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Israel to assist Malaita

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Israel’s Advisor and Counsellor for Pacific Islands Mr Yaron Sultan Dadon during his meeting with Small Malaita’s Liwe community Chief, Walter Hou.

BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

Israel’s Advisor and Counsellor for Pacific Islands Mr Yaron Sultan Dadon during his meeting with Small Malaita’s Liwe community Chief, Walter Hou.

ISRAEL’S Advisor and Counsellor for Pacific Islands Mr Yaron Sultan-Dadon said there is enough talk, let them now act and implement something for the people of Malaita Province.

Advisor Yaron Sultan-Dadon met with the Malaita Provincial Premier Hon Peter Ramohia and his Executive during the past week and learnt of the many challenges facing the people and province in which he said Israel would like to assist.

Having a strong connection in friendship is why the Israel Advisor said they are to see what they can do as a friendly country in rendering some assistance in lifting the well-being of Malaita people being the most populated province in Solomon Islands.

“We will stand with you and your people as you ‘battle’ against the many challenges facing your people and province,” said Advisor Yaron.

“To get rolling, we will assist the people of Malaita through medical services by getting our medical teams from Israel and equipment for Kilu’ufi Hospital in the next few weeks.

“This will include dental, eye, operating theatre and other urgent requirements of the Hospital. Our Israeli specialists will be here at the hospital and clinics throughout the Island in whatever area that you need us to assist.

“When our team is here at Kilu’ufi Hospital, they can also recommend to us what equipment or medical specialists they need to be posted to Auki in helping the people.”

Currently in Malaita Province according to Advisor Yaron, the doctor to population ratio is one (1) doctor to 23,000 people.

“We are willing to address this alarming data in the Health sector and I think Israel can start in this sector whilst the other challenging areas will be attended to,” said Advisor Yaron.

“I am also thankful to have met community Chief Walter Hou of Liwe village at Small Malaita. I will discuss his request with our Israeli investor’s that are already in the region on how to assist.”

Advisor Yaron’s visit was a very successful one as Malaita Province also celebrated the Israeli 70 years Independence Anniversary with friends and families in Auki, hosted by the Pacific Israel Jewish Council, Solomon Islands.

A three-man delegation to be headed by the Minister of Agriculture & Livestock Hon. Augustine Auga Maeue will be travelling to Israel early next month.

The Minister will be Israel’s guest at the upcoming Agritech May 8-10, 2018 under Hon Uri Ariel, Israel’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

“We are looking after all the costs of our guest including his travels and his stay in Israel,” said Advisor Yaron.

During the three days of visit in the country, Advisor Yaron also met National Government officials, the Provincial Government of Malaita, Private sector representatives and civil society organizations.

One of the Private Sectors representatives meeting up with was Mr Tony Tepe of Food Works Supplies in Honiara.

Next MPAs for Choiseul called to work together

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

Intending candidate for Viviru Ward 4 in South Choiseul Province Mr Irwin Surudao makes a strong call for the upcoming 16 new provincial members of Choiseul Province to work together.

This is purposely to develop Choiseul and avoid hiccups that are currently affecting their province.

Through Mr Nerio Ulemiki the media coordinator for Christ the King Parish at Voruvoru Northwest Choiseul reporting, Mr Surudao wants the new provincial government to put as priority the Choiseul Bay township project and to put more emphasis on improving the forestry, agriculture and tourism sectors of the province.

“This is to improve the economic base for the rural populace in Choiseul and to encourage more industries to the province that will provide more job opportunities for the youths,” said Surudao.

Solomon Islander to be awarded 42nd Commonwealth Point of Light

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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BY MAVIS NISHIMURA PODOKOLO

A Solomon Islander volunteer Mr Jacob Sibia will be awarded with the 42nd Commonwealth Point of Light award, which was recognised by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on Monday April 2.

This is in honour of his exceptional voluntary service providing access to education for children in need and the outstanding volunteer work done every day of the week.

His outstanding performance has made a difference in his community which had inspire others to create innovative solutions to social challenges in their communities and beyond.

Speaking with the British High Commission to Solomon Islands Media Officer Mrs Betty Wasuka, she said the awardees have been recognised by the Queen in terms of appreciating inspirational volunteers across the 52 Commonwealth nations for making difference in their communities and beyond

Sibia will receive a personalised certificate signed by Her Majesty The Queen as Head of the Commonwealth and will be presented to him by the British High Commissioner to Solomon Islands, HE David Ward.

