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Policy on G-vehicles

Written by
Eddie Osifelo
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THE Ministry of Infrastructure Development has passed a policy last year to control Government vehicles.

Deputy Prime Minister and also Minister of MID, Manasseh Maelanga confirmed this when asked during the Committee of Supply in Parliament yesterday.

Member of Parliament for West Are Are, John Maneniaru raised this issue following a number of traffic accidents involving government vehicles in recent weeks.

Maelanga said the ministry has a policy to purchase vehicle and allocate to the ministries.

He said his Permanent Secretary had already gave advice to the ministries on the new policy.

Furthermore, MP for Aoke Langalanga, Mathew Wale asked how many G-plate vehicles the ministry will purchase this year.

Maelanga said the amount provided in the budget will cater for purchase of vehicles this year.

About $8.4 million was allocated under the Ministry’s budget to purchase new vehicles.

In the meantime, the public has raised concern on social media after two G-plated vehicles were involved in road accidents over the weekend.

Scholarship budget reduced by half

Written by
Eddie Osifelo
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0

By EDDIE OSIFELO

Scholarships for in-country students has been hit hard this year following a half reduction in its budgetary allocation.

Minister of Education and Human Resources, Lannelle Tanangada said a reduction from the 2020 revised budget of $105,250,466 to $50,000,000 in 2021, sees 52.5 percent cut. 

She said the actual expenditure in 2020 was $98,387,932. 

“It needs to be highlighted that this will have significant impact on the new 1,000 in-country scholarships allocated for this year. 

“There is reduction in the budget by $108,053,581 which is 26.96%,” she said.

“I need to state that SITESA is likely to experience challenges to fund for both ongoing scholarships and new 1,000 scholarship in 2021. 

“It is estimated that a budget of $107 million would be adequate to fund the in-country scholarship – an increase of $57 million is needed,” she said.

“Again my Ministry will need to come up with cost-cutting measures and to respond to the short-falls in the scholarship budget,” she said.

Minister Tanangada said the primary education grant has been sliced from $94 million in 2020 to $69 million this year.

This is a drop by $25 million, while the actual expenditure for 2020 was $101,730,347, which was over the estimated budget by $5,483,745. 

She said this is the largest sector in education, accounting for approximately 65 % of students annually. 

“It is important to restore this budget cut for this critical sector and as such a bid is proposed to be done,” she said.

Further to that, she said her Ministry has also asked DFAT to top-up the school grant budget by $24 million and they have agreed. 

“I would like to thank the continued generosity of the Australian Government in its support of our education sector,” she said.

Loggers into shipping means trouble’

Written by
Jennifer Kusapa
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BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

Loggers moving into an already struggling shipping industry spells trouble, warns shipping Industry leader, Charles Welchman Rubaha.

Mr Rubaha is reinforcing Opposition Leader Matthew Wale’s call for government to act on this invasion by loggers into the shipping business.

Mr Wale had voiced his concerns during the parliament debate of the 2021 budget last week. Government has not responded to his call.

In a letter to the ministry of infrastructure development, chairman of the country’s maritime transportation association, Rubaha, said “shipping industry in the country faced problems and once loggers involved and run shipping it will affect the local shipping companies in the country.

“Locals running shipping services in country, are running at a huge risk as operation costs for shipping services are way too high and what the government should do to help the industry, they should provide some subsidies to support the local shipping industry in the country.

“Shipping industry in country now crippled due to the inundation of logging vessels entering the domestic shipping business.

“The loop hole that has allowed landing crafts, tugs and other vessels registered under the logging companies must be stopped and reversed.”

In the letter the association adds that logging industry enjoy a few tax and duty exemptions which include but is not limited to spare parts, machineries and even fuel and with those exemptions allows logging companies to lower their overheads and operating budgets, and as such they have much cheaper freight charges and low fares and when backed with their own workshops for maintenance, they make their profits on the other hand, locally owned and domestically operated shipping cannot compete with them.

DETAILS OF ‘BRUTAL KILLING’

Written by
Jennifer Kusapa
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The scene of the crime: PHOTO CHARLES KADAMANA

–Dead Chinese mother had made phone call to husband for help: Police

–Several stab wounds

–Broken kitchen knife blade embedded in wound

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

Police have disclosed disturbing details into Tuesday’s killing of a Chinese woman, an incident which police have described as a “brutal killing”.

The dead mother-of-two had made a phone call to her husband pleading help, police said.

It is unclear at this point whether the call was made during the attack or after.

Police adds that there are “several stabs to her body and back”.

In one wound, the broken blade of a kitchen knife was left embedded deep into the flesh, police adds.

Police are yet to come up with any suspect.

Materials from the footage of cctv cameras, as of yesterday, were yet to be viewed by police.

In his weekly media conference yesterday, Police Commissioner Mostyn Mangau said, “the deceased’s husband received a call from his wife that she has been attacked.”

