on Atori farm in eastern region is progressing and next will be cattle projects for south and northern regions.

Ngossi Valley community honour 43rd Anniversary

Written by
Brian Lezutuni
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Kids and residents of Ngossi Valley stage a colouful parade of the national flag during last year's celebrations

BY JARED KOLI

The Ngossi Valley Community in west Honiara yesterday held a flag raising ceremony to honour the country’s 43rd Independence Anniversary with the theme, ‘One people, One nation’.

The event includes a colourful parade of the national colours, singing of the National Anthem, and other activities such as sport during the day, motivational talk and dinner on the evening followed by cultural dances and history talk later in the night.

Speaking during the event yesterday morning, Chair of the Ngossi Valley Community organising committee Willie Atu said the spirit of Solomon Islands as a country brought them together to celebrate and honour the significant day yesterday.

Chair of Ngossi community Willie Atu speaking yesterday

Following the raising of the national flag, Mr Atu said the national flag shows the dignity, pride and respect Solomon Islanders must have for their country.

“Solomon Islands is a country of about 800,000 people whose life and economy depend on sea and land. This is an opportunity for us to look into our lives as well and sacrifice.

“Although our country has different provinces, we unite as one country Solomon Islands. Unity makes the country stronger even though we have diverse race of Melanesians, Micronesians and Polynesians,” Atu said.

Kids of Ngossi valley salute in honour of the flag

Drawing from the National Anthem, Atu encourages community members to always put God first in their families and households, they will have joy, peace, progress and prosperity in their lives.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Provincial Government Stanley Pirione who is also part of Ngossi Valley community emphasised working together to make Ngossi community become a model community in Honiara.

“Today we come together as one community and reflect the loyalty and commitment we have towards our goals and aspiration as a community.

“One thing I want to emphasise is to uphold working together to make our community to become one of the model community in Honiara as well as in Solomon Islands.

Members of Ngossi community during yesterday’s event

“We have community members from the far east to the far west, and I want to emphasize for us to keep on working together on the things that we want to archive,” he said.

Mr Pirione thanked the working committee on organising yesterday’s event.

“Moving forward, the challenge is in us. The message to our kids, you are our future leaders, we want you not to do things that will hate our leaders on our community or things that bring shame in our community.

“We must maintain that spirit of cooperation and togetherness that has been going over these years. So our theme is very important, let’s work together for the betterment for our community,” he said.

SOGA BUSTS MYTHS

Written by
Mavis Podokolo
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Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare.

BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has labelled social media counter-information against covid-19 vaccines as “outright lies”.

“The untruth and myths about covid-19 vaccine circulated in social media to cause fear are outright lies,” he said.

He listed three of such myths, countering them with explanations to disprove them.

Microchips/magnet myth

The first myth is covid-19 vaccines contain microchips or magnets to monitor people.

“Fellow citizens this is an outright lie and has no basis. Microchips are made of metals, vaccines are liquid and their developments went through very strict research and production protocol,” Sogavare said.

Mark of the Beast/666

He said the second myth says that covid-19 vaccines are associated with the number 666 or Mark of the Beast in the Bible.

“This is another outright lie. We are a Christian country our heavenly father has given us knowledge and wisdom in order to help and save human kind not to destroy.

“Covid-19 vaccine is the only thing that has the chance to break the cycle of the covid-19 pandemic and bring it to an end. What God allows is for his children to develop and help his people it’s a gift from God.

“Many of our church leaders in all denomination have already taken their covid-19 vaccination. I encouraged all of us Christians to follow their examples,” Sogavare said.

Biological warfare

He says the third false information states that covid-19 vaccine is a biological weapon to reduce human population.

Sogavare said this is a lie – “this world does not need a biological weapon to reduce the world’s population”.

“It is a sad reality that the majority of deaths in this world and indeed in Solomon Islands come not from vaccines but from many of the things we take granted; that is our food, smoking and alcohol for instance,” he said.

World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that 41 million people die each year in this world from non-communicable diseases (NCD) such as diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, cancers.

These deaths are due to NCDs not vaccines, he said.

“Fellow Solomon Islanders we must move away from myths and rumours designed to destroy our confidence and create doubt about one weapon that this world has at its disposal to bring this pandemic under control and that is the vaccine.

“Don’t not believe the rumours and myths going around about the covid-19 vaccines used in Solomon Islands. Listen and follow the advice of our health experts and authorities at the Ministry of Health including technical agencies supporting us such as the WHO and UNICEF.

