PM Sogavare warns of bad times ahead for Solomon Islands if the country does not ‘unlock’
By EDDIE OSIFELO
PRIME Minister Manasseh Sogavare says the country needs to be unlocked in order to address the population growth in 20 years’ time.
Speaking in the motion he moved yesterday to allow Parliament to beg leave to offer thanks for the Speech which was addressed by his Excellency to Parliament on Monday, Sogavare said if the country does not address land reform, in 20 years, the people will face absolute poverty.
“I am asking, let’s grow up.
“Under current level of economic growth, we are in danger of losing our ability to look after ourselves in 20 years’ time,” he said.
Sogavare said it is a frightening scenario where no one wants to see happen.
“When we talking about getting out of business as usual, business as usual happened in 9th, 10th and 11th Parliament.
“Let think about development, let’s think about our people, let’s mature, let’s prepare to take tough decisions,” he said.
The government is pushing to table the report of the Federal system in Parliament within the four years.
Sogavare said they are still struggling to decide on the best structure for this country.
“We still talk about it, even before Independence we still talked about it what kind of structure we want.
“The Mamaloni report in 1997, people say we go into State Government, then we go into Provincial Government and when we adopted it, we don’t allow it to work,” he said.
Sogavare said they are still talking about structures; that’s why they don’t develop.
“We still find best ways to deliver government services.
“We still struggling to address the fundamental like land reforms,” he said.
The debate continues in Parliament today.
