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TSI welcome Sogavare’s comments on the $20m terminal grant

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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enthical-people-power

TRANSPARENCY Solomon Islands welcomes the Deputy Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s comment on our call for the grant to be taxed.

We also acknowledge that he has the right to close his ears to the likes of Transparency Solomon Islands.

Transparency Solomon Islands does not dispute the fact that Terminal Grant is a legal entitlement of the 50 members of Parliament and the tax-free status of these entitlements under the PER.

That being the case and just because it is legal it does not make it morally, and ethically right when they legislate only for a privilege group of people and not all when it comes to paying tax.

We say so because the Members of the Parliamentary Entitlement Commission include the Minister of Finance and Chairman of Public Accounts Committee.

As such it is not independent, and this is a case where the fundamental principles of the Constitution are not being adhered to.

We just went through a time when there was no medicines in the National Referral Hospital, when friends and relatives walked into the hospital and came out in a coffin because there is only one nurse on duty.

If we can all pay tax, we can employ more nurses, trained agriculturalists, provide better services than is the case now.

This is the essence of our call to those we entrust our powers to, to do the right thing by the people.

Transparency Solomon Islands wishes to remind those in positions of public power that you will be asked questions, asked to effect decisions for the benefit of the people and you need to listen to the cry and plight of the people of Solomon Islands.

Should you not want to be questioned, turn a tone-deaf ear to the cries of the people, a blind eye to their plights and suffering that public position of power is probably not for you.

Furthermore, such a statement, coming from a national leader who is exercising people’s power to make decisions on their behalf is a slap on the face of tax payers and people of this country.

Whilst the tax payers can hardly cope from pay week to pay week struggling to make ends meet daily of the deductions made to their pay, allowance, etc. the biggest is the government tax or PAYE.

The state of our social services, such as schools, clinics, water supply and sanitation, medicine and medical supplies in the clinics throughout the country is appalling.

Sogavare’s strong opposition to TSI’s call for the terminal grant to be taxed clearly indicates the long absence of ethical or principled leadership in our government a very worrying trend indeed and we again remind all of us to stand up and say no to this.

Take your courage from the Supreme Law of this Country, the Constitution and we quote.

We the people of Solomon Islands, proud of the wisdom and the worthy customs of our ancestors, mindful of our common and diverse heritage and conscious of our common destiny, do now, under the guiding hand of God, establish the sovereign democratic State of Solomon Islands;

As a basis of our united nation

DECLARE that

(a)            all power in Solomon Islands belongs to its people and is exercised on their behalf by the legislature, the executive and the judiciary established by this Constitution;

(b)            the natural resources of our country are vested in the people and the government of Solomon Islands;

TSI renews call for PEC to honour its announcement to the press in 2016, where they promised to re-introduce tax following public outcry on the decision of the Court of Appeal.

Proposed prospecting in wards 12 & 13 in east Makira

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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DEAR EDITOR, please allow me a space in your column to express the Wainoni Solidarity movements group’s view with regards to the proposed prospecting.

It was very sad and annoying to learn that a foreign company “SOLFISH” was recently granted a prospecting licence to carry out its destructive development in the two wards stated above.

The move behind this company was initiated by certain selfish leaders in the constituency who claimed to have visionary plans to develop and raise the standard of our living.

From the information obtained from a close friend and a senior officer from the company had disclosed the names of the individuals who were directly involved in this secret move.

In our humble view these people will never ever satisfied and succeed in their lives.

Honestly speaking, this was a great concern to us the real original land owners.

Bypassing the Kahua Association is a great concern because the Kahua people believed that this is the only Association mandated and registered to advocate for conservation and the livelihood of the present and future generation.

In addition to these concerns, awareness was carried out in West and East Wainoni respectively by the most illiterate persons whom I know, do not even know what a primary school is.

I was a keen listener in one of their presentations and it was sad to learn that they had promised huge payments totalling up to millions of dollars to the land owning tribes.