“I reiterate my call for everyone in the country that is above 18 years old to come forward and get vaccinated when the vaccination team come to your areas,” he said.

Sogavare uttered this earlier this week in his national address following reports that some people are creating and circulating false information about covid-19 and circulating this in social media to cause fear, confusion, hesitancy or outright resistance to covid-19 vaccine.

                 

Second covid-19 dose late for Ontong Java

Written by
Samie Waikori
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Vaccination roll-out program at Luaniua in Ontong java last year.....Photo supplied

BY SAMIE WAIKORI

AUKI

Worried communities of Ontong Java are waiting for their second dose of covid-19 vaccine, now more than 12 weeks since their first.

Fears are also exacerbated with reports that the first consignment of AstraZeneca will expire on July 18.

The Malaitan Polynesian outliers were vaccinated in mid-April this year with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

This vaccine requires a second dosage, most preferably 12 weeks after the first.

People on Ontong Java, Malaita Outer Islands (MOI) say during the vaccination drive, government health team touring their atolls promised that nearing 12 weeks after there would be another visit to administer the second dose.

Nearing the twelfth week, and there is no sign of any government health team on their horizon.

This is causing the islanders of MOI to be concerned and to feel insecure, since they are direct frontline citizens facing border crossers from PNG.

Concerned persons from Ontong Java, requesting their names withheld, are asking government through the ministry of Health to explain and give them reassurance over the delay.

“We are now in the first week of July and no assurance yet receives from Malaita provincial health through the MHMS on the second roll-out vaccination doze for our communities.

“The delay is a concern for use because we don’t know much about the impacts of the doze if fail its procedural doze and apparently the exposure of our islands and communities to the outside world.

“In the past months, the community of Luaniua received up to five different boats from the nearby Tasman Island and another foreign sailing boat that demand complete roll-out of the vaccination program for our safety.”

On that note, they also raised that the first consignment of AstraZeneca doze for the second vaccination roll-out programme will expire on July 18, which is just less than two weeks away.

They thank the Malaita provincial health through MHMS and national government for the first covid-19 vaccination roll-out program and they look forward to the second roll-out programme.

Ports to build new domestic terminal

Written by
Brian Lezutuni
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PROPOSED DOMESTIC TERMINAL UNVEILED Deputy Prime Minister Manasseh Maelanga and Solomon Ports Chief Executive Officer Eranda Kotelawala honoured to promote the architectural design of the multi-million dollar Seaport Domestic Terminal during the commissioning of the Eastern gate yesterday.

BY JARED KOLI

The Solomon Islands Ports Authority (SIPA) has begun preparatory work on building a new multimillion-dollar ultramodern three-storey seaport terminal.  

The state-owned enterprise yesterday unveiled the concept design of the new seaport terminal designed by local architectural firm, Raoto’o Architectural Services.

SIPA Chief Executive Officer Eranda Kotelawala told Island Sun in an interview that the project costs around $30 to $35 million and is fully funded by Solomon Ports. He said when complete, it will improve the standard of Honiara domestic port, and will be one of the model domestic seaport terminal in the Pacific region.

He said the warehouse at the Ports ground, next to Solomon Islands Maritime Authority office will be demolished to make way for the new seaport terminal. Ports will provide a temporary complex for the current tenants of the warehouse.

“One thing that has been missing over the last 50 years was the absence of a proper domestic terminal or at least a shelter for the passengers, and also to provide more facilities for the ship owners/operators.

“So, the new concept is actually a hallmark of the surpassed development plan for the Solomon Ports, especially for Honiara Domestic terminal for passengers,” Mr Kotelawala said.

He said the new building will provide a number of facilities.

“The first floor will have cafes, shops and convenient rooms for male and female.

“The second floor will house a public viewing gallery, some cafes, and ticketing offices for ship operators to make more convenient and easier for passengers. This will also help ship operators to get better revenue because its more formalised.

“The third floor will have multiple offices, so anybody who want office space can have it there,” the Solomon Ports CEO said.

He said the tenants residing in the current warehouse at the project site will also be accommodated in the new complex.

“We support local communities by engaging local contractors and local designers. This is our contribution to the country and the public by this prominent SOEs in the country.

“We will be starting the ground work soon, hopefully after this unveiling we will start setting up the foundations and work should proceed.”

He said they hope to commission the new terminal in nine to 10 months’ time.

“Once the foundation is set, it will take six to eight months to complete. Now all the design is done, structural drawing is done, we will start the work very soon,” he said.

