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Honouring a pledge to lead and serve

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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DEAR EDITOR, last week the acting Honiara City Mayor, Eddie Ngava, called on all members of Parliament to step in and render support in what was a national issue concerning the ongoing medical drugs shortages at the NRH and clinics.

Mr Ngava referred to one MP having donated medical drugs and supplies to three clinics in West Honiara and he called upon the other 49 MPs to render the same degree of support to the clinics in their respective constituencies.

I would appeal to those 49 MPs to follow the challenge set by Mr Ngava to demonstrate to the country and their constituents their concern for the crisis over drug shortages and to fulfill their responsibilities to the constituents they were elected to represent.

So often one has read of allegations concerning the lack of constituency development and alleged misuse of the constituency development funds each MP receives annually and now would be the ideal time to set aside any such allegations and to help by generously donating money to buy medicines in the national interest or to donate adequate medical drugs and supplies, following the example set by the West Honiara MP, to his constituency clinics.

In the present climate resulting from medical drugs shortages it is more than ever necessary, in my view, to demonstrate “to lead is to serve,” or regrettably be judged in the court of public opinion has not having lived up to the expectations of a serving Member of Parliament.

Please, Honourable Members, do help the nation at this difficult time and those who put you in office for many in the constituencies are suffering illness and need treatment and access to medical care and medicine.

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT

A commendable re-forestation programme to be encouraged country-wide in the Solomon Islands

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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DEAR EDITOR, as the Solomon Islands has lost so much of its indigenous forests over the years due to logging practices, I highly commend the Malaita Provincial Forestry Unit in again initiating a school re-forestation programme for secondary schools in the province.

The programme is aimed at getting school children to become aware of the importance of reforestation and planting trees and to teach the younger generation of the importance of forests and especially its management.

Ecosystem restoration is the process of actively managing the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged or destroyed.

I believe that such a school-led conscious intervention based on traditional local knowledge and forestry understanding is the goal the Solomon Islands greatly needs to restore the country’s ecosystems to be resilient and self-sustaining.

It is my hope that similar re-forestation programmes will be introduced at all local secondary schools and perhaps supported by the help of the Taiwanese Government through its Embassy in Honiara.

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT

IMF commends government on ACB passage

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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IMF team leader Ms Alison Stuart (RIGHT)

BY MIKE PUIA

IMF team leader Ms Alison Stuart (RIGHT)

THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has commended the government for passing the country’s Anti-Corruption Bill (ACB) 2017.

The government, led by Prime Minister Rick Houenipwela, passed its long-awaited bill last Wednesday.

The commendation from IMF comes from the leader of an IMF team that has been in the country holding discussions on the 2018 Article IV Consultation.

IMF team leader, Ms Alison Stuart described the passage of the bill as a “positive step forward”.

“The government’s focus on anti-corruption and the passage of the Anti-Corruption Bill is a positive step. Staff strongly supported the authorities’ intent to move forward with resolute and effective implementation of the bill,” Stuart.

She said the other bill the government needs to pass is the Whistle-Blower Bill (WBB). This bill has just been passed in parliament yesterday.

Stuart said robust and effective policies are also important to sectors that are providing revenue for the government.

She said enforcement of policies and transparencies are critical to the sustainability of these sectors.

The bill includes provisions for the establishment of an Independent Commission against corruption.

According to Prime Minister Hou, the bill will target both the public and private sectors- including the churches.

TSI praises IMF statement on anti-corruption law

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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TRANSPARENCY Solomon Islands (TSI) has publicly applauded the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in cautioning the national government on issues of national interest and concern on the Anti- Corruption Act, an act when enforced will deal with corruption, corrupt conduct and practices in public sector, the private sector and civil society.

TSI executive officer says, “The passage of the ACB is timely and has been critical for the country for a number of years.

“Forty years on corruption is widespread in the public sector and it has been far too long for this country not to have a robust legislation to roll back and eliminate corruption at all levels.”

TSI says corruption is an issue that impacts on all aspects of Solomon Islanders society inhibiting development, discouraging genuine investors and damaging public morale.

There is no denying that corruption is rife in Solomon Islands and has dangerously hindered the country’s political and economic development.

“It has diminished public resources for public programs, service delivery, and undermined the reputation of government eroding societal values of integrity and honesty.

“TSI adds its voice to IMF Team leader Alison Stuart’s call for a greater transparency of CDFs that would improve accountability to improve services in the rural areas,” TSI said

TSI calls on other Financial Institutions and development partners to call for transparency in areas that IMF has raised concern about.

