POLICE in Malaita province are investigating an incident of alleged threat, damage of property and assault of a man at Bona Village in West Kwaio in the Province on March 31, 2018.

Supervising Provincial Police Commander, Malaita Province, Timothy Apaesi said, “It is alleged a group of about ten people entered Bona Village and threatened the people there, damaged a dwelling house and assaulted a man.

“It is alleged that this happened as after some landowners of Bona set up a roadblock on March 31, 2018 to show their dissatisfaction with the management of the Sumlinsun logging company and the licensee for their lack of commitment in fulfilling some of their promises to the landowners.

“A team of my officers have been deployed to Bona Village to investigate the allegations.

“I appeal to parties involved in the alleged dispute at Bona Village to refrain from any form of violence and I encourage them to participate in peaceful dialogue over the matter,” says Apaesi.

–POLICE MEDIA

THE Solomon Islands Financial Intelligence Unit (SIFIU) is calling on the general public to immediately stop joining a false financial scheme called Eagle Advertising Resources Network (EARN) currently based in Auki, Malaita province.

This warning comes after concerns from members of the public about the group EARN reached SIFIU office in Honiara, calling for an immediate investigation.

According to SIFIU, the group EARN has a large number of followers located in and around Auki township, with many already investing personal funds of well over $1,000 – $4,000 (ie membership fees).

The investments made are mainly to receive huge promised payouts or bonus payment fees of around $80,000 per member.

SIFIU Director Mr Jimmy Sendersley expressed great concerns about how easy people continue to fall prey to international scammers and to the few local individuals pushing these activities.

“We have learnt that some promised payments to EARN members have already lapsed their dates; these are all just false promises.

“Once again our people are becoming victims to such money scams and I must remind everyone to stop investing your hard earned personal savings and money into any of these types of get-rich quick schemes.

“Anything of this nature that sounds too good to be true, especially on receiving huge financial rewards for very little investments must be carefully considered before your money is thrown away.”

Sendersley highlighted that according to their investigations, Eagle Advertising Resources Network (EARN) in Auki is simply another false financial scheme.

He added that people in Malaita Province and other parts of the country must be careful and their warning is serious. SIFIU was able to identify clear red flags indicating EARN as generally operating as a Ponzi scheme and is part of an international fraud programme that has made slight changes to its modus operandi (ways to convince people to become members).

“If you want more information or advice please do not hesitate to call our unit on 21791,” Sendersley advised.

“We must continue to assist each other and share these information and advice, and further help stop such pyramid and Ponzi schemes from abroad, coming into the country to rip off our good people from their hard earned money.”

–CBSI PRESS

BY SAMIE WAIKORI

Auki

MALAITA provincial health authority has been called on to check for expired goods in shops in Auki town.

The appeal comes following a number of expired items (goods) found in the shops which are on the shelves – on sale.

A resident in Auki told this paper yesterday that there are lots of shops in Auki selling expired goods.

He said it is a common issue with most shops and if nothing happens to stop it the practice will continue.

“What I want to say here is this attitude only tells the shops never care about the quality of the goods they sell for their customers.

“What evidently seen here is money, and that’s the motive behind their continue sell of expire goods in the shops.

“So I think it’s time for provincial health authority or whoever responsible to do what they can to stop the practice,” the person said.

He urged the authority to check the shops and run a schedule to do regular checks on the shops.

The person said it’s through ideas of setting-up regular checks that will ensure shops will be free from expired goods.

He said people deserve quality food service and the goods sold in the shops must guarantee their health.

By Gary Hatigeva

THOUGH very little attention is shown in their $4billion Budget, the Solomon Islands government has been reminded to ensure the list of reserved businesses set aside for local Solomon Islanders is protected and closely monitored.

This reminder first came out from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last week, but was reiterated by most of the committee members including the Chairman and MP for East Honiara, Douglas Ete, and PAC member also Chairman of the Bills and Legislative Committee (BLC) and MP for Aoke/Langalanga, Matthew Wale.

Other PAC members including opposition and independent MPs have also shared similar sentiments on this issue, but the two chairs were more outspoken on the issue even up to their contributions into the debates of the Appropriation Bill 2018, which is currently underway in Parliament.

They have repeatedly been putting strong reminders to the government for what they describe as a scary pressure placed on the Indigenous Solomon Islanders who are continuously being suppressed of even the only avenues set out for them to participate in the local economy.

Yesterday, Mr Wale blasted the government again on the issue, reiterating worries in the high acceptance of foreigners now venturing into small scale business operations, which includes running small retail canteens/shops and other businesses set out in the reserved list.

Meanwhile, during the course of the PAC hearing, the BLC Chairman questioned officials from the Ministry of Commerce and Labour over the establishment of retail shops and small scale restaurants by a group of Bangladesh nationals who are evidently operating on the outskirts of Honiara.

Questions were also raised as to whether the responsible authorities are closely monitoring these establishments and if their operations and involvement in various businesses that are understandably in the reserved list, are actually in line with relevant regulations and laws governing these matters.

But PAC was also told that a good number of businesses set aside for the Solomon Islands people continue to witness gaps and little participation.

Director of the Investment Unit explained that the ministry was with the intention to increase the number of businesses in the reserved list, but clarified that the lack of active participation and activities in the reserved businesses does not justify the need for an expanded list.

However, the Aoke/Langalanga MP rubbished the analysis and said the government should create the stimulus for locals to start up in conjunction to his earlier call for the recognition to create job opportunities for locals.

