BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE
A concerned citizen is calling on the Ministry of Finance and Treasury to give reasons as to why their application for a grant for small scale projects was halted while others in the province received approval.
Mr Silas Topi of Western Province explained that he and others had applied for the grant and signed an MOU with the Ministry of Commerce and Trade on August 25, 2017 which was then submitted to the finance ministry.
However, he said that they were disappointed to find out that after their application reached the finance ministry, it was halted while those from the eastern part of the province got approval for their applications.
Mr Topi stressed that this issue has caused them inconvenience and they feel that they have been unfairly treated labelling the ministry’s action as ‘unjust’.
He added that not one word of explanation was given on the ministry’s decision.
On another note, whilst referring to an article that was published in the Solomon Star newspaper on Sept 5, 2017 headlined “Cash Crisis Is Over” citing the Finance Minister’s statement indicating that the country’s cash crisis was over, Mr Topi questioned why the Finance Permanent Secretary failed to approve their application if this was the case.
“Who is telling the truth?” he said.
Mr Topi stated that this is something that needs to be sorted out thus is calling on the Permanent Secretary for Finance and Treasury to clear the air on the matter.