The simple question I would like to pause is: Aren’t you out of context of awareness? What we were expecting to hear was the environmental impacts that prospecting will bring in our environment.

We thought that the Ministry of Environment and Conservation or the NGO’s have the qualified manpower to carry out the work you were bribed to do on behalf of this destructive company.

The approaches taken by the selfish individuals who had spearheaded this prospecting disastrous development only show how greedy they are by trying to get rich out of the resources owned by the people whom they labelled in the social media as living below the poverty line.

For transparency purposes, this group of concerned individuals will send a copy of the names of those middle man behind the prospecting development to the print media to show our nation who they are and how played by our once respected leaders has reminded me of the phrase I quote “Do not enjoy the privilege at the expense of others.”

To the self-appointed land trustees who put down your signatures in support of prospecting should be ashamed of your act because of the fact that signing of the prospecting agreement in your view is the only easiest way you can get $800 once in your life time to relief the burden bared by our MP’s who have been pestered over the years to meet your children’s fees.

You also seen as an opportunity to get money to feed your hungry children.

While appreciating and respecting your decisions to sign the agreement for the prospecting of the land owned by all ancestors, I would like to caution you that the money you are going to get from prospecting is a curse that you and your immediate families will reap its fruits.

Believe me not, wait and see.

I would also like to pause these simple questions to help us know where we are heading.

1)              Do you think the piece of land signed to be prospected is rightly owned by yourself?

2)              Is the amount of $800 you get in return for your signature can sustain the present and future generations?

3)              Do you think you will become a millionaire?

4)              Are you running out of God’s wisdom and knowledge to make right decisions?

5)              Are you tired of living in a clean beautiful environment?

If you have more than one (NO) to the above questions then reconsider your position on this destructive development or other alternative approach you could take is to book a psychiatric doctor for proper assessment.

To conclude, the Wainoni solidarity movement wished to condemn to the strongest term the negotiators, the supporters and the followers of this destructive development.

Thank you very much.

Lawrence Wai

Concern Man

Sogavare living in an imaginary world

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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DEAR EDITOR, please publish my views on the recently reported comments by Hon Manasseh Sogavare regarding the MPs terminal grant in parliament.

Reading Hon Manasseh Sogavare’s comments in Solomon Star edition 6998, one can’t help but feel aghast at how inhuman our so-called leaders have become. But one is hardly surprised nowadays too.

One would not be far from the truth to say that the national representatives are no more than a bunch of selfish, self-serving, self-centred, etc, nothing but self, self, and self to the core of their souls.

I say this because I believe Hon Sogavare speaks for his fellow colleagues, the members of parliament. Even Hon Moffat Fugui, the MP for my constituency is mentioned as backing Hon Sogavare’s comments.

Hon Sogavare is reported as saying he has closed his ears to civil society groups the likes of Transparency Solomon Islands and others.

He justifies the terminal grant for MPs as a legal entitlement for them. However, no one’s questioning the legality of the exorbitant MPs terminal grant. Sogavare fails to see the essence of the call by TSI and the thousands of Solomon Islanders to have the terminal grant taxed. He and his colleague MPs will never see it, for they are corrupted human beings.

The call for the terminal grant to be taxed is based on fairness to the hardworking people of Solomon Islands who are seeing a huge chunk of their hard earned salaries being chewed off by tax.

Sogavare and the other 49 MPs will never vicariously experience the pain and hurt one feels when he/she sees the significant tax deduction in his/her pay slip.

Hon Sogavare and his 49 colleagues are tax-free waxed dolls who do not get to feel how we feel. And even they know of the feeling, having once experienced it before, when they were still humans, and working earnestly and honestly to earn a living, they are hard-skinned to it and are ignorant of its psychological effects.

Sogavare and his 49 colleague MPs will never connect with the people of Solomon Islands in this respect until they lose their seats in a national general election and end up on the side which one is required to pay tax.

