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SICA AND SIFGA HOLDS FIRST ECUMENICAL YOUTH FELLOWSHIP

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Brothers from our SSEC church before presenting their song

CLOSE to three thousand youth members under the Solomon Islands Christian Association (SICA) Churches and Solomon Islands Full Gospel Association (SIFGA) Churches packed the Anglican Provincial Cathedral of Saint Barnabas for the first ever Ecumenical Youth Fellowship on Sunday.

It was truly a day to remember for a lot of these young people as they came together to worship and share messages through songs and listen to the inspiring and encouraging words from the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Melanesia (ACOM) the Most Rev Leonard Dawea and Reverend Alfred Akwai also from the (ACOM), the host church for this first ecumenical gathering.

“Indeed, it is wonderful to see youths of Honiara and nearby parishes in Guadalcanal coming together in this Spirit, the Spirit of oneness, the Spirit of ecumenism and the Spirit of peace” the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Melanesia said as he welcomed youth leaders and members from sister churches.

Archbishop Leonard

‘It is a spirit filled fellowship, a fellowship indicating new dawn that will bring positive changes in our nation Solomon Islands,’ Archbishop Leonard added.

‘YOUTHS FOR CHANGE IN SOLOMON ISLANDS AS CHRIST’S AMBASSADORS” (slogan: “Christ Ambassadors”)’ is the theme for the fellowship which was preceded by a clean-up from White River to King George area on Saturday morning.

Under the theme, the youth leaders who organized the gathering said,’ for youths to make a difference in this nation, we need to allow JESUS CHRIST to change us from the inside out – to become His ambassadors – His representatives on earth – before we can become instruments of change in this nation.  You cannot give to others what you yourself don’t have’.

Youth members at the ecumenical service on Sunday afternoon

Referring to the theme; Archbishop Leonard urged the youths and their leaders to uphold the virtues of Christ Ambassador and walk hand in hand in unity in order to achieve the mission of ecumenism by promoting the gospel for a common purpose.

Members of United Church holding the banner as the next host of this Ecumenical Youth Fellowship

“Such coming together of young people in fellowship despite our denominational differences is a right way to bring about effective and efficient mission in all our families, ministry groups, schools and our churches. This ecumenical fellowship calls for understanding and unity among us as leaders of our denominations to come together and design common ecumenical mission for our youths,” he concluded.

Youths during praise and worship

‘Be proud of yourself because you are the Ambassadors of Christ here on earth,’ Rev. Alfred Akwai said in his very encouraging sharing.

Rev Alfred Akwai

General Secretary of SICA, Rev. Dr. Edward Kolohai and Mr. Fox Henry Qwaina from the Honiara City Council and other elders came to witness this beautiful ecumenical youth fellowship.

United Church of Solomon Islands is the next host for this ecumenical gathering.

—ACOM PRESS

MISSING HCC HILUX

Written by
Charles Kadamana
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Disgraced former clerk, Sore, spills beans on alleged misconduct by current mayor

BY CHARLES KADAMANA

A VEHICLE worth $274,000 that auditors were unable to locate during a special auditor of the City Council in 2020 has been privately used and kept by city mayor Eddie Siapu.

That’s according to the sacked city clerk Rence Sore in a report he submitted to various government authorities before he was kicked out from the job.

At the time the audit was undertaken, Siapu, the councilor for Rove/Lengakiki who was elected last month to the mayor’s position, was part of the city council executive under the leadership of Wilson Mamae.

The special audit, undertaken by the Office of the Auditor General, was initiated after the media exposed cases of alleged corruption and mismanagement within the council.

The audit found that in 2020, the council spent $1.6 million on six vehicles.

But further checks found that only five vehicles were in the possession of the council.

The sixth, a hilux worth $274,000, could not be located.

In his report, the disgraced Sore revealed Siapu kept that missing sixth vehicle and was using it as his private property.

Island Sun is seeking explanations from Siapu, who got the top job after Mamae was deposed in a vote of no confidence in March this year.

Sore said conflict of interest was evidently exposed in the procurement of motor vehicles by the audit.

However, he said despite the exposure, mitigation measures to minimise occurrence of conflict of interest was not assessed.

“Needless to say that procurement and custody of the missing vehicle was not referred to the appropriate authorities for further investigation and appropriate action.

“The missing vehicle is being privately used by Siapu,” Sore, who was sacked for alleged failure to properly manage the council, stated.

