BY NED GAGAHE
This week Opposition Leader Matthew Wale called for the sacking of the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture & Livestock (MAL) Dr Samson Viulu.
Wale made the call following documents that showed that Mr Viulu has continued to give directives under the Chinese Embassy’s Rural Sustainable Development Programme (RSDP) to the officers administered within the Ministry of Rural Development (MRD).
The Opposition leader said documents showed that on October 4, 2024, Viulu used the RSDP letterhead to write a transfer memo for 200 drums of fuel purchased for Temotu Nende Constituency in 2023 to be transferred to Renbel Constituency in October 2024.
This was done long after Viulu was moved out from the MRD.
Wale has questioned why the RSDP letterhead is still used by someone no longer an officer employed under MRD.
The opposition office is aware that this is just one of many letters Viulu wrote under the RSDP since he moved to MAL.
But PS Viulu is yet to respond to clear the air over the allegations levelled against him.
This paper attempted to speak with PS Viulu to respond to the allegations levelled against him yesterday but was unsuccessful.
An email sent to him remained unanswered before this paper went to print last night.
Following the publication of the statement by various media platforms it has also attracted a wave of criticisms and mixed reactions from the public spaces especially on the social media platforms in support and against the Opposition Leader’s call.
Some commentors on social media demands that PS Viulu came out to clarify his side of story explain his actions revealed by the Opposition Leader.
Others have defended PS Viulu’s actions.
Minister of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) Franklyn Derek Wasi was one of the commentors to came out defending Mr Viulu.
“It’s an unappropriate fund which belongs to PRC and phase 1 is still being implemented. Funds blo PRC not SIG. Cheers,” emphasizing that the funds belong to PRC not Solomon Islands Government.
He commented on a thread on the news posted on SMB online.
Leader of the Independent Group and MP for East Are’are Peter Kenilorea Jnr also commented on the thread.
“This is what happens when China outsources their money under the RSDP to govt ministries.
“The CDF, on the other hand, goes through parliamentary processes and the management of resources are guided by the public finance management Act.
“The RSDP, given that its China’s funds, should have been administered and managed by the Chinese Embassy themselves and should have never been outsourced to a SIG ministry. For example, Japan has its ‘grassroots’ programme that they manage themselves. Australia has its ‘community partnership programme’ that the manage themselves. US has SCALE.
“These countries don’t outsource the management of their funds for their programmes to govt ministries. Interested communities apply directly to these Embassies, High Commissions, or non-government entities to access the funds.” MP Kenilorea said.
The Opposition Secretariat issued a press statement on Thursday calling on the Prime Minister to fire Mr Viulu.
“Viulu is the PS of MAL and not MRD so why is he still writing transfer memos under the RSDP and why are officers of MRD still taking directions from him. Is the RSDP his personal account and monies? There is clearly wrong doing on Dr Viulu’s part, but also on the part of the MRD officers that are enabling his illegal unethical behaviour,” Wale said.
Wale said the RSDP is administered by MRD and not MAL and something fishy is going on.
He has also questioned why signatories of the RSDP account have not changed from the previous management to the current one.
“Viulu also confirmed to MPs that he only takes instructions from the Minister for Police Hon Jimson Tanangada which is total wrong,” he said.
“In this matter, it is clear the Prime Minister knows everything that is going on with RSDP, and he is allowing it to continue,” Wale adds.
He said the Prime Minister is too weak and indecisive and cannot take tough decisions and this is a real problem for governance for Solomon Islands.
Wale said the PRC’s RSDP programme is being run by a mafia operation that treats the funds as private property and they refuse transparency and accountability to parliament and the public.
The Opposition Leader said it is surprising that both the government and Chinese embassy have remained silent with the RSDP.
“Why the silence? What are they hiding?” Wale questioned.
Wale adds it seems the Minister of MRD himself is not aware of the situation or maybe he is ignorant of the crooked practices happening within his ministry.
“This should not be the situation, and it is tragic and negligent,” Wale said.
Wale said the RSDP must be brought under the budget and have the Public Finance Management Act applied to it.
Wale calls on the Chinese Embassy to insist on it.
“The current RSDP set up outside the budget has proven to be a hotbed for corruption and other unethical practices that are not good for the governance of Solomon Islands,” the Opposition Leader said.
