WESTERN province Assembly is expecting to approve its budget of $32.9 million today.
Provincial finance minister Mr Lester Sa’omasi says 61 percent of it is allocated for recurrent programmes and 39 percent will be for capital projects.
He said most provincial divisions have resubmitted proposals based on last year’s plans, while only a handful have opted for new programmes for this year – aimed at improved and achievable performances.
“Provincial Assembly had again been allocated with the highest portion of $4.8m but that was after their original bid was trimmed for obvious reason.
“The acme bench mark was also used to reduce the provincial administrating allocation to $3m, a reduced of 33 percent.”
Sa’omasi however says two allocations have been labelled as inadequate, which he believes will pose a problem for the next government. He advises that if faced with this challenge, the next government should mobilise its local resources.
He adds that the office of the Premier’s allocation stands at $2.3m.
THE standard of quality room service in the country’s tourism outlets is set to be improved with an initiative by the ministry of culture and tourism (MCT).
Solomon Islands’ newly approved and introduced Tourism Accommodation Minimum Standards and Classification system is the first of its kind in the country.
MCT Permanent Secretary, Mr Andrew Nihopara said this at the ministry’s Minimum Standards and Classification Training programme at Heritage Park Hotel on Tuesday.
He stressed the need for the system and how it will contribute to tourism growth in the country.
Nihopara said Solomon Islands tourism industry currently holds a record of about 188 accommodation facilities in total that are registered with the Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau.
He added that this figures as a total of 1854 rooms with a further 3,685 beds inventory nationwide.
However, the Permanent Secretary said that when it comes to room quality, only 17 percent of room inventory is determined as “market ready” while the remaining 83 percent are rated below the required standard of quality.
In relation, he said that this situation sought the ministry’s attention to address the quality aspect of their room inventory through a classification system, hence they see it as a platform that will enable them to not only classify the various accommodations throughout the country into specific relevant categories but also to develop a set of minimum standards for each.
Nihopara further spoke of the latter and emphasised how the tourism accommodation minimum standards and classification system will bring in a huge impact to the country’s tourism industry.
“Having this classification system with relevant minimum standards will provide the guideline for upgrading of the existing accommodations in order to meet visitor expectations, enhance our competiveness and also secure confidence by tourism wholesalers to include more rooms in holiday packages.
“Once implemented, the impact will include increased number of high quality rooms, enhancing the competitiveness of our destination, increasing confidence to sell the Solomon Islands in the markets and will hugely enhance our ability to meet visitor expectations and guarantee satisfaction,” he said.
THE case against the former permanent secretary for Ministry of Infrastructure Development is listed for closing submission today.
Trial into the case has been completed and is in its closing stage.
Henry Aife Murray and his wife Rose were charged for corruption related offences.
The Murrays were charged in relation to an allegation relating to a series of offences alleged between 2014 to 2017 in relation to multiple payments of motor vehicle hire charges to a company that police alleged was registered to Mr Murray and his wife.
The value of those payments is estimated to the excess of 1.1 million dollars and as a result of that they both face a range of serious charges.
Prosecution alleged that those payments were allegedly made through cheques and electronic funds transfers; were deposited into their ANZ account in the name of Krash Transport and Marketing.
Lazarus Kwaiga of L & L lawyers is representing both defendants
Former Prime Minister Francis Billy Hilly (LEFT) and former Governor General, Sir Nathaniel Waena
Senior statesman assures government still has 1 month to escape constitutional crisis
By Alfred Sasako
THE veil over whether the nation is facing a constitutional crisis over spending of public funds has been lifted, thanks to former Prime Minister Francis Billy Hilly.
Sir Francis is one of three senior statesmen Island Sun consulted yesterday on the matter. The others are former Governor General, Sir Nathaniel Waena and former Prime Minister, Sir Ezekiel Alebua, the only living Solomon Islands’ Prime Minister who is a member of the Privy Council in London.
Sir Francis said based on section 103 of the National Constitution, the government has until the end of April to be placed in such a situation.
Section 103 (1) says, “If the Appropriation Act in respect of any financial year has not come into operation by the beginning of that financial year, Parliament by resolution may empower the Minister of Finance to authorise the issue of moneys from the Consolidated Fund for the purpose of meeting expenditure necessary to carry on the public services at a level not exceeding the level of these services in the previous financial year, until the expiration of four months from the beginning of that financial year or the coming into operation of the Appropriation Act, whichever is the earlier.”
Sir Francis said “The question one can ask is why the new Prime Minister did not accept his predecessor’s budget, which would have avoided all the unnecessary confusion. I shared the same view that the government had just three months in order to pass its Budget until I looked up the Constitution.”
There should not be any panic, he said.
The other two statesmen were adamant the nation is in a constitutional crisis.
“It does not matter really whether or not we are in a constitutional crisis. The government will continue to spend public money regardless of whether Parliament approved it or not,” Sir Ezekiel said.