Then and only then will Sogavare and his 49 colleagues get to feel the way we do now.

It’s funny that some former national leaders are barking now, throwing mud on the current MPs over entitlements, tax and other benefits.

I won’t be surprised when some of the current MPs lose their seats next year and join this circus and bark at the next 50 robots.

Overall, Sogavare’s ignorant statement in parliament on the matter just shows that he is living in his imaginary world, far from the rest of us.

He is too blind to see that $20 million is a huge weight on the supplementary budget, for only 50 persons out of the nearly 800,000 Solomon Islanders.

And he is blind to the fact that the rest of the country is watching on while he and his 49 colleagues are enriching themselves.

It is now widely accepted that the previous era, under GDL, which was thought to be the most corrupt period in Solomon Islands’ history of governance, is cowered by the current group.

The current group has set a new standard, which is equal to mad dictators in the world’s history.

To all of us, the rest of Solomon Islands, please choose your candidate wisely this national general elections. Go for someone who will at least consider the people of Solomon Islands before deciding on benefits and entitlements.

Otherwise, we will continue to be trapped in the poverty cycle, one which was reflected so vividly in the recent poverty report which Sogavare gave a passionate but empty speech on at its launch.

To TSI, I take my hat off to you for your continuous diligence in the critical role you play for a better Solomon Islands. Don’t be swayed by deaf politicians (Sogavare himself confirmed this in parliament). History will remember you TSI and other CSOs who voiced out the injustice in Solomon Islands’ government, allowing Solomon Islanders and the rest of the world know what type of leaders we are serving, 2014-2018.

Lastly, my fellow Solomon Islanders, let us pray for Sogavare and his 49 colleagues.

God Bless Solomon Islands.

Ron Qalobute

Chinatown,

Central Honiara Constituency

10th parliament ends but we are nowhere near

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

THE other day a next of kin was relaying his recent encounter with a Member of Parliament in a Honiara shop.

The MP who shall remain nameless pulled out a cheque book and said to the next-of-kin, “bro look here. People say I am corrupt, but I have a personal cheque book.”

The hilarity of the anecdote aside, how could one expect such stupidity from a Member of Parliament? Anyone can operate a cheque account with any banks. As a matter of fact one commercial bank in Honiara issues cheque accounts to every new customer.

In other words, operating a cheque account does not necessarily mean one has a lot of money, although some regard cheque book account as a status symbol of wealth and so on

The basic requirements to operate a cheque account are essentially who the applicant is and the source of regular income for that individual. To suggest as the politician implied that a person has to be filthy rich in order to handle a cheque account with any or all of the banks is pretty dumb.

In the case of the MP, the source of income for the cheque account could have come from the controversial Constituency Development Fund (CDF) or the MPs’ annual $500,000 discretionary fund stipulated in the Parliamentary Entitlements Regulations booklet.

It is hard to ascertain what message the MP is trying to convey. Is it arrogance? Or is it being simply dumb? No MP in his right mind would be so dumb to say such things.

One wonders whether this country deserves MPs like this to represent them in the next Parliament. It simply is a shameful display of ignorance or perhaps arrogance.

That aside, the 10th Parliament rose yesterday. It is the second of the last meeting for the year. It is also the second last meeting before the next National General Election is held next March.

Those in government say the last sitting of Parliament starts in November and continues through to 17th December 2018 when by law the National Parliament is dissolved in preparation for the next National General Election (NGE) expected to be held in March 2019.

The sitting which ended yesterday was one of the most productive meetings in terms of passage of important and implementable legislations.

Parliament passed for example the controversial Anti-Corruption Legislation, its sister law, the Whistle Blower Act 2018 and the new Electoral (Amendment) Act 2018.

It is public knowledge that police, apart from JANUS, has amassed almost irrefutable evidence of conversion and misuse of public funds by officials and politicians.

The Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) should make their move now by laying charges if indeed they have sufficient evidence to put public figures on trial.

Initially the political environment was not favourable.