Sibia is a pastor in the village of Belaha in Central Guadalcanal, who also built his own school originally using traditional materials.

Former councillor calls on HCC, MP to fix White River high school sports field

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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By Alfred Sasako

FORMER councillor Charles Lesimaoma yesterday sent out an SOS to the Honiara City Council and the MP for West Honiara to help fix the White River Community High School sports ground, claiming it has been neglected for far too long.

“The sports field has been neglected for a long time and is now covered in tall grasses,” Mr Lesimaoma told Island Sun yesterday.

“I am concerned for my community of White River as well as the students of the school as the community no longer has a place to play sports. It would seem the decision to leave the field unattended for months was intentional,” he said.

Lesimaoma, who served as a councillor for three terms of 12 years from 1974, said his investigation has established the area where the sports field is located is under the Honiara City Council.

“I call on the Honiara City Council and the MP for West Honiara, Hon Namson Tran to do something about the sports field. All it needs is proper drainage so that it remains dry even in wet weather,” he said.

Lesimaoma said the Honiara City Council in particular has a lot of money allocated in the Council’s budget this year.

He produced a document which showed the Ward Grant for Ward 1, which covers White River, for this year is $265,000. The Council Member for Ward 1 is Lord Mayor Andrew Mua.

“Why not use this money to fix this important sports field? It is for the kids of the White River Community High School. I wish to repeat the call on those responsible to ensure the sports is fixed immediately,” Lesimaoma said.

During his term as a Councillor, Lesimaoma once served as Deputy President of what is now Honiara City Council.

MP’s case for interim mention today

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

THE case against the Member of Parliament for Baegu/Asifola Constituency will be mentioned in court for an interim mention, as the trial date has already been set for May.

This is the case against David Tome who was alleged to have involved in converting funds in relation to incidents which occurred in 2011.

Prosecution alleged that in 2011 the MP obtained public funds for a constituency project; however those funds were not used as intended and was converted for his own use.

The MP is charged with 14 counts of Conversion under Section 278(1) (c) (i) of the Penal Code, involving funds totalling $67,170.

The minister was on $2000 cash bail and will appear in court faithfully till his case is completed.

The office of Director Public Prosecution is prosecuting the case in court.

Asian out on bail

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

THE Asian Thien Seng Wong alleged of human trafficking has been released on bail yesterday.

He is released on bail awaiting his trial in relation to his case.

The court upon releasing the accused imposed strict bail conditions which he is expected to abide by.

This is the case of 55-year-old Mr Wong from Malaysia, an employee of a Malaysian logging giant Earthmovers, and he is facing count of human trafficking under the section 77 of the Immigration Act 2012.

He was accused of carrying out internal human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation between November 30, 2015 and January 2016.

Prosecution alleged that he had a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl in 2015 up until 2016.

The alleged incident occurred at a logging camp in Isabel province where the accused was working as a manager at the logging camp at the time of the alleged incident.

Prosecution said the father of the girl was also working at that logging camp.

The camp belongs to Jubilant Development Logging, an offshoot of Earth Movers logging company.

That logging company has a camp in Isabel as well as in Vella La Vella.

It was alleged the accused started living with the girl at the Isabel logging camp.

He also took the girl with him when he was transferred to the camp at Vella La Vella.

The accused was arrested after a joint operation made up of police and immigration officers investigated the matter following a media article.

The office of the Director Public Prosecution appears on behalf of the crown on the case.

Gizo Kolombangara by-election nomination deadline tomorrow

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
Election

DEALINE for the nomination period given to Gizo Kolombangara constituents to nominate candidates for the By-Election is closing in.

The 14-day nomination period started on April 11, 2018 and will close at 4pm tomorrow, April 25, 2018.

The Office of the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission (SIEC) wishes to advise constituents and intending candidates of Gizo Kolombangara constituency, of the looming deadline.

SIEC in a press statement advised that completed nomination forms must be received with a non-refundable nomination fee of $2000, not later than the deadline.

“All contesting candidates must file their nomination with the Returning Officer no later than 4pm Wednesday, April 25,” the statement said.

Nomination forms can be collected from the Office of the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission in Honiara or from the Returning Officer, Mr Christian Siale, in Gizo.

