FORMER Premier of Choiseul Province Mr Clement Kengava urges Lauru citizens to seriously make good choices when voting for their MPA leaders in their nearing provincial election.
He said confirmation by the Permanent Secretary (PS) for the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening (MPGIS) at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recently that Choiseul and Western Provinces Provincial elections are to be held in June this year should be a relief for voters, after their rights to choose new Assemblies in September last year was suppressed through deferments.
“I call on Choiseul voters not to take the provincial election lightly or as a game, but be serious about it because Choiseul needs a new roadmap in its relationship with the National Government,” said Kengava.
The former MP of Northwest Choiseul and also former Premier is encouraging people who believe in developing Choiseul Province to go ahead to another level in contesting for the provincial’s 16 seats Assembly.
A call to install all early warning systems in one place was made during the launching of the wrapped-up event of the Solomon Islands Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology Capacity Development Project (SIMCAP) last week.
This call was made by a concerned outspoken staff working at the division of Meteorology under the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorological (MECDM).
He said the early warning systems are meteorology, seismology and hydrology equipment, to name a few, which function to produce relevant and timely information in a systematic way prior to a disaster in order to make informed decisions and to take actions.
“Having few of the leading systems located in different ministry has been a problem in regards to our work.
“Hence we want all lead sources (early warning systems) to be located in one place to help us predict and mitigate the harm of natural and human- initiated disasters and other undesirable natural disasters.
“With this appeal we want the second planned phase of the SIMCAP project to consider this seriously and address it.”
In response to the request, Permanent Secretary of the MECDM Dr Melchior Mataki said this issue has been a long standing request to have two sectors under the ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Election which is the seismology and hydrology sectors to transfer meteorology service under the MECDM.
“I would say maybe there are reasons why they set these systems historically but we need to relook at it and consider it in terms of early warning aspects,” he said.
New Permanent Secretary Stephen Maesiola taking control of MID
FOR 18 years, he served as under-secretary in as many as eight ministries, twice as provincial secretary.
But last week Stephen Walaodo Maesiola landed the big one – he was appointed Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID).
Island Sun caught up with him over the weekend, when he was “familiarising” himself with his new office environment.
You have no computer on your desk, I remarked.
“No, I don’t. Police have taken the computer as part of their investigation,” he said.
“I’ll be getting a new installed soon. There are lots of challenges here, I can see,” Mr Maesiola said.
“I can see cleaning up the Ministry administratively is a challenge – things like the accounts here, the shipping grants and so on,” he said.
These challenges are not new for the man who entered the public service in 1996, when he was appointed Provincial Secretary for Makira/Ulawa Province.
The two-year appointment was the stepping stone for more to come. In 1998, he was under-secretary for the Ministry he now heads. Two years later, he was appointed Provincial Secretary for Guadalcanal Province, a position he held for another two years.
He held under-secretary positions in a number of other Ministries, including the Ministry of Youth, Women and Sports [2001-2002], Ministry of National Unity, Reconciliation and Peace [2003-2004] and the Ministry of Development Planning and Aid Coordination (2004-2005).
When Mr Maesiola was under-secretary of the Ministry of Police, National Security and Correctional Services (2011-2017) he was tasked with securing funds to settle gun owners’ claims.
Despite some minor hiccups, in general the program went smoothly, with gun owners receiving payments after waiting more than a decade.
Maesiola holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Development Studies from the University of the South Pacific where he later graduated with a Master of Arts in Governance.
SIG sponsored students at the Solomon Islands national university (SINU) are calling on the national government to pay them their allowance.
It is now week-nine, and they have not yet received a cent from government.
This is unprecedented, as students say usually they receive their allowance around week three or four.
Mid-semester exams have passed, and countless assignments and practicals have gone – which the students have had to do without any support from their sponsor.
The students say every day in a tertiary institution requires a student to spend – they have been forced to endure the hardship of meeting the daily expenses on their own.
They give examples of student activities which need money – research online, printing, photocopying, text books and other students cost relate to schooling.
“We wish responsible authorities speed up and process our allowance because we desperately need them because it is meant for our academic purposes.
“For semester one, no any allowance SIG students receive yet, we really affected and any failure of course it is due such delay because nowadays everything is money.