He said because of Siapu’s action, the council was handicapped to conduct conducive management of its affairs.

He added the non-availability of suitable vehicles would deny enhancement of efficient delivery of services in the city.

* More stories on the Sore Report in tomorrow’s paper

All ESP approvals done: PS Dentana

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Dentana
Permanent Secretary for Finance McKinnie Dentana.

The Government’s Economic Stimulus Package Committee has completed all approvals of applications.

This is according to the Chairperson and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, McKinnie Dentana.

Since the launch of the Economic Stimulus Package, several thousands of applications were submitted from around the nation which went through a vigorous and strict screening and selection process.

“Up to the end of April, 2021, all approvals have been completed and the committee is continuing the execution of agreements and disbursements of funds with the successful recipients. It is the desire of the Committee to complete this process by the end of May, 2021.

“It was also confirmed that all the names of the remaining approved recipients of the Package is expected to be downloaded into the public website in early May so that recipients can confirm their names before they contact the Ministry of Finance and Treasury for the formal requirements to process the payments.”

Meanwhile, the Committee is expected to compile, finalise and produce a report of the ESP initiative soon.

The ESP Oversight Committee also announced that monitoring and evaluation processes in relation to the funds disbursed will also commence this month (May).

The Government through the ESP Committee is fully committed to the accountable implementation of the ESP in the interest of wellbeing of the people, national stability and economic empowerment.

–OPMC PRESS

ESP evaluation to start this month

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The Government’s Economic Stimulus Package implementation has reached its monitoring and evaluation stages this month.

This is to assess the implementation and impact of the ESP to the national economy and the livelihoods of the people.

National evaluation specialists will spearhead the different components of the evaluation alongside an international specialist who will be jointly engaged by the Asia Development Bank (ADB).

The evaluation will be done in three stages.

The first stage will involve the designing of a randomised survey, key interview questionnaires for various targeted subjects. This stage is expected to complete in May, 2021.

The second stage of the evaluation involves conducting the actual evaluation.  It is expected that this stage will cover from June to July, 2021.

The third stage will involve working closely with the evaluation specialists and the monitoring and evaluation team to code and compile the data. This stage will flow through to September, 2021, when a report is expected to be delivered to the Government.

Following compilation of data, a report will be made to the Government.

The Proposed timeline for the monitoring and evaluation period should be from May to mid-September 2021. In partnership with the Government and the ADB, the Committee expected to engage 10 youths to support the two specialists to undertake the task. The Government through the ESP Committee is fully committed to the accountable implementation of the ESP in the interest of wellbeing of the people, national stability and economic empowerment

71-yo jailed for underage rape

Written by
Jennifer Kusapa
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BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

HIGH Court Judge Justice Maelyn Bird has imposed a nine-year sentence on a 71-year-old man for raping a girl under 15 years of age in 2019.

Justice Bird said the offence of having sexual intercourse with a child under 15 years is very serious in nature.

She said to manifest its seriousness, a maximum sentence of life imprisonment could be imposed by the courts; this will bring home the message that the courts frown upon such offending and they are not tolerated.

She said the accused is convicted of his own guilty plea and the accused is a relative of the victim.

Ms Bird said there was a really big difference on the age in which the accused’s action does not speak well of his character towards children.

“I am also told that there is an abuse of position of trust in your case, the family and community at large expect you take responsibility of the welfare of their children and you have breached the trust placed upon you, from you’re your attitude, you are not someone to be trusted with children,” Bird said.

She also told the accused that he is a repeated offender as in 2012 he was convicted of a rape offence and was sentenced to six years.

“I must say that the court is very concerned about the prevalence of offences of a sexual nature especially sexual assault on children, it is obvious that there is total disregard of the life and total wellbeing of a child. Children have the same rights as adults and they ought to be treated with respect and dignity notwithstanding their age.

“I have heard case like yours and time again and the sentences imposed by the courts do not seem to bring home that such actions and behaviours are not tolerated and condoned by the courts. It is my view that apart from the punishments imposed by the courts, there ought to be other facilities or avenues created by our government to try and curd the increase of sexual assault cases, the increase in such case is alarming in the past years,” Bird said.

Therefore, she imposed nine years imprisonment on the accused.

3 men sent to jail for manslaughter

Written by
Jennifer Kusapa
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In-court

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

THREE men who were found guilty of manslaughter relating to the death of a man, whose cadaver was found floating at sea in Usu’usue, North East Malaita were sent to jail last week.