“Constitutionally, the government should not because any funds spent without approval by Parliament is unconstitutional and illegal,” he said.
Former Governor General Sir Nathaniel said there was no doubt in his mind that the nation is facing a constitutional crisis.
“Once Parliament does not approve the 2018 National Budget by Thursday [today], we are in a constitutional crisis. There really isn’t much room to move,” he said.
But former Prime Minister Sir Francis said the government has one month on its hands to sort out the budget.
THE commemoration of the World TB Day has raised public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of tuberculosis (TB) and to step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic.
With the theme; “Leaders Lets Work Together For a TB Free Solomon Islands”, it was commemorated at the SIBC leaf hut with participants from different various health departments attending it.
The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease.
The theme World TB Day 2018 – Leaders Lets Work Together For a TB Free Solomon Islands focuses on building commitment to end TB, not only at the political level with Heads of State and Ministers of Health, but at all levels from Mayors, Governors, parliamentarians and community leaders, to people affected with TB, civil society advocates, health workers, doctors or nurses, NGOs and other partners. All can be leaders of efforts to end TB in their own work or terrain.
Stakeholder representatives in a group photo.
Last year, WHO reported that 10.4 million people fell ill with TB and there were 1.8 million TB deaths in 2016, making it the top infectious killer worldwide. This disease is deeply rooted in populations where human rights and dignity are limited. While anyone can contract TB, the disease thrives among people living in poverty, communities and groups that are marginalized, and other vulnerable populations.
These include: migrants, ethnic minorities, miners and others working and living in risk-prone settings, the elderly, marginalised women and children in many settings etc. Factors such as malnutrition, poor housing and sanitation, compounded by other risk factors such as tobacco and alcohol use and diabetes, affect vulnerability to TB and access to care.
Furthermore, this access is often hindered by catastrophic costs associated with illness, seeking and staying in care, and lack of social protection, resulting in a vicious cycle of poverty and ill-health. The transmission of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) adds great urgency to these concerns.
In their speeches advocators from the ministry of health organisations and ministries, based on the theme, highlights concerns by this public health problem to increase the efforts to make the goal of universal access to TB prevention and care achievable through meaningful involvement in and support to the interventions planned In the TB national strategic plan, most of them operationalised in the Global Fund New Funding model project that was approved after successful submission by the Solomon Islands in 2014 and again in 2017. This will help cut further the transmission chain of the disease while reducing human suffering and adverse economic consequences of the diseases.
In the final and keynote address for the celebration, Nemia Bainivalu Under Secretary, Health Improvement highlights the challenges of the programme
“Despite the successes, the TB programme still faces with some challenges: Inadequate case detection activities, limited Community-Based Directly Observed Treatment, short-course (CB-DOTs), inadequate TB/HIV services and inadequate quality assurance,” he said.
He also noted that the programme needs to intensify the case detection effort to find others.
“We need to find, treat and cure them thereby cutting the chain of transmission of the diseases in the communities and at the same time reducing human suffering and adverse economic consequences of the disease,” he added.
AFTER Isabel province hosts its second Kodili Festival Arts at Buala Township this June 2018, a new programme called the Phoga festival will be launched.
Hosted by the Maringe Highlands of Isabel province, the festival will be held at Tirotonna Village in July.
Festival coordinator Norman Advent said the festival would be held from July 3-8.
It was initiated by the youth leaders following a meeting at Tirotonna Village in July 2016.
He said the objective of the Phoga Festival is to promote heritage, culture and spiritual values, allow creativity and innovation for youths, encourage leadership and integrity and access to relevant information on issues affecting youth.
Mr Advent said the Phoga Festival also aims at encouraging healthy lifestyle for youths, helping to appreciate our sovereignty and unite youths in sports and recreational activities.
A range of activities; demonstration of traditional food preparation, local arts and crafts, cultural dancing, awareness talks and sporting activities are being planned for the festival.
A diagnosis approach on Tuberculosis (TB) based on the universal use in the country of a novel diagnostic tool is being finalised.
According to the Undersecretary for Health Improvement under the Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) Dr Nemia Bainivalu, he said the diagnostic tool allows a rapid diagnosis of TB and drug resistance in few hours.
“In this regard, MHMS is mindful of the need of research to find out the optimal operational and implementation approaches to use newly introduced technologies, strategies and interventions hence the development of a national TB Operational Research Plan,” said Mr Bainivalu.
“MHMS, the National Tuberculosis Programme and their partners are expecting that this campaign will result in increased demand for TB services by the population after informing people about the availability of TB services for free all over the country.
“This includes additional domestic and donor funding and new partners mobilised to address TB in their work especially community representatives and members.”
MHMS celebrated World Tuberculosis (TB) Day yesterday at the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC) Leaf Hut that is annually marked on March 24.
The Theme for World TB Day celebrated was “Wanted: Leaders for a TB-free world”.
WITH the vision to provide durable, affordable and quality homes in the country, Solomon Housing Limited (SHL) is now on the roll to sell its remaining houses at Kombevatu.