“Make it worst it’s already week nine and still we do not have course books, and it’s almost exams and allowance should not paid when semester one ends.”
Currently, Solomon Islands National University Student Association (SINUSA) is taking on strike for SINU to improve students’ welfare and allowance would be their next talk-about issue.
TWO ministers under Central Islands provincial government have been sacked last week, it was revealed in a letter by Premier Patrick Vasuni.
The two removed are the minister of agriculture and lands Polycarp Galaigu (MPA for-west Ngella, ward 8) and the minister of tourism Richard Vulo (MPA for central west Ngella, ward 2).
Contacting Mr Vasuni was not possible yesterday however, the deputy premier for CIP confirmed from report on Ngella’s social media Forum (Ngella Forum) that they were charged on the allegation of “unethical behaviours and repeated verbal threats of removing the current Premier”.
The deputy premier said their replacement will be done soon in which Kevin Liu (MPA for north Savo, ward 13) is to take on the agriculture and lands ministry while Matthew Taravu (MPA for south-east Ngella, ward 6) for tourism. Both sacked ministers will now join the non-executives.
Mr Vasuni in his letter to Mr Galaigu said his actions raises the issue of instability in which what the executive government wants is stability and all members should be deemed to abide by principles of solidarity.
Recently, Vasuni survived a move for a vote of no confidence by certain MPAs.
The notice for the move was said to be invalid because there are a certain number of days (around 7) for a notice to be cleared first before such move is valid. This was however not the approach the notice for the move was presented according to the Standing Order to meet criteria.
Vasuni is now only looking forward to move the province forward in terms of development and does not tolerate such disturbances that will affect the programmes for the province.
Other MPAs within CIP provincial government support the Premier’s intention, disagreeing with the move for motion then.
“Let us not disturb the current Executive Government to lead us because we only have a short time left before the provincial election takes place,” said MPAs.
Attempts for the sacked minister’s comments were not successful yesterday as Island Sun is still striving to get their side of comments.
A Solomon Airlines personnel has been arrested in Munda following suspected sabotage of a Twin Otter plane on Friday last week, it is reported.
Witnesses say the incident occurred around 4pm that day, in which the suspect was said to deliberately puncture the tyre of the plane with a sharp object.
They add that the incident happened in front of the Munda airport.
Noro police say the suspect had been accompanied to Honiara via the dash-8 plane later that day to Honiara.
Witnesses say the incident stemmed on an argument between two personnel of the SolAir over flight rescheduling – one had wanted to spend the night in Munda, while the suspect had insisted on returning to Honiara.
It is understood that the Twin Otter was flown back to Honiara the next day (Saturday) after a technical team from Honiara were flown over to fix the problem. No injuries was reported.
SHARPLY rising food prices in Honiara have pushed up Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation higher to 2.1 percent in February 2018.
This is the highest recorded since June 2016.
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.
“The 2.1 percent increase from 191.1 the previous month to 195.1 was predominantly driven by price increases in the Food, and Transport and Communication sub-sections of the index,” Government Statistician (GS) Douglas Kimi said while releasing the official statistics produced by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Wednesday, April 4 for the month of February 2018.
“The Food sub-index increased during the month by 5.1 percent to 180.7.
“This was mainly driven by price rises in eggs (9.4 percent), powdered milk (1.1 percent), sugar (1.4 percent), non-alcoholic beverages (0.1 percent) and fresh fruits and vegetables sold at the Honiara market; most notable were bush cabbage (76.0 percent), melon (57.7 percent), green bean (50.8 percent), spring onion (39.2 percent), Chinese cabbage (38.5 percent), tomatoes (35.3 percent), cucumber (30.0 percent), pawpaw (22.2 percent), cassava (9.0 percent), green pepper (111.6 percent), cooking banana (8.1 percent) and kumara heaps (2.0 percent). These outweighed price drops in green and dry coconuts (28.3 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively), ripe banana (2.7 percent), bush lime (25.9 percent) and fern (10.6 percent) to result in the rise of the overall food sub-index,” he added.