Whilst TSI appreciates the help given by development partners, it also recognises that these has been used by political leaders to assure people about service delivery and turn people’s attention away from the millions that are not accounted for, millions of tax-payers monies.

With regard to the legislative instruments to curb corruption, TSI truly applauds Matthew Wale (MP for Aoke-Langalanga) for his tireless effort in being the people’s voice in the debate of the Anti-Corruption Bill and now the Whistle-blowers Bill.

The position of the Member of Parliament is a public post and one that is there to be a voice for their constituencies.

In this instance only a few a truly reflecting that in the highest decision-making body of Solomon Islands.

–TSI PRESS

Police investigate wounding incident in Choiseul

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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POLICE at Taro in Choiseul Province are investigating an alleged wounding incident at Voruvoru Village in Choiseul Province on July 29, 2018.

Provincial Police Commander (PPC) Choiseul Province, Superintendent Vincent Eria says, “The alleged wounding incident happened after a local suspect went to Voruvoru Village and allegedly confronted a Malaysian and punched him.

“It is alleged the Malaysian reacted and ran back to the logging camp and got his knife and returned to the village to search for the suspect.

“The victim received a couple of injuries to his head, on his back side and his right little figure was chopped off.

“On seeing what happened, the people at the village rushed behind the suspect to the camp and attacked the Malaysian until he fell to the ground and became unconscious.

“The seriously injured victim has been referred to the National Referral Hospital in Honiara while the Malaysian who is also a victim and suspect at the same time is still under police custody and medical authority at Taro.

“The original fight came about when the seriously wounded victim asked the Malaysian for money but he refused to grant what the victim asked for,” explains Eria.

Eria calls on both parties involved in the incident to refrain from taking the law into their own hands but allow police to investigate the matter.

–POLICE MEDIA

Tasahe residents warned to stay clear of UXO cordoned area

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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THE Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) will be conducting a Render Safe Procedure (RSP) in the Solomon Power (SIEA) residential area at Tasahe in West Honiara between 8am to 2pm tomorrow 1 August 2018.

Officer In-Charge of the EOD Team, Inspector Clifford Tunuki says, “This task is in relation to a report of unexploded ordnance (UXO) that has been found recently by members of the community living there.

“The UXO is fitted with a Mechanical Time Fuse and is unsafe to move.

“The purpose of the RSP is to safely knock-off the sensitive fusing elements of the UXO only.

“This must be done before the UXO can be safely transported to Hells Point East of Honiara.

“The EOD Team is therefore appealing to people living in and around the Solomon Power residential area at Tasahe to keep out from the cordoned area from now and until the operation has been completed.”

–POLICE MEDIA

Inflation drops in June

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Government Statistician Douglas Kimi

A further 0.2 percent fall in inflation rate was recorded for Honiara in June 2018.

According to the latest Honiara Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month (June), the drop was from 192.9 in May to 192.5 in June.

CPI is a monthly indicator of the variation in prices for retail goods and other items.

The basket of goods chosen represents the spending behaviour of the population of Honiara and the resulting CPI is used to calculate inflation.

In the Solomon Islands, inflation is limited to the current CPI basket of goods and services and thus does not represent all price movements of all goods and services in the economy.

It is generally a broad measure of the cost of living in the country.

Government Statistician, Mr Douglas Kimi while releasing the statistics recently said the plunge offsets marginal price rises mainly in Food, Transportation and Communication categories.

“The Food index slightly rose during the month by 0.02 percent to 178.5. This was mainly driven by price rises in powdered milk (0.9 percent), second grade tuna (0.6 percent) and in fresh fruits and vegetables at the Honiara market such as cucumber (25.8 percent), green beans (16.9 percent), melon (10.1 percent), cooking banana (6.7 percent), cassava (6.4 percent), bush cabbage (2.9 percent), and kumara heaps (1.5 percent). These outweighed price drops in a certain produce such as dry coconuts (-1.8 percent), tomatoes (-7.0 percent), Chinese cabbage (-9.0 percent) and coral fish (-19.2 percent) resulting in the slight rise of the overall food index,” Kimi stated.

