BY GEORGE MANFORD
AUKI
“IN our country indigenous people, customary land, and their leadership are based on genealogy”.
Malaita Premier Hon. Peter Ramohia made this statement during the recent Traditional Governance and Customary land summit held in Auki last week.
Ramohia said, since 1893, the introduced law of land alienation continues to permanently take away customary land and dispossession remain as fundamental causes for land disputes and disagreements, disunity and corruption in Solomon Islands.
Premier Ramohia said the country must fix these fundamental causes.
“Because of the dispossession of the indigenous people and their customary land tenure system the present national and the provincial governments believe in the interventions of the traditional governance and custom facilitation bill and the customary land laws reform bill. This package consists of three fundamental bills”, Ramohia said.
He said the bills are the Traditional Governance and Custom Facilitation Bill, the Solomon Islands Customary Land Commission Bill and the Solomon Islands Trust Board bill.
He said the bills will oblige any future governments (national and provincial) as nation builders in their own rights and respects.
“By utilizing the said laws we will be armed as true and real institutionalized peace builders in Solomon Islands”, Ramohia said.