Other major changes in other sub-indexes include;
Drinks and Tobacco fell 0.6 percent driven by a 2.5 percent price drop in betel nut offsetting a 0.3 percent rise in tobacco.
Housing and Utilities went up 0.3 percent due to increases of 0.9 percent and 5.3 percent in electricity and kerosene prices, respectively.
Household Operations rose 0.2 percent driven by price increases in household supplies such as bar soap (3.1 percent) and bleach (4.0 percent).
Transport and Communications rose 0.7 percent on account of price rises in petrol and diesel by 3.9 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively.
Mr Kimi said apart from the above, price movements elsewhere in the consumption basket were negligible.
“The overall annual headline inflation rate for the month of February 2018 calculated on a 3 months moving average basis was 3.6 percent, up 1.1 percentage points from 2.5 percent the previous month. The February inflation rate is the highest recorded since June 2016.
“The corresponding inflation rates for imported and other items were 2.5 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively,” he said.
At the same time Kimi said that the main underlying rates of inflation based on a 3 months moving average for the month of February 2018 were observed between 0.0 percent and 2.6 percent while the headline inflation rate was at 3.6 percent.
The other side to Bauxite mining in west Rennell that is not talked about
By Alfred Sasako
OUTSPOKEN politician, Matthew Wale, last week called for a stop to the bauxite mining operations on West Rennell, claiming the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification has failed the people of Renbel Province.
Among other things, the Aoke-Langalanga MP claimed, based on disclosures by officials that the Ministry had no way of knowing what the country would get in terms of financial benefits from bauxite exports.
Officials allegedly told a recent Public Accounts Committee hearing that the Ministry does not have a formula to calculate such benefits.
An investigation by Alfred Sasako found otherwise. Mining is the only industry that keeps the employment pulse of the country pumping. To close down the mining operations there, would be to deny many people jobs that are hard to come by today.
Here is Alfred’s report.
Newly completed church building for West Rennell communities.
Bintan Mining (SI) Ltd holds the exclusive contract to mine pockets of bauxite deposits found on West Rennell under a Mining Licence held by Asia Pacific Investment Development (APID).
Those spoken to both in and outside government say BMSI strictly adheres to the terms and condition stipulated in the Mining Licence. These conditions include regular reporting. As a matter of fact, BMSI submits a monthly report to the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification.
Among other things, the report covers the amount of tonnage of bauxite exported each month, volume of shipment, import duty paid to the government as well as royalty payment made by Bintan Mining (SI) Ltd to resource-owners.
The company exports three shipments a month.
A new basket ball court the company was also built for the community.
To suggest that the Ministry does not have a formula in calculating monetary benefits from bauxite sales is not only wild but far-fetched. The Ministry is aware of mechanisms being deployed to calculate what the government gets in terms of taxes and other charges.
The same mechanism is used in calculating resource-owners’ benefits in the form of royalty.
Since Bintan Mining (SI) Ltd, BMSI for short, set foot on West Rennell in 2014, the company has injected tens or may even be hundreds of millions of dollars into government coffers, landowners’ bank accounts as well as support for civic activities in West Rennell.
Payments to the government are based on the going price of bauxite on the world market. Over-supply of bauxite also affects price as it eats into returns on the company’s investments.
It is not just the price fluctuations on the world market that BMSI faces. Marketing the stuff is also a tough challenge.
For example, BMSI first approached India about buying Solomon Islands’ bauxite a year ago. In response, India requested a trial shipment, which was sent. But thereafter the Indian company sent a written “regret” to discontinue the arrangement claiming Solomon Islands’ bauxite was not of the top quality standard.
The story is the same with Indonesia and Russia.
Inside the 800,000 dollar church building built by Bintan Mining(SI) Ltd.
Russia, which through Rusal boasts of hosting the largest bauxite smelter in the world only went as far as asking for a sample but that was it.
Today, China is the only market for Solomon Islands’ bauxite. It is the only market that BMSI has focussed on since setting up shop here.
“Making Solomon Islands’ bauxite saleable in the international market is BMSI’s biggest challenge,” I was told this week.
The accusation that there was no system in place for calculating price and so on was also strongly rejected.
“It is not true that there’s no system in place. The company reports to the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification on its activities on the ground on a monthly basis,” I was told.