There were so much political agenda in the way for police, including the anti-corruption crack unit JANUS to have a free hand to do anything.

Their hands were tied because of alleged orders from the political captain.

Now it seems the coast is clear and the captain of the RSIPF should simply give direction that the time is here and now for some fireworks.

Using public service officials as scapegoat would not assist anyone, if the intention of the police is to clear the messy patches of corruption being left here and there.

The longer it remains with us, the harder it is for any government to deal with.

Solomon Islands’ society has become a much thicker onion than what we used to know. Each layer reveals yet another layer and more.

Our only hope is in the police doing their work as sworn in their oath of service.

We will otherwise end up electing politicians with personal cheque books.

Alfred Sasako

New idea for a clean SINU campus

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
Group of Taiwan and SINU students after the open forum at the SINU’s Tourism complex.

BY LYNTON AARON FILIA

YOUTH Ambassadors of the Republic of China (Taiwan) have shared few concepts on cleanliness with the national university of the country (SINU).

During an open forum on Thursday last week, the students shared what they describe as methods widely and effectively used across universities in Taiwan.

They said in Taiwan as soon as a person is registered as a university student, it is compulsory to undergo community service voluntarily and be responsible for campus environment.

This process will determine students’ pass grade; if not satisfactorily completed it will be repeated until the individual completes community service in the campus, they said.

Students, lecturers and the Acting Vice Chancellor of SINU agree that it is an ideal concept which they believe if applied will help address environment issues facing SINU.

Director General on Home Assignment Department of International Corporation and Economic Affairs Mr David WT Chang gives his remarks at SINU open forum

Acting Vice Chancellor Professor Prem Rai said they will consider the new idea.

Rai said Taiwan and SINU have signed few MOU which are beneficial both long and short term.

“We have indeed very active collaboration with institution in Taiwan, and we very much appreciate our institutional partnership,” Rai said.

Director General on Home Assignment Department of International Corporation and Economic Affairs Mr David WT Chang acknowledged SINU for hosting them.

He said visitation of the Taiwan’s Youth Ambassadors to SINU with their exchange ideas will help the university and the students.

Group of Taiwan and SINU students after the open forum at the SINU’s Tourism complex.

Mr Chang said its cultural exchange programme is part of country bilateral with Taiwan and visit here is to deepen the cordial relationship between Solomon Islands and Taiwan.

Meanwhile, SINU students have performed two cultural performances to the Taiwan Youth Ambassadors which have them stunned to see our diverse culture.

In return, the Taiwanese students also did cultural performances.

Acting Vice Chancellor Professor Prem Rai give keynote address

Parliament gives nod to new Maritime Authority Law

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
Solomon Islands National Parliament

By Gary Hatigeva

A legislation aimed to establish the Solomon Islands Maritime Authority (SIMA) Act and other related purposes, in the country has been passed by both the houses of Parliament.

The Bill (Act) was passed after it went through a quick but thorough one day proceeding in the Committee of the Whole House last week.

Following its first reading, the Bill was adjourned and later brought back for its second reading with informative debates on it, but only after an approved time was given for members to familiarise themselves with it.

The Solomon Islands Maritime Authority Bill, 2018 seeks to repeal laws such as the Maritime Safety Administration Act 2009, the Shipping Act (Cap 163), the Merchant Shipping (Fees) Act (Cap. 160), the Light Dues and Harbours Act (Cap. 159), and the Seamen Discipline (Admiralty Transport) Act (Cap. 192).

“With the passage of this bill, the five statutes have been repealed,” Stanley Sofu, Minister for Infrastructure Development (MID), explained.

He said there were no clarifications in the old laws on a lot of issues surrounding Maritime Services in the country, which include collision of ships, maritime order in the maritime industry, dangerous goods, the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) 1978, including others, and the Bill, according to the Minister, paves the way for these matters.