Mangau said the husband was at their home in Ranadi when he had a call from his wife that she has been attacked.

“The husband received a call from his wife help me, help me, help me and that is when the husband rushed to their shop only to find that the shop was still locked,” Mangau said.

“Police were alerted to assist and Fire department, Police Response Team together with Forensics and Criminal Investigation Department attended and forced entry from the neighbouring shop and went inside the shop and found the wife laying down inside pool of blood.

“It was a brutal killing with several stabs to her body and back where police also saw that a kitchen knife broke on her back, and from there the body was taken to the National Referral Hospital for a post mortem to be conducted and that was already done on Wednesday and police are currently waiting on the Doctor’s report, and the report will take a week or two before it is ready,” Mangau said.

Honiara woke up to the disturbing news that the body of a Chinese woman had been found in her shop on Tuesday morning this week.

Initial reports said she had dropped off her twins at their school and came to open up the shop when the incident occurred.

Commissioner Mangau said investigation is continuing.

267 in quarantine

Written by
Press Release
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King Solomon quarantine site .

A total of 267 persons are currently undergoing the mandatory quarantine in the Government-managed Quarantine Stations. At present only one person is covid-19 active, and accommodated at the NRH Isolation unit.

National Disaster Council (NDC) in a statement yesterday said these are the latest arrivals on a series of Charter and Cargo flights from the 2nd to 11th of this month. 10 flights were scheduled for this month.

Arrivals consisted of returning nationals whose quarantine costs are fully paid by the government, and dozens of expatriates exempted to enter the country who meet most of their costs of quarantine.

NDC through Camp Management Sector Committee (CMSC) since activated for managing Quarantine Stations has registered and quarantined more than 3,400 returning nationals along with foreigners. CMSC continues its crucial role in managing all Quarantine Stations with a limited number of front liners after its scale-down operation since last month.

In the meantime, the government  has stopped its repatriation flights as of February and all overseas remaining Solomon Islanders will return through normal weekly Friday scheduled cargo flights of Solomon Airlines and other approved flights.

–NDC PRESS

Western border covid-19 response plan endorsed

Written by
Press Release
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Police officers patrolling the Western border with Bougainville. PHOTO ABC

The Oversight Committee has endorsed the Western Border COVID-19 Response Plan 2021.

The plan was developed by National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) of the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) with inputs from the National Disaster Operations Committee (N-DOC) which have teams engaged in the joint response at the Western Border.

National Disaster Council briefly highlighted in a statement that the Response Plan was developed in keeping with the Government’s intention to step-up response at the Western Border following the surge of COVID-19 cases in our neighbour Papua New Guinea.

“The plan utilises a series of scenarios to guide responses to be used by the multi-agency response teams stationed at the border.

“Based on the response plan, each agency has prepared their Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) for swift response should there be a breach of border travel restrictions and protocols,” the statement said.

NDC said the plan will guide Government agencies such as Health, Police, Customs, Biosecurity, Immigrations, Provincial Emergency Response Team, Western and Choiseul Provincial Governments, with the support of FAMOA Council of Chiefs.

Coordination of the SIG Joint Operations Team (SIG-JOT) at the Western Border will be managed through the On-Site Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC) at Nila station, Shortlands by a multi-sectoral government team.

Latest figures from our neighbour PNG’s National Pandemic Controller Office shows their total number of COVID-19 cases soared to 8,984 as of this week with 170 new cases and 2 new deaths. Autonomous Region of Bougainville recorded 2 new cases, which brings their total to 149 cases so far.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare in his nationwide address this week repeated his call on people over 18 years living in border communities to be vaccinated when the Government’s vaccination programme reaches them.

–NDC PRESS

WPG urged to keep surplus

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Admin
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Provincial Member for Nusa Roviana and ward 16, Ramrakha Talasasa

BY BEN BILUA
Gizo

THE Chair of Provincial Public Accounts Committee has urged Western Provincial Government to establish a mechanism that would see excess revenues appropriated in the next financial year.

Provincial Member for Ward 16, Ramraka Talasa said Western Province has experienced excess revenue collection over the years but unpractical spending chewed the funds before end of financial year.

He said there is a need to improve control of divisional expenditures and proper planning so that divisional balance and overall balance of the appropriation is practical.

Talasasa said directives to reserve provincial funds must come from the executive as budget surplus should be identified rather than being absorbed by the daily operation of the government administration and appears as a mere figure.

“Excess revenue should be deposited in the reserve account rather than spent before appropriation.

“Section 17 of the Financial Management Ordinance requires a warrant from the Premier to move funds within division. There has been no copy of any warrant presented to the PPAC in the past where virements are carried out.

“Future Virements must be procedural and initiated by divisions rather than used as a mechanism to lessen budget over runs,” he said.