In terms of community support, BMSI has made sure the landowners of West Rennell are happy. Since its operations began it has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars on community-based support.
For example, BMSI has built a new church building for the people there at an estimated cost of $800,000. Among other things, it has also built a basketball court, provided an OBM and boat as well as sponsored Renbel Province’s Rugby Team.
The company has and continues to work very, very hard with all its stakeholders to ensure steps taken in addressing any outstanding issues are mutual.
Bintan Mining (SI) Ltd does not want to be put on the spotlight in terms of speaking publicly about its work in West Rennell.
But one official could not hold back explaining the company’s resolve.
“We are here to stay and we will,” the man who wants to remain anonymous told me.
Like it not, the moment BMSI closes up shop here, many people would be without jobs. Over the years, mining is the only industry that keeps the employment pulse alive.
MARY Cole was born in Munda, in the Western province but ended up spending most of her life in New Zealand after marrying a British gentleman.
While in New Zealand she was always active in charity work and joined Rotary to become even more involved in service to others.
It was in 2008 that Mary Cole and a Kiwi friend started collecting traditional short stories told and written by children from the Western province.
These stories were published and sponsored by the Rotary Club of Riccarton in New Zealand.
Mary passed away in 2015 after years of being ill and before she could return to her beloved Solomon Islands to launch the book.
The cartons of books have been in her sister’s house in Honiara for a couple of years.
Connie Bisili Grouse, Mary’s younger sister, was waiting for the right time and for the right way to launch the book and have it distributed across the nation.
A few weeks ago Connie saw an old friend, Joyce Boykin, and they decided to have READ SI take the books out to the villages that literacy trainers visit.
These books would become part of the library kit that villages were given with the READ SI programme.
So Connie and her brother, Max, kindly handed boxes of books to Joyce knowing that they would be given out to people throughout the Solomon Islands.
Custom stories are still passed down from generation to generation in the villages.
They are steeped and entwined in traditional lore, founded on spiritualism and a close and intimate relationship with ancestors and the environment.
Village life is still spiritually and materially closely connected to the land, forests and the sea and many stories, like daily life, are about the sea and the land the villagers know so intimately.
Though Solomon Islanders practice Christianity many stories are also about the dead and the ability of the dead to affect the life of the living.
Some of the stories that are told are about tall ships with white skinned men, explorers, whalers and traders who came to barter.
Sometimes they were about sailors who used to entice men into their ships and take them to be slaves to work in sugar cane plantations in Fiji and Queensland.
Stories are told in the evenings, after everyone has washed and eaten and the heat of the day has cooled, when small groups gather on a convenient verandah or on a log by the sea to talk and discuss the day’s events.
Custom stories bring people together and create a rich sense of unity and harmony.
The stories in the book, “Custom Stories from the Solomon Islands” are a gift from Mary Bisili Cole to the people of the Solomons.
THE SolRice READ SI programme tutors in the country will host a two-week workshop.
Since 2015 SolRice has contributed to READ SI to get reading classes and books into the villages across the nation as the education sector development needs changed.
Using materials produced by READ SI and funded by businesses and SIG, SolRice are aiming in helping to improve the educational outcomes in the Solomon Islands in roles such as mentoring and supporting literacy schools.
Now, with their generous support of 67 bales of rice, trainings in 14 locations in five provinces will take place with the 168 participants learning phonics, usage of flash cards, games for sentence building and types of writing with filled stomachs.
These workshops are for two weeks with READ SI tutors using materials produced by READ SI and funded by businesses and SIG (Solomon Island Government).
READ SI is looking at different ways to reach people across the nation and will be using existing networks as everyone is ought to be a literacy champion by supporting literacy schools in neighbourhoods, in churches, in villages and with children coming home from school.
The focus is on improving education as it is the key to success and continued advancement for the Solomon Islands.
There is also a prison programme that may be starting very soon, plus the Honiara campaign which offers reading classes in people’s homes.
This whole process is a partnership between READ SI and each village that is part of the programme. It is the vision of the National Literacy Campaign to reach 600 villages.
READ SI is blessed with the funding needed to reach many different people in the provinces, villages, homes, prisons and churches.