SIEC encourages constituents and intending contestants to file their nomination well away from the closing time to avoid any disappointment of their nomination being rejected because of non-compliance with the law.

“Filing your nomination much earlier will allow you to correct any errors that would have ruled your nomination invalid if found to be incomplete by 4pm, April 25.”

SIEC added that a draw will be conducted at the close of nominations to determine the standing of candidates on a ballot paper.

This ballot paper draw will determine the order in which names of candidate will appear on the ballot paper and it is important that intending candidates or their agents are there to witness the draw.

Any candidate who wants to withdraw his/her candidacy for this by-election can do so before Saturday April 28, 2018.

His Excellency the Governor General Sir Frank Ofagiro Kabui officially proclaimed Wednesday, May 23, 2018 as the date for the Gizo Kolombangara By-Election.

The people of Gizo Kolombangara Constituency in the Western Province have had no national parliamentary representative since November 30, 2017 when their elected member of parliament lost his seat in a successful election petition against his election to the 10th Parliament.

SIEC would like to advise people of Gizo Kolombangara constituency, to continue to listen to SIBC and Radio Happy Lagoon, as well as other media outlets including SIEC’s Facebook page for updates regarding important activities in the lead up to the By-Election.

–SIEC PRESS

The forgotten roads

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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One of the forgotten roads which has just about 5 percent or less in its value as a road and if no work is done on it soon, could lose its status completely. This is the same to many other roads around Honiara.

By Gary Hatigeva

HAZARDOUS potholed roads across Honiara including those in most urban centres in the provinces are ‘forgotten’.

With little or no attention set on a lot of the feeder roads in suburbs and residential areas in and around Honiara City, people are beginning to question whether the government through responsible authorities still have ownership or direct responsibility over them.

These are some of the scathing views and frustrations many residents have raised regarding the status of a lot of their roads.

Frustrations have pointed towards what many described to be continued deterioration of most feeder roads, which are slowing turning into drainage access for running water when heavy rain falls.

A visit to the St Nicholas School goes to prove what have been highlighted, and a lot of those residing around the area especially parents and staff who use the access on a weekly basis, are concerned over the conditions of roads, which is believed to have already caused problems to most of their vehicles.

Meanwhile, a follow up with the Honiara City Council only to be referred to the Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID) as all repairs and maintenance of all roads come under their rehabilitation programs.

Road coming down from the St. Nicholas College inside the Central Honiara Constituency.

However, with no allocation in this year’s budget for any road maintenance or repairs, people are beginning to question the system and MID over its capacity to look after these roads, which they believe received more attention when responsibilities came directly under the HCC.

“MID surely has a lot of bigger projects and contracts to worry about and should therefore give it back to the City Council through its responsible divisions to look after the issue of maintaining and repairing all feeder roads.

“And indeed local residents may well remember that local roads used to be kept in a far better condition.

“This was when Honiara city council acted as the Highways agency for this area and spent the grant funding in areas where local knowledge and experience helped on deciding where limited funds could be spent.

“Since MID took this function away from HCC, the state of our roads has gone from bad to worse, we are now seemingly almost forgotten,” one resident expressed when interviewed regarding this issue.

One of the forgotten roads which has just about 5 percent or less in its value as a road and if no work is done on it soon, could lose its status completely. This
is the same to many other roads around Honiara.

A lot of those interviewed from different suburbs around Honiara have also shared similar sentiments, saying that despite the impact of the recent bad weather, most of the feeder roads experiencing the same situation, have been left in a poor condition, something many agreed have been there for years.

“Our roads and pavements here in Honiara and in the provinces seem to be deteriorating and while I appreciate we’ve had difficult weather, it’s no excuse.

“While this may well be an issue of cuts in funding to local authorities due to decisions from the national government, the issue of potholes and road deterioration is not something that only pops up yesterday, it is a matter that continued to haunt us every day for the last 10 years, especially those of us using vehicles to move around these roads,” a resident from Vura also expressed

In addition, another St Nicholas resident who also asked not to be named however claimed that members of parliament who are seen as the last hope into solving these issues through their ever growing influences and being recipients of machineries for road projects are hopeless.

He said most the parliamentarians use these bad roads almost every day, which is a very unfortunate affair, because they have intentionally chosen to turn blind eyes on them.