With a different market approach, yesterday SHL did a presentation for staff of Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI) showcasing the houses in general through a presentation slide at the Central Bank’s complex.
Carrying out the presentation SHL Lending Officer, Algren Gilbert says the 12 houses that they have shown in the slides are two bedroom houses.
“The houses that you see, we have different contractors that built the houses and we do not deal with only one contractor but have different contractors,” Mr Gilbert says.
He revealed that the houses are selling at SBD$500,000.
With that a CBSI staff says the staff listening to the presentation are not familiar with how the housing market and building works.
Thus it is very important that these staff are made aware of the nitty gritty stuff of housing, construction and costs involved.
Responding to the comment and questions raised on the cost of a house, General Manager of SHL acknowledged the cost to be at the high end as it covers every aspect of home building that includes materials, labour, land, road, drainage, connection of water and electricity.
CBSI staff listening to SHL presentation
He says with the houses, buyers will only need to purchase the house before having the title transferred to them.
He says buyers will only need to look for money or consult the banks for assistance through their lending schemes.
Also SHL General Manager says they support local Solomon Islanders with house plans that costs only $1500 but includes the material breakdown and the costings as well.
“This is one way in which we can assist locals to build a good house for their families. As you know, housing plans by architects are costly and not only that, going through the Town and Country Planning Board would be a tedious process and one that can be avoided since the building plan issued by SHL are already passed by the Board.”
Housing is a longtime issue for Solomon Islanders living in Honiara with most city dwellers residing in informal settlements where it is much cheaper and affordable for them.
SHL currently has a five year Strategy (2017-2022) that sets the scope of its operations.
From the presentation yesterday, hope now was for the day when SINPF can set up a lending facility so SINPF members can loan from it to acquire homes built by SHL.
THE Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) is pursuing a heritage law for the country.
Director of the National Museum, Tony Heorake, confirmed this when appearing before the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last week.
Mr Heorake said they are working on the National Heritage bill that would cover all heritage aspects of the country including history, culture, environment and so forth.
He said the Attorney General’s chamber has prepared a bill.
Heorake said they are currently finalising the draft bill and as soon as they are done with it, they will take the bill out for consultation with stakeholders.
He said this is one of the two exciting programs his department is working on.
The other is the plan to build a museum dedicated for locals who involved in World War II as scouts and coast watchers.
Heorake said they are teaming with the British High Commission Office here on this “exciting project”.
He said the British High Commission office has provided money toward this project.
Currently, Heorake said they are working on the concept plan. An architectural plan will be developed based on this concept plan.
The site where the auditorium building at the national museum sits is been earmarked for this proposed museum building.
The director of museum said this museum will be the place that tells the stories of local scouts and coast watchers and their contribution to the Second World War.
He said their involvement in the war is now become part of the country’s heritage.
WITH the dawn of election-day for Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI), Jay Bartlett, Director of Hatanga Limited stands unopposed as Chairperson of SICCI.
Mr Bartlett, often described as a young visionary leader, has been the SICCI Board Chair since 2015 and has been an effective advocator and voice for the private sector ever since he took up leadership roles in SICCI.
SICCI is holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) today, with the election of new board members as an important part of today’s session. For election of board members, 12 nominations have been received by SICCI office with a fair good number of both genders now set to go before members in the AGM.
For the Vice President posts, the combat now is between Julie Haro, Managing Director Premiere Group of Companies and David Rupokets, Managing Director Capital Construction PTY Ltd.
For Board member positions, nominees are Belinda Botha of Dive Munda, Lyn Fa’arodo of Bank South Pacific (BSP), Craig Gibsone of Guadalcanal Plains Palm Oil Limited (GPPOL), Joseph Huta of South Pacific Oil, Samantha Maeke of Pacific Horticultural Marketing Access (PHAMA), Sohaib Mahmood of ANZ Bank, Anna Masioa of United Risk Services Ltd, Sir Bruce Saunders of AJ & G Blum Ltd and Frank Wickham of National Fisheries Development (NFD) Ltd.
Meanwhile, unopposed Chairperson, Bartlett says his vision for SICCI is for it to be an effective advocator and voice for its members and the wider community.
Also for SICCI to continue to strengthen and develop its relationship between the government and local business and all other local, regional and international stakeholders that SICCI engage with.
“Internally I’d like to continue to build on the achievement we have made to date with the leadership team and office to ensure that we as an organisation are committed to meeting and exceeding member’s expectations and to ensure the viability and sustainability of SICCI in the medium to long term.”
SICCI has well over 200 members and is the peak representative organisation for the private sector in Solomon Islands. 60 percent of its membership is made up of Small Medium enterprises employing less than 20 employees. It also has a number of affiliations to other national private sector organisations.
SICCI has an office that oversee the administrative work for the private sector with Dennis Meone as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). All members of SICCI are being called on to attend the AGM today at Heritage Park Hotel.
