AS a province, Isabel turned 37th yesterday.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare is in provincial capital Buala to be part of the Second Appointed Day celebrations.
He travelled by patrol boat, arriving there yesterday afternoon.
Official celebrations will take place today before Sogavare and his delegation return tomorrow.
Isabel is known as “Solomon Islands’ longest island”.
It is resourced-rich, and has contributed much of its resources to the nation’s development over the last 37 years.
Its leaders and people are hardworking, simple and peaceful. They are known for their strong community spirit of working together.
But, like all nine provinces, Isabel has a long way to go in terms of economic development.
Apart from logging, and recently mining, there were no major projects in the province that would spur economic activities.
This left the people with no option but to till their land.
Small-scale agriculture projects such as kava, coffee, cocoa are some of the economic activities villagers of Isabel are being involved to make money.
Isabel also has an active and emerging youthful population.
These are young people who are ambitious and are looking forward to taking their province to the next level.
The national government needs to critically and urgently explore the potentials that Isabel has and invest in them.
This is important to keep the young people of Isabel in their province and engage them in productive economic activities.
Much of the developments we’ve seen so far basically centered around Honiara. This consequently drew everyone across the country to Honiara and Guadalcanal.
Our politicians loved to talk about rural development but as we can see today, these are mere empty political rhetoric.
For its contribution to national development, Isabel deserves better than what it is currently receiving from the national government.
Happy 37th Second Appointed Day Isabel Province!