“This is because they too are gambling with the people for favour and votes within the election circuit, using a lot of these affected roads as their black jack,” the disappointed resident shared.

The St Nicholas resident interestingly recalled and claimed that the last time he remembered repairs were done to their road was before the last election, and has been ignored to date.

“And I hope it is not repeated this time round knowing that elections are just around the corner, but I urge the general public not to be fooled or deceived by these tricksters with their dodgy political games.

“We only hope that the responsible authorities start getting their acts together and do their job, because we don’t want to see politicians becoming road experts again.”

Sharzy plans tour to support breast cancer fight

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

By Mike Puia

Gizo

LOCAL music sensation, Samson Saeni, who is better known as Sharzy, will travel and perform in Vanuatu early next month in an effort to raise money to support fight breast cancer in the Pacific region.

Pati Potts of Papua New Guinea will join Sharzy on this tour. They will put on a one-day show at Korman Stadium on May 5.

The Vanuatu concert is the first of a Pacific region tour Sharzy plans. Tickets for this show have been sold like hot cakes in Port Vila.

Sharzy said his intention to stage the Pacific tour follows the passing away of his wife of breast cancer last year.

He said after the passing of his wife he came up with a plan to tour every country in the region and perform to raise money to support breast cancer programmes in the region.

He said Vanuatu was chosen as the first country for this planned regional tour since he found out that the country has no equipment to diagnose cancer.

Sharzy is still working on how he will organise a corporate dinner to raise money for the same purpose.

He said he has grown mature in the music business and he has reached a point where he wants to support a cause.

The award winning musician said fighting breast cancer is the first cause he is taking on.

Sharzy said Fiji and Papua New Guinea are the next two countries after Vanuatu.

“I initiated this idea and it got a lot of positive feedbacks. As for artists that wish to join in this programme, it depends which artist is interested as for me, I am going,” Sharzy said.

Sharzy will leave for Vanuatu on May 3 and return to the country on May 9.

Bethlehem youths launch bio-gas project

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
Officials attending the official launching of Bethlehem’s Bio-gas project.

BY LYNTON AARON FILIA

Young people demonstrate Bio-gas usages.

THE Bethlehem Chapel Youth (BCY) ministry launched its bio-gas project on Thursday April 19, 2018.

The Bethlehem Chapel Youth Ministry is a faith-based youth group located at the Tuvaruhu community just along the Mataniko River.

It became officially registered under Honiara City Council-Youth Division in July 2016.

Through this registration, BCY established a partnership with Oxfam Solomon Islands.

On Thursday last week, BCY with youth stakeholders in the country launched its bio-gas project which emphasises innovative aspects to address environmental problems especially organic wastes through approach of anaerobic respiration reaction.

BCY Ministry youth leader Dr Joel Iio said they are excited with such achievement which is a result of young people’s innovation to change their community.

He said they have faced many challenges when constructing the bio-digester.

“It has been noted that nearly majority of materials used were different materials for different purposes but modified to serve the purpose of the bio-digester,” Iio said.

The elder for BCY ministry Mr Bobby Kelly said the youths are doing their part in saving the environment.

Mr Kelly who has been supporting BCY youths all along through the construction of the bio-gas system.

Speaking on behalf of the Honiara Youth Council, HYC coordinator Mr Bobby Siarani congratulated the BCY ministry for their fine achievement.

“We have been looking forward to witness the success of the bio-gas project since it has been submitted through proposal and presentation.

Officials attending the official launching of Bethlehem’s Bio-gas project.

“We encourage young people and youth groups in Honiara to venture into innovative approaches to solve some of our social issues.

“Not only that this can be seen as a form of development for our society especially when it comes to new technology such as the bio-gas.”

Representative from Oxfam Solomon Islands Mr Neil Nuia expressed his excitement about the success of the bio-gas project.

He said they have been waiting to witness the lighting of the bio-gas system which has been heard about for the past six to seven months.

Nuia adds witnessing the success of the project is also a success for Oxfam as a donor partner to the project.

The Youth Desk of the Honiara City Council Mrs Mary Tuhaika acknowledged the BCY’s commitment towards youth development in Honiara.

She said such initiative is a combined effort from young peoples’ commitment, passion, drive and the technical know-how of their elders.

“BCY’s innovative project is a huge success and a realisation of youth potential, when given relevant support,” she adds.

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