Govt’s cash flow problem continues

Written by
Eddie Osifelo
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By EDDIE OSIFELO

SOLOMON Islands Government is still facing a challenging situation with its cash flow.

This problem began around early June, pundits say June 18.

This was confirmed by Bruce Phillips, Accountant General  Ministry of Finance and Treasury in a leaked email to Minister of Finance, SIG Permanent Secretaries and SIG Financial Controllers.

Philips said presently Treasury has over $200 million of payments that it is not able to pay due to very limited cash flow. 

He said this situation has largely been brought about due to the significant 3rd quarter payments due in the first two weeks of July.

“The 3rd quarter payments relate broadly to provincial health funding, provincial administration and salary grants, education grants, parliamentary entitlements, housing rentals, other allowances and MRD constituency payments. 

“Naturally donor funded payments are NOT impacted nor are COVID related payments as these are funded separately from SIG,” he said.

Phillips said MoFT is working closely with supportive donors and the local debt market to address the current constraints.

“We anticipate agreeing terms for the use of almost $100m of JICA funding in the coming days to assist with the current funding shortfall,” he said.

Phillips said ministries are advised that there will not be  a quick-fix to the current situation and they are requested to proactively take all  necessary steps to ensure spending being incurred is prioritised and in accordance with the government’s clear redirection guidelines. 

“If Ministries do not act PROACTIVELY, Treasury will be forced to take more stringent steps to improve cashflow.

“During this time Treasury is also trying to slowly build up SIG cash reserves to a more acceptable level,” he said.

Phillips said Provincial touring imprests or payments in particular will continue to be closely scrutinised along with other non-essential expenditure.

He said Treasury will continue to prioritise weekly SIG salaries, utility payments, provincial government grants, housing rental payments and MRD related payments.

Phillips said a further cashflow update will be provided on Friday, July 23.

Agovaka withholds funds for Malaita projects

Written by
Eddie Osifelo
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Hon Peter Shanel Agovaka

By EDDIE OSIFELO

MINISTER of Communication and Aviation Peter Shanel Angovaka has deferred the Cabinet paper to divert the SBD$254.5 million (US$31.7 m) World Bank funding support earmarked for various projects in Malaita province.

The funding is coordinated by Solomon Islands Roads and Aviation Project (SIRAP) under the Ministry of Communication and Aviation (MCA) and the Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID).

The funding aims to:

  1. reseal Auki road towards Gwounaru’u airport;
  2. upgrade three bridges at Koa, Bio 1, Bio 2 and Fiu between Auki – Dala;
  3. Upgrade Auki to Dala and east road; and
  4. All roads in scope.

Agovaka told Island Sun yesterday the reason to defer the cabinet paper is to allow Malaita Members in the Government and Leader of Opposition, Mathew Wale to talk with MARA Executive government  and people in ward 2 and ward 3.

Earlier, he told SIBC the funds would be diverted after the Premier Suidani-led government refused to the China Harbour Engineering Firm to upgrade the deteriorating Fiu bridge.

However, he said it is good for Malaita national leaders to go down and hold dialogue with the MARA government and people in both wards because the projects belong to them.

Agovaka clarified that contracting the China Harbour Engineering firm was done by the World Bank and not the Solomon Islands government.

“The provincial government made their views clear in not wanting a Chinese operating in Maliata when a consultation was held with the provincial government and the ministry of communication and Aviation, Ministry of Infrastructure and Development and the Ministry Finance and Treasury,” he said.

Agovaka said the Chinese company called into question (China Engineering Harbour) won the bid because it is a world-class company.

He said it is sad to see the Malaita Executive headed by Premier Sudani rejected the company as the project was funded by World Bank.

“The tendering process is done according to World Bank standards and not the government’s process, a cabinet paper has now been brought before cabinet to have the 31.7 million dollars funds withdrawn from Malaita and back to the airport,” he said.

Agovaka adds the funds were first given to Malaita province due to the need that Auki needed such development projects.

Meanwhile Opposition Leader and MP for Auki Langalanga constituency Matthew Wale told SIBC that it is disappointing to note that the government has decided to withhold the fund.

“It is disappointing as a national leader and also a Malaitan leader that the Minister of Communication and Aviation decided to withdraw the funds from the project as its course of action, hopefully, other cabinet ministers decide against this course of action.”

Wale said the reason the Chinese company was rejected was due to China Harbour Engineering Firm was the only bidder and that their bidding price was above the price of the world bank project, also other problems with the bid documents saw the tender committee stating that the company was disqualified due to non-compliance in some of its bidding process.  