Till date, the old Maritime Law has not set out clarifications on the powers and functions of certain heads and responsibilities within the Authority but after being passed, there are now clear directions and the act spells out clearly when and how the powers maybe exercised.

The new law has allowed for relevant institutions to exercise admiralty jurisdiction over maritime matters, which include several aspects not limited to goods imported as earlier, and also others such as detention and seizure of items if indication of non-compliances and other related matters, including lien, health and environmental issues.

The Bill also provides the highest priority to establish the Solomon Islands Maritime Authority as a financially self-sufficient organisation with sufficient resources to carry out its function, while at the same time facilitate the implementation of international and regional maritime agreements.

The SIMA according to its objectives, is also to facilitate the implementation of applicable maritime laws in the country.

Following the Maritime Bill’s passage, Parliament agreed to a motion of special adjournment moved by the Prime Minister for the house to adjourn until Monday, September 24, 2018.

Voter registration hits a snag on Malaita

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

By Alfred Sasako

VOTER registration, particularly on Malaita, may have hit a snag over inadequate allowances with assistant voter registration officers threatening sit-in protest unless the Electoral Commission steps in to resolve the matter.

The Electoral Commission is paying $150-a-day allowance across the board for assistant registration officers and their helpers (carriers. The amount is said to cover subsistence allowance as well as a touring allowance.

Some assistant registration officers told Island Sun over the weekend the across-the-board allowance is “unfair and inadequate”.

“It fails to take into accounts the hardships being faced by those who would do the enumeration in the hinterland of Malaita.

“Take for example those who would be doing the registration work deep inside the mountainous region of East Kwaio. They would need extra payment to account for the hardships they face and the hard work in getting the papers to villages in the mountains,” one officer told Island Sun.

“We are planning a sit-in protest unless the Electoral Commission increases the allowance by $50 for each of the registration officers and their carriers.”

The officer said the allowance should never be calculated across the board because it fails to take into account situations in all 14 constituencies on Malaita.

“We have for example officers who would be doing their work in villages along the coasts where things are a lot easier. In East Kwaio and parts of East and West Are Are, the situation is entirely different as voter registration officers and their helpers have to climb mountains after mountains for hours to get to any village.

“Our helpers would be carrying lots of boxes and these are pretty heavy. I think it is only fair their efforts are recognised. We are appealing to the Commission to review the allowances so that the registration work is not unnecessarily disrupted,” the officer said.

Smoking pilot strikes again

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
Smoking pilot

Plane skis to a U-turn at Taro airport, SolAir blames mechanical fault & bad runway

BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

SOLOMON Airlines is again under the spotlight as reports surface that a trip to Taro mid last month had ended up in a near-disaster landing. The pilot is none other than the controversial expat dubbed by media as the ‘Smoking Pilot’.

Island Sun has also been reliably informed that management have kept the incident under the wraps, and no action has been taken on the responsible pilot, two weeks on.

Passengers of flight IE352 thought they were witnessing their final hours as the Twin Otter made a speedy bumpy landing and skid uncontrollably along the whole runway. Upon reaching the end of the runway, the plane reportedly skid a sharp U-turn to a halt.

Speaking to Island Sun, a passenger in that near-fatal trip, speaking on condition of anonymity, admits that he was praying for his life, fearing just when the plane would flip over.

“I’ve just returned from the province, and am shocked that this incident is not in the media despite it being more serious than other incidents which are minor in comparison but have been reported. The incident took place on August 14, that’s like two weeks ago, but there is just silence even from the SolAir.”

The passenger describes horrifying details of the dangerous landing they were subjected to under SolAir’s supposedly Check & Trainer Captain.

“The plane was a full house. And, I noticed as we were lowering to land that the plane did not slow down as usual, which struck me as odd.

“The jolt of that bumpy touch down still haunts me, and the erratic skiing of the plane towards the end of the runway was deathly terrifying.

“But worse was that 180 degree U-turn at the end of the runway where we thought the plane was going to flip over,” said the passenger, who is a frequent flyer of that route.