Casper Maedani, Ben Anisi and Mostyn Sara were each charged with one count of manslaughter relating to the incident, which occurred on June 9, 2020.

Prosecution says that around 11pm and 12am, the deceased’s dead body was found at sea by some fisherman, and was taken to a nearby clinic; the medical worker identified that the deceased had some knife injuries on both his arms.

Prosecution said prior to the incident people in Ato village, Malaita province, saw the deceased residing at their village for some time before he went back to his village that night.

When he returned to his village, he took a fibre-glass canoe belonging to one of the accused without permission; some boys from the village went after the deceased and took the canoe back.

Meanwhile, Maedani, Anisi and Sara went after him, it was at that time a fight broke out in which the deceased sustained injuries to his arm.

According to the Doctor’s report there was no haemorrhage or fracture to the bones but that he might have probably died from drowning as a result of slash wounds on both his arms.

High Court Judge Justice Maelyn Bird in her sentence said she is assisted by the guidelines and principles used by the courts in like offences, in manslaughter cases the usual sentence that the court normally imposes is one of incarceration.

She told the three men that the incident occurred at night time is an aggravating feature,
“you used the cover of night to commit the offending, at night no one could see what type of assault was coming”.

She also told the accused men that “there is no justification to take a man’s life like you did”.

“You could have exercised restraint but you did not,” Ms Bird said.

Therefore, considering all the circumstances of the case, Bird imposed sentences – for Maedani he will serve three years imprisonment, Anisi three years imprisonment while Sara four years imprisonment.

Bangladeshi to appear in court

Written by
Jennifer Kusapa
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BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

A Bangladesh national facing sexual offence charges on a child under 15 years of age will appear again in court for mention.

The Bangladeshi is alleged of raping an 11-year-old girl at the Lungga area; he faces three other charges.

According to police the case was reported to the Henderson police station by the mother of the victim.

Police said the victim’s mother called in at Henderson Police Station and reported that her daughter had been raped by a Bangladesh national in his bedroom weeks ago.

The mother said she only knew of the incident when she heard stories from other girls about what had happened to her, it was at that time the mother asked her daughter and confirmed that the accused had done sexual actions on her about a week prior but she was afraid to tell anyone about it.

PACER Plus assessment underway

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THE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade hosted an introductory session on Wednesday 28th April 2021 to kick off consultations for the Rapid Needs Assessment to identify the challenges and opportunities in implementing the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) Plus.

Bilateral consultations were held later in the afternoon with the respective stakeholders and will continue on the 5th and 6th of May 2021.

The PACER Plus is a trade, development and economic cooperation agreement between the Forum Island Countries (FICs), Australia and New Zealand.

PACER Plus entered into force on 13 December 2020.

The parties to the agreement are Cook Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tonga. Nauru, Tuvalu and Vanuatu are in the process of finalising their respective ratification of the Agreement. 

The assessment aims to identify early priorities in preparation for the implementation of the Development and Economic Cooperation Work Programme provided by the joint funding support of AUD$25.5 million over five years by Australia and New Zealand for support towards FICs in implementing the PACER Plus. 

The Government of Australia has commissioned the Institute for International Trade(IIT), of the University of Adelaide to undertake the Rapid Needs Assessments which will be conducted remotely.

The consultations will also occur in other PACER Plus FICs throughout April and May to ensure the funding addresses the most critical trade related challenges shared by Pacific members.

Speaking in front of more than 40 representatives from government line ministries, private sector, development partners and non-governmental organization that were present at the venue and connecting via zoom remotely from their respective offices, the Trade Commissioner, \Barrett Salato within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade highlighted, ‘Trade as a development pillar is cross cutting, the various agencies represented here today each has a role in participating in or facilitating trade.’

‘This Rapid Needs Assessment will provide an avenue to update the information of trade related issues and support important for Solomon Islands to be captured in the Work Programme.

Also identifying broader aid for trade activities that will strengthen institutions and address trade-related constraints.

The trade-related impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic as we have all felt is an important consideration to be had in these changing dynamics’.

Trade Commissioner Salato thanked the team from IIT for their support and look forward to their lead in the plenary session and upcoming consultations.