He stressed that local Solomon Islanders are just as capable as those foreigners that come in from thousands of miles away just to establish retail operations.

He said the only issue faced by the indigenous people is the will power and establishment mechanisms, which includes access to capitals and other related matters.

Wale therefore suggested and called on the government to see that issues as such are budgeted for and ensure that what they talked about is translated down to the people governments oath to serve.

He added that if jobs are not enough, then the government steps up to create job opportunities, and if there is little participation from its people in the economy, the government should also step up and create the empowering and establishment opportunities.

“This is what empowering should be and the support we talked too much about,” the BLC Chair and Aoke/Langalanga MP emphasised.

By Gary Hatigeva

“IRRESPONSIBLE fiscal management is fiscal mismanagement. The irresponsible fiscal management is the result of irresponsible government. The irresponsible government is the direct result of poor and irresponsible leadership.”

These were strong sentiments from the Chairman of the Bills and Legislative Committee and Independent Member of Parliament for Aoke/Langalanga, Matthew Wale who emphasised this when contributing to the debates of the Appropriation Bill 2018 in Parliament yesterday.

In his over two hours speech, the outspoken Independent MP accused the government for what he said was a misleading approach from their part to the people regarding its budget, which the MP also described as ‘irresponsible’ and ‘messy’.

Mr Wale said the situation the country is going through in terms of its status is what he termed as fiscal austerity.

Wale said the austerity is a response to government’s cash flow crisis and that the cash flow crisis is a result of irresponsible fiscal management.

“That is the chain of events that led to and have culminated in the 2018 Appropriation Bill 2018. And those responsible should be ashamed of themselves.

“And such shame is self-inflicted, from years of consistent poor decision making,” Wale said.

He said the Permanent Secretary Finance when appearing before the Public Accounts Committee during the scrutiny procession of the budget, rejected claims that the officials have mismanaged the treasury resulting in the cash flow crisis.

He added that although officials have a duty of care to the nation to give even unpopular advice to political masters, the PS was mostly right, in that the officials have merely carried out the poor decisions of the political leadership.

“We are in a terrible cash situation, and it is a direct result of mismanagement. The cash crisis did not just come upon us on its own. Somebody was doing the mismanaging.

“Officials bear the blame to the extent they did not giving prudent advice. But the buck stops at the top with political leadership,” he said.

He further added that there seems to be general agreement that the Solomon Islands economy has been doing relatively well.

“Economic growth figures for 2015, 2016 and 2017 point to steady growth, even if sustainability of that growth ought to be of major concern to us.

“GDP is projected to grow by 3.5 percent for 2018 and that growth is driven by activity in agriculture, fisheries, construction, manufacturing, and services including retail and wholesale.

“This narrative is consistent from 2015, 2016 and 2017. Interestingly, if you look at the budget speeches for those three prior years, you will notice that it is word for word exactly the same and the economy seems to be doing much better than the government’s fiscal management,” Wale noted.

He however questioned that if the economy is doing relatively and consistently well, why is the government doing so badly?

“Again, it comes down to poor decision making by the leadership. Leadership decision making is an issue that we must explore if we want to learn from our mistakes,” he added.

He further noted that the budget speeches of 2015, 2016 & 2017 all contain statements like, “efficient and effective delivery”, “key priorities”, “focus”, “strategic”, “output/outcome budgeting”, “credible budget” “stable fiscal policy”, “responsible budget”, “refocusing”, “pipelining”, “properly scoped designed and costed”, “scarce resources allocated to priorities”.

But he further questioned why the budget speeches for the past four years including 2018, were filled with a lot of good statements, but the result is such a mess.

“And these same words and phrases have been used by the minister in this budget. Can they really be true? Can they mean the same thing from year to year – 2015 to 2018?”

Wale however suggested that the government should have to experience a cash flow crisis and evident mess in the budget, if it does the right thing on all its matters in relation to the budget and economy as a whole.

BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

Numbers of unreported cases of family domestic violence are increasing at Northwest Choiseul, recently showing a steady rise according to report.

Mr Nerio Ulemiki the media coordinator for Christ the King Parish at Voruvoru confirmed from observation that there are many cases where women have become victims ending up at the rural clinics.

He said the main causes of domestic violence in their area identified are jealousy, poverty, excessive drinking of beer and homemade breweries, consumption of drugs, forced sex, misuse of family finances, gambling, outside logging activities and from other anti-social behaviours as well .

“People of our area are now suggesting the great need for the government, churches, women organisations and non-government organisations to study the causes of family domestic violence in order to decrease it in the province,” said Ulemiki.

BY SAMIE WAIKORI

Auki

ATOIFI police on Sunday arrested a 49-year-man over the alleged unlawful wounding of his spouse.

The man from Gwali village in east Kwaio was arrested for cutting his wife’s left ear after a family disagreement.

Malaita Provincial Police Commander Timothy Apaesi said the man was arrested and transported to Auki on Monday night.

Mr Apaesi said the man is currently in police custody and police is working on legal processes for his remand.

Apaesi said police report has it that the man used a knife and cut his wife’s ear.

He adds that the injury has been reported as minor, however explains that a crime has been committed, as far as police is concerned.

Apaesi said after the incident the woman was brought to Atoifi hospital for treatment and is now recovering.

He adds that earlier the same person was arrested for a case relating to domestic violence and was also remanded by Auki Police.

Apaesi calls on public in Malaita province to always be mindful of the law.