The passenger adds that one thing they noticed after making their hasty exit from the plane was the direction of the wind sock, which pointed in such a way to indicate that they had landed with the wind behind them.

“We were quite shocked to see this and it added to our anger that the pilot had landed us with the wind blowing us on. The airlines management should take immediate action on this pilot.

“We recognise him [the pilot] from the media reports as the one in the smoking incident in Rennell and the burst tyre incident in Honiara during a training session.

“Solomon Airlines, what are you waiting for before you act? Are you waiting for lives to be lost before you act on this pilot?” the passenger asks.

When queried on the matter, Solomon Airlines CEO Brett Gebers on Saturday said, “The incident that you have referred to has been fully documented and is being investigated by the Airline’s Safety Department. No fault is attributable to the crew who were suddenly faced with a very difficult situation which they dealt with perfectly. The combination of a mechanical fault and a very wet and slippery runway led to the incident. I am thankful that we had a very experienced Captain flying the aircraft as his skill and experience ensured a safe outcome.”

Gebers, who also holds the position of Chief Pilot, says that this is not the first time for such incident to happen in Taro.

“The same type of incident has happened on several occasions over the past 20 years,” said Gebers.

“Many of the runways to which we operate have received no maintenance for the past 30 years and as a consequence most have poor drainage which often leads to soft muddy areas that are not apparent from the air. We rely on our agents at the airports to report on the runway conditions.

“We are constantly criticised by the travelling public for cancelling flights to airports which we know are waterlogged. The safety of all comes first and we will always take appropriate action to ensure everyone remains safe despite the inconvenience it may cause. We have had to suspend operations to Suavanao for the past few weeks due to holes in the runway making it unsafe.

“All of our aircraft are flown by a crew of two pilots, both of whom have clearly defined roles and duties as the pilot flying and as the pilot who is monitoring. When a finger is pointed at one of the pilots, the other is automatically implicated because his or her actions or inactions play a significant role in the outcome of every flight.

“No matter how hard people try, the smoking incident and a mechanical failure cannot be linked. Trying to link them is not helping anyone.” Said CEO Gebers.

Speaking to Island Sun on Friday night, on condition of anonymity, a top brass in the airline independently confirmed management having received report of the incident.

The source also confirmed to Island Sun that the pilot involved is the same pilot behind the Smoking Incident in Rennell earlier this year, and the burst tyre incident at the Honiara airport; both incidents are understood to be the first of their kind.

“Yes, the pilot in the Taro incident is the same one in the earlier incidents of smoking in the pilot cockpit in Rennell and the burst tyre during a check and training session in Honiara.

“He is Ray McLellan, from Australia who was brought in by CEO Brett Gebers and Bill Tyson with the announcement that Mr McLellan would bring in much needed experience and improvement to the domestic service, early this year.”

The source also adds that McLellan has already received a warning letter for one of the two previous incidents, an action by management which the source believes to be ‘too light for a serious offence’.

Island Sun is following up on this matter, and is seeking comments from relevant authorities.

Certain sections of new electoral act to be enacted for 2019 elections

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
Election

By Gary Hatigeva

WITH its passage in parliament last week, the government together with the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission (SIEC), are working to have certain sections of the act enacted to be used in the upcoming 2019 National General Elections (NGE).

This was revealed by the SIEC Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mose Saitala, during his meeting with the local media last week.

Amongst those revealed are the provision for a campaign period, pre-polling for officials who will be on duty during election, provision allowing electors to register and vote in constituencies other constituencies if they fulfil the definition of an ordinary residence in the new act.

Otherwise, most of the included sections to be enacted are administration matters, which will deal with how the electoral commission is operated including powers and functions of certain heads within the institute, and conduct of election.

According to his presentation on the changes and additional sections made in the new electoral act, the new Commission requires a Chairperson to be an eminent person appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the JLSC.

The commission will now have four members that include the Chairperson, two members plus the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), who based on the new act, does not have voting right when the Commission makes decision.