Talasasa said Provincial Public Account Committee identifies and recommends that unnecessary supplementary must be stopped, and better budgetary control and political will to comply with the applicable regulations with all divisions must be prioritised.

He said work relationship between the executive and the respective divisions required in the financial instructions and store instructions need to be reinforced.

Quite a way to go for $4b budget passage

Written by
Eddie Osifelo
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0
Solomon Islands National Parliament

By EDDIE OSIFELO

PARLIAMENT is still to pass the $4 billion budget after the start of the committee of supply on Wednesday.

It had completed scrutiny of only nine stakeholders’ recurrent budget into the $4 billion budget since the start of the Committee of Supply.

They are;

  1. Solomon Islands Electoral Commission;
  2. Office of the Ombudsman;
  3. Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock;
  4. Office of the Auditor General;
  5. Ministry of Education and Human Resources;
  6. Ministry of Finance and Treasury;
  7. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade;
  8. Office of the Governor General and
  9. Ministry of Health and Medical Services.

There are 21 ministries left for Parliament to complete the scrutiny of their recurrent budgets.

After, Parliament will continue the scrutiny of their development budgets before the passage of the budget.

Both Government and Opposition spent most of their time on scrutinised the recurrent budgets of Ministry of Education and Human Resources and Ministry of Health and Medical Services.

Ministry of Education has a recurrent budget of $1.1 billion while Ministry of Health has a recurrent budget of $427.6 million.

A total of $2.7 billion is allocated under the recurrent budget to meet the expenses and charges of all the ministries and constitutional offices in the government.

About $938 million is allocated under the Development Budget.

While $258.5 million is allocated under Budget Support Expenditures.

It is still not sure how long it will take Parliament to pass the budget.

Parliament continues with the sitting at 9.30am today.

SICCI condemns brutal attack on business owner

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Press Release
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The Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) strongly condemns the brutal attack on a member of the business community this week in Honiara.

The attack resulted in the death of the 44-year-old business owner, a female Chinese national, and member of the Chinese community in Solomon Islands.

In a press statement yesterday, SICCI condemned the alleged killing and called on individuals to respect the rule of law, including assisting the Police in their investigation to serve justice to family and relatives.

“It is truly sad that we are seeing tragic events like this happening in our society,” says Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ms Natalina Hong.

“I strongly condemn such a heinous act. Criminality in every form, but especially those that a brazen enough to attack ordinary hard-working people without consideration of their family and lives must be condemned by all of us. Each of us are responsible for the safety of our community and must stand with each other in these uncertain times.  People must respect the law, properties and more importantly each other,” she added.

The Chamber described the attack as uncalled for, unnecessary, and must be prevented at all cost anywhere else in the country.

“Businesses play a crucial role in providing services and supporting the local communities, as such, we should all work together to ensure that businesses continue to operate, and provide services to our people, and this includes ensuring safety of businesses at all times,” Hong said.

As the peak body representing businesses in the country, SICCI is calling on the relevant authorities to ensure that the alleged perpetrator or perpetrators are identified, arrested and face the full force of the law.

In the meantime, SICCI affirms its support to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) and other stakeholders in maintaining law and order and in carrying out their investigation.

The Chamber has confidence in the RSIPF to undertake a thorough investigation and apprehend those responsible.

SICCI encourages the general public to assist police in their investigation and calls on the public to respect the law and for unity in the society.

On behalf of the Board, Secretariat and our members of the private sector, we conveyed our sincere condolences to the immediate family of the deceased and to the wider Chinese business community in Solomon Islands.

–SICCI MEDIA

White Angel killing: Police remind public not to feed speculations

Written by
Jennifer Kusapa
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1
Royal Solomon Islands Police Force recovering the body of the Chinese shopowner found dead in her shop last year. PHOTO CHARLES KADAMANA

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

POLICE Commissioner Mostyn Mangau has called on public to refrain from feeding rumours regarding the Chinese woman’s death.

He pleads with public to let police investigate and ascertain the truth.

In his weekly media conference yesterday, Mangau said truth of the incident will be revealed when investigation completes.

He said police have attended the scene and several people who were present at the scene between 8am and 9am on Tuesday have been interviewed.

He said a post mortem was conducted and police are waiting on the Doctor’s report.

With regards to the CCTV footage, police are yet to view the footage as Government ICT experts are working to extract the footage from the retrieved hard drive.

Mangau said that police are working very hard on their investigation, “at this stage there is no clear information on any suspected individuals but investigation still ongoing”.

Mangau also said public need to be aware that speculation of false rumour creates fear in the community.

He also refutes rumours regarding a mafia group, there is no such mafia group set-up, and the incident occurred on Tuesday was just like any crime occurred, let alone police investigate and let the out-come of the investigation determine whether it is an organized group or not.

“We cannot just speculate on something that we do not have proof”, Mangau added.

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