Other major changes in other sub-index includes;

  • Drinks and Tobacco increased 0.4 percent driven by a rise of 2.5 percent in the price of betel nut outweighing a fall -1.0 percent in tobacco prices.
  • Housing and Utilities dropped 1.9 percent on account of a drop -8.0 percent in electricity charges.
  • Household Operations went up 0.4 percent due to an increase of 0.9 percent in price of household supplies and services, in particular, washing powder 4.8 percent.
  • Transport and Communication went up 1.3 percent resulting from increases in diesel and petrol prices by 7.9 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively.
  • Miscellaneous Items rose 0.6 per cent on account of a 3.0 percent rise in the price of personal care products.

“The overall annual headline inflation rate for the month of June 2018 calculated on a 3 months moving average basis was 2.4 percent, down by 0.4 percentage points from 2.8 percent the previous month. The corresponding inflation rates for imported and other items were 0.1 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively.

“The main underlying rates of inflation based on a 3 months moving average for the month of June 2018 were observed between -0.5 percent and 1.7 percent while the headline inflation rate was at 2.4 percent,” Kimi said.

–SINSO PRESS

High consumption of refined foods raises concern

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

RAPID change of eating habits is believed to contribute in the rise of non-communicable diseases experienced in Solomon Islands.

Over this concern raised by locals, the Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) for Ward 12 at Choiseul Province Hon Nerio Ulemiki is urging citizens of his Ward to change with commitment in decreasing consumption of refined foods.

“Local foods are still healthy for our bodies. Decreasing on consuming refined foods from shops should also include heavy consumption of smoking and alcohol that contributes to a lot of problems within the society today,” said Hon Ulemiki.

Locals of Northwest Choiseul who have also recently raised their concern being in line with Hon Ulemiki added suggesting that there should be more health awareness reaching them at remote rural places over the consequences of modern refined foods being introduced.

“This is because many locals still at present seem to only enjoy such refined foods being introduced forgetting the other side impact of consuming too much on such would cause,” said locals.

Foreign business house checks face closure and removal ask

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

TWENTY-FIVE business houses visited recently by the Joint Committee of the Ministry of Commerce saw the closure of foreign business companies and ask for removal to others.

Out of the 25 business houses on the 27th of June, 13 foreign companies operating on Guadalcanal boundaries or jurisdictions such as at Kakabona, Lungga and GPPOL were closed down for business being asked to expand the size of their premises to 200 square metres.

According to Jack Gulauma from the Foreign Investment Division (FID) under the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Labour and Immigration, four foreign companies out of the 13 that were recently closed down have re-opened.

It is understood that these businesses have expanded the size of their buildings to 200 square metres (200m2) as required by law.

“For 10 foreign companies operating within the outskirts of Honiara, they were asked to close down and have to relocate their operations to the Central Business District (CBD) of Honiara City,” said Mr Gulauma.

It is understood that only two companies out of the 25 visited were owned by Solomon Islanders in which they were allowed to open their doors and continue with normal services.

Renbel asks Birdlife International to survey rhinoceros beetle

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle

By Mike Puia

THE Renbel provincial government has requested Birdlife International to also consider conducting a survey on the presence of the coconut rhinoceros beetle that is reported to have arrived in the two-island province recently.

In a meeting with a team from Birdlife International that left for East Rennell yesterday, the Renbel provincial secretary, Adrian Tuhanuku, said the province would like the team to also include the coconut rhinoceros beetle in its surveys.

The four-member team, which is accompanied by the chairman of the Lake Tegano World Heritage Site Association, will spend more than two weeks in Rennell, mostly in East Rennell, to conduct a survey on the black ship rat that threatens the East Rennell’s World Heritage Site status.

The black ship rat is one of the factors that placed East Rennell on the World Heritage Site in danger list in 2013.

Tuhanuku said the black ship rat is a concern for the province.

Tuhanuku said the province welcomes Birdlife International’s effort in trying to understand the rat’s presence and how it can be eradicated.

He said eradicating the rat means the province is able to strike out one of the items in the list of threat to the World Heritage Site.

Logging, invasive species, over-exploitation of coconut crab and other marine resources, climate change are other factors that placed east Rennell under the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Tuhanuku said recent reports that the coconut rhinoceros beetle has arrived in the province triggers a huge concern for the province.

He said the province is interested to see the team also extending its survey to cover the coconut rhinoceros beetle.

Tuhanuku said having data about invasive species, like the beetle, would provide the province a basis it can use when appealing for support.

He said at the moment the province has no information about invasive species in the province and so unable to convince supporters outside the province to step in and help.

The Provincial Secretary said having a copy of the findings of ther survey would help strengthen the province and Birdlife International’s future collaborations.

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