Others include the status of a candidate, whom according to the new act, must be a registered voter in order to be a candidate to contest election for the National Parliament.

Nomination fee to be a candidate is $5,000 – non-refundable, and Filing of nomination must now be done in person because their (candidates) facial photo will be taken when filing nomination

Since independence, candidates were allowed to maximise their spending up to $50,000 but parliament has passed for all campaign expenses be increased to $500,000, which went down well with most members who agreed that costs involved in all aspects of preparing and movement have also increased, and the amount, though small, some said, but at least it is reasonable for now.

A few amendments were passed for the election ballot paper, and that will include candidate’s name, facial photo, symbol and the square box where the voter will tick to indicate his/her choice from the candidates.

The amendments also included the status of symbols on the ballot paper, where parliament through the new act, where allocation for independent candidate will still be optional.

“No symbol will be allocated if the candidate does not want it,” the SIEC CEO added.

However, in the case of a political party candidate, it is compulsory for the political party symbol to be used alongside the candidate’s name, but the SIEC CEO explained that based on parliament’s agreements for the 2019 NGE, candidates can use another symbols, but has to be approved by their party executives.

CEO Saitala then revealed that the Commission is now working on making arrangements for persons with disabilities, and that several measure are being put in place to help disabled voters to access polling stations.

However, the Commission is working on proposals to have separate polling booths for people with special needs, which is looking to have it approved in the next house, for the 2023 national general elections.

Another area the commission said will be enacted for the 2019 National General Election is on voting hours, which has been a big concern for both candidates and voters who in many cases, denied their rights to vote, where ques or lines are turned away after closing time.

The new act maintains the original opening and closing timeframe for voting, which runs from 7am to 5pm, and parliament has amended and agreed that those already waiting in the line to vote will be allowed to vote, but has to be within the polling premises or compound.

“Nobody should join the line after 5pm.”

On the issue of announcing election results, the new act has maintained that any announcement of result of an election is still a function of the Returning Officer for individual constituencies, the announcement of result nationwide will however, be done by the Electoral Commission and not by the Governor General, as it has always been since independence, but will only be provided with the final list of winners for his assent.

A controversial provision was also inserted and approved by parliament, for the republication of final list of voters but no later than 30 days after the national election results were gazetted, and this according to officials, will indicate who actually cast their votes.

Based on this, the SIEC CEO assured that with the new measure used on the status of the ballot paper, no candidates or officials will be able to know who electors have voted for.

Another assurance in the new act was on the timeframe given to deal with petition cases from elections, which provided for the Courts to decide on any election petition within 12 months from the date the petition was filed, and this will surely ease the frustrations on petitioners, many of who their cases have been dragged on for almost a whole life span of parliament house.

Arrest shows Janus still alive and kicking

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
PC Mathew Varley

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

POLICE Commissioner Matthew Varley has revealed during a press conference on Friday last week that the anti-corruption taskforce, JANUS, has made another arrest.

He said that the suspect is from the Ministry of Agriculture and is alleged of having attempted to bribe another public official in relation to their duties

Varley said the accused has appeared in court was bailed to appear again on September 12.

He said the arrest reflects that behind the scene JANUS is continuing with the investigation on allegation against corruption across the public service and also to other cases of corruption more.

These cases are complex and require a lot of evidence to prosecute as we have seen in the past and we are continuing and committed our efforts to address corruption in the country, Commissioner Varley said.

He said the work of the Taskforce Janus and also the RSIPF corruption targeting team continues daily.

“As I have said before we are always working on those cases there are many that we are working on and people should not assume that those cases are not continuing investigated in the background,” Varley said.

Obviously taskforce JANUS is a cooperatively team between the RSIPF and the Ministry of Finance and Treasury and quite number of cases are before them that they are working on.

Therefore he said that details into case against the Agriculture officer are before the court and he will not disclose anything at this stage, Varley said.

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