“It is totally unreasonable and an overreaction on the ministries side to totally pull out the whole project from Malaita province. The tender process of the whole project was frustrated from the beginning because the Chinese company hasn’t been awarded the project,” he said. 

Wale says the ministry should go back to the tendering process and have more companies bid for the project.

The fact that Malaita doesn’t want a Chinese company operating there should also be factored into the whole tendering process as that issue has been known for a long time.

Front liners who breached protocol in quarantine: PM

Written by
Mavis Podokolo
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0

BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO

TWO frontliners who breached prevention and control measures while on duty in Honiara are serving their mandatory quarantine period, says Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.

Sogavare said these two join 18 other people including six new arrivals from New Zealand on last Friday’s flight from Brisbane and one person who illegally crossed the border from Bougainville in serving their quarantine periods.

“The illegally border crosser is quarantine for 21 days, the person has returned two negative tests for covid-19 so far, two more tests remain and of they are both negative he can be released from quarantine. The issue to do with his illegal crossing will be dealt with after he is released from quarantine.

“I renew my call to all people doing front line duties whether you work for government or of outside government please ensure you comply with all infection prevention and control measures when discharging your duties.

“You constitute our last line foe defence, the security and safety of our nation from covid-19 is in your hands. Protect yourself to protect our nation.

“To date you not be complacent as seen in many countries it takes one lapse in our duties to bring about unprecedented outbreaks of covid-19.

“To communities along the Western Border thank you for your continuous support to authorities to ensure we maintain our covid-19 free statues in the country.

“Your continuous vigilant and support. Not only protect our Western Border, it protects our country especially those that cannot be vaccinated as well as our children under 18 years of age,” Sogavare said.

Sentence for man guilty of raping daughter, July 9

Written by
Jennifer Kusapa
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BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

A man found guilty of raping his own daughter on two separate occasions in 2016 will be sentenced this Friday after the court received sentencing and mitigation submission from prosecution and defence.

This is the case of a father, who is a school teacher by profession in one of the schools in Isabel, and was charged with two counts of rape pursuant to section 136F (1) (a) and (b) of the Penal Code [cap. 26], as amended by the Penal Code (Amendment) (Sexual Offences) Act 2016 (“the Amendment Act 2016”).

He denied the charges and a trial was conducted on his case where the court found him guilty as charged.

He then was convicted and is awaiting his sentence.

The first incident occurred on August 25, 2016, when the victim went to her father’s house to have some food during break-time and the second incident occurred after the class prep at night in September on that same year.

Prosecution said the man had sexual intercourse with his daughter twice in 2016 on different dates without the consent of the victim.

Office of the Director Public Prosecution appears for the crown on the case while the Public Solicitor’s office is representing the accused.

Phama Plus partners promote products, Auki

Written by
Samie Waikori
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0
Members of the public of Auki looking at products display during the promotion yesterday.

BY SAMIE WAIKORI

AUKI

MARKET Access working partners or company members of Pacific Horticulture and Agricultural Marketing Access (Phama) Plus programme have promoted their products in Auki, Malaita province.

The partners are Solomon Tropical Product (STP), Kokonut Production Solomon Islands (KPSI), SolAgro and Cathliro Solomon Islands (CSI).

The products were promoted and displayed for the public of Auki yesterday ranging from coconut soaps, virgin coconut oils in varieties, ngali nuts also in varieties of products and chocolates.

Leader of the Phama Plus team in Auki, Former premier of Malaita province, Mr Peter Chanel Ramohia told this paper yesterday that the promotion is part of the Market Access working group under the Phama Plus programme.

He said the purpose of the programme is to work with government and private sector in these countries to access markets to Australia and New Zealand and even outside world.

Partners of the Phama Plus program during their promotion in Auki yesterday.

Ramohia said in implementing the programme in the country, they work through committees established under different sector stakeholders where identification has made on them as top marketing commodities. They include cocoa, coconut, Ngali nut and timber.

One of the challenges these partners always face is on how they (companies) could sell their products. Not only internationally, but domestically.

Ramohia said to address the challenge, one way is to go out to provincial centres and market the products.

He said that this is part of promoting the products and to show people the end-product of raw materials which came from them as beginners of the supply chain.

Ramohia explained that the Phama Plus programme is the second phase of the Phama programme where it targets Pacific island countries to engage in export of primary products.

He said the programme is funded by Australia and New Zealand governments and is implemented in six Pacific countries include, Solomon Islands, PNG, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga.

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