–MFAET PRESS

Muaki questions Mamara town development & govt

Written by
Eddie Osifelo
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By EDDIE OSIFELO

SINGAPORE’s METROPOLIC Pacific PTE Ltd move to build 5000 houses at Mamara in North West Guadalcanal has raised more questions than answers for some landowners.

Former Special Secretary to Prime Minister, Andrew Muaki alleged the Tandai landowners demanded the return of the whole land area after the previous Fixed Term Estate (FTE) owner of the Mamara-Tasivarongo-Mawo decided to offload her interests in or around 1995-1996.

Muaki said their demand was based on the government policy of returning alienated land to customary land owners.

The Tandai Land Owners had two principal demands:

  1. Return of the Perpetual Estate (PE), and
  2. Return/surrender of the FTE.

However, Muaki claimed the then Solomon Islands Government ignored both demands despite the government policy and the fact it was still possible to accommodate both the Tandai Land Owners interests and that of Metropolis Ltd.

“A year or so later the Guadalcanal people decided to evict non-Guadalcanal settlers from their land.

“It should be noted that the Guadalcanal people in the Mamara-Tasivarongo-Mawo area were some of the strongest supporters of the social unrest on Guadalcanal Island. Their views on land and other matters affecting Guadalcanal Province has not subsided to this day,” he claimed.

Muaki alleged the SIG argued the Mamara area was ideal for hotel development.

He said it would be, according to government officials, Solomon Islands first five-star hotel, to be built at Mamara, together with golf courses and other amenities.

However, Muaki alleged it has come as a major surprise to Tandai Land Owners and the communities there that Metropolis Ltd and the government started off with 5,000 housing estate for Solomon Islanders.

“It seems all the concerns raised by the Tandai Land Owners, surrounding communities and Guadalcanal Province has landed on deaf ears,” he claimed.

Furthermore, Muaki claimed to ensure Tandai Land Owners would not demand the return of their land or stop any future development proposed by Metropolis Ltd, the SIG agreed to the proposal by Metropolis Ltd and its lawyer, the late Julian Moti, that Mamara land was in need of a special legislation.

He said in 1997 the SIG took to Parliament the Mamara-Tasivarongo-Mawo Agreement Bill which was passed and is now the only piece of legislation that governs the current development at Mamara.

“If Mamara-Tasivarongo-Mawo is quite special to the SIG, how about the LSL land from Lungga to Fox wood? Should it also have a special legislation? And how about the RIPEL FTE in the Russell Islands? Should it also have a special legislation to protect the interests of the investor and government?” he asked.

Muaki said to placate the Tandai Land Owners and Guadalcanal Province from raising the issue, every government, if not most governments, would appoint the MP from Northwest Guadalcanal as the minister of lands.

“Thus, for most of their ministerial life, late Francis Orodani and late Sirako Usa were appointed to be lands minister.

“If the local MP was not appointed (MP Bodo never appointed in governments he was in), another MP from Guadalcanal Province would be appointed to be the lands minister,” he claimed.

Muaki claimed the government has been lying to the people of Guadalcanal Province for far too long.

“Perhaps the lessons of the past have not been helpful in shaping our dealings with people’s land and concerns.

“Or perhaps the government has other interests to take care of. But whatever it is, history tends to repeat itself in many ways,” he claimed.

Island Sun understands based on the Mamara City plan, it also includes a hotel, a stadium and other developments.

Agriculture sector under pressure

Written by
Ben Bilua
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BY BEN BILUA
Gizo

THE country’s State of Environment Report has highlighted that there is huge obstacle in the development of the Agriculture Sector due to natural, social and economic challenges.

The report states that production has continued to decrease in crops like cocoa and coconut over the past years.

It states that the decreased in production is due to natural disasters such as flash flooding, volatile prices in the market, lack of private and public investment and instability political and economic environment.

The report warns that efforts to enhance agricultural production should focus on managing the environmental effects as expanding croplands have a range of impacts on loss of forest cover, water quality, and cultural heritage and conservation sites.

It states that agricultural sector is the most important sector for the country’s economy, with subsistence farming being the predominant occupation of around 80% of the population.

The report states that the National Development Strategy 2016-2035 and the Agriculture and Livestock Sector Policy 2015-2019 targets have extensive proposals to sustainably increase the contribution of the sector to gross domestic product (GDP) of the country.

The report is compiled by Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) with the help of the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology (MECDM).

The report was launched last week as COVID-19 prevented its proposed launching last year.

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