BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE

THE way police training has been conducted is corrupt, according to an individual who like many others had applied to be part of the local police force earlier this year.

Mr Jay Tarakaimana from Guadalcanal province expressed the above to the paper last week.

Speaking on behalf of others who share the same sentiment, he stressed that what they experienced during their training right up to the examination stage was more than enough to indicate that the process they had went through was not fair and lacked transparency.

He said they were told beforehand that if they failed to attend any phase of the training they would either be excluded from training or penalised.

However, he spoke of how this was not the case when he and others noticed that rules and regulations of the panel were not followed.

Tarakaimana adds, they were told that they had to run on a Saturday and those who did not attend would be cut off which would lead to the downsizing of the number of applicants.

He said this marveled him at how those from the SDA church were not even considered to run on a different day which left some of them with no choice but to run alongside others on their Sabbath.

Tarakaimana added that when time came for them to take the exam, applicants who had other people run for them during the running phase of the training and those who ran but did not clock the required timing still had their names listed to take the exam.

“This does not follow the rules and regulations of the panel when we applied,” he said.

In relation, Tarakaimana voiced that it was surprising to see that some of them were shortlisted.

He stressed that this is very corrupt and a sad thing for a sector of the country that holds such a high status of people who we expect to be honest and law abiding citizens.

Henceforth, Tarakaimana suggests that ID cards be used so that there is a record of those who have really completed all stages of the training.

He calls on the police commissioner to look into the matter and if possible consider the thought of a re-examination of the training.

Attempt to get comments from police has not been fruitful since last week.

BY GEORGE MANFORD

AUKI

TENANTS of the Auki Plaza have vacated the premises yesterday, ending three years of arguments and challenges with the Malaita provincial government.

The tenants left after a court order which was issued them expired on March 29.

The Malaita provincial secretary Jackson Gege and security personnel of the province carried out the orders.

The tenants left the building after the recent Easter celebration where all gates were locked barring public from entering the area, giving time for any development plans to be carried out in the site.

Premier of Malaita Province Peter Ramohia said, “I thank the tenants for their understanding and corporation with the Malaita Provincial Government.

“Let us work together hand in hand to give well and facelift development for Auki and allow the National Provident Fund (NPF) to take part in the development of Malaita.”

The NPF board was supposed to meet yesterday and any outcome of the meeting will be passed on to the Malaita provincial government this week.

BY ROMULUS HUTA

THE 2018 Samlimsan High School Hockey League will get underway during the first week of May.

Nihal Seneviratne, the president of the Solomon Islands Hockey Federation (SIHF) confirmed yesterday.

Seneviratne said they are targeting the league to commence on the first week of May.

More than 20 schools are earmarked for this year’s league.

“The league is part of the stepping stone since the revival of the sport in 2015 where the national team made a successful debut at the PNG 2015 Pacific Games, World League Round 1 in Fiji 2016 and the 2017 Intercontinental Cup held in Sydney, Australia.”

Seneviratne added that revitalisation of hockey in Solomon Islands had taken huge strides and one of its successful outcomes was selection of the youth teams from last year’s league who will represent the country in the upcoming youth qualifiers.

The qualifiers will take place in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG) from April 25 to 29. Solomon Islands will be represented by both the men and the women’s team and they will depart Honiara on May 23.

The Youth Olympic Games qualifiers for Oceania have two men and three women qualification spots respectively.

This mean the two winners for the men’s and top three winners in the women’s category will qualify to take part in the Youth Olympic Games due to take place in Argentina later this year.

Meanwhile, in related development, the PNG Hockey Federation is determined to host the first-ever Under 18 Qualifiers in Port Moresby, according to reports gathered from the Post Courier.

And with only a week to go, Local Host Organising Committee and the Port Moresby Hockey Association are working around the clock to ensure all venues are ready before the event.

“We are two weeks away and we are doing everything we can with the very little support we have in terms of funding,” LHOC chairman Thomas Kahai said.

He said the preparation on the venues is going good and they are grateful to have the POM Hockey Association, the clubs and member who have provided the workforce voluntarily week in week out to see the event delivered successfully.

“We would like to encourage and see more support to the event and for the future of the code as this is the Youth(U18) Olympic Qualifier,” Kahai added.