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A situation that must be addressed – a response in looking at unemployment in the Solomon Islands OR Unemployment in SI

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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DEAR EDITOR, in an Editorial piece in the Solomon Star yesterday, March 11, 2018, the writer referred to the country’s alarming rate of unemployment and had this to say (quote)

“The country’s rate of unemployment appeared to have gone through the roof.

“Just take a walk along the main Honiara streets during a day and you’ll realise this.

“Lots of people – both adults and youth – are roaming the streets doing nothing.

“You see them sitting along the pavements, around betel nut stalls, and in front of shops and offices telling endless stories.

“Some are university graduates, while most are school drop-outs.

“In the last two months, we’ve seen a lot of new faces in the city.

“These are young men and women who have just dropped out of schools.

“Over the past years, they’ve lived in their villages and attended their community schools.

“They became unplaced when their exam results came out early this year.

“Because there’s nothing to keep them engaged in the village, they quickly made their way to Honiara in search for jobs and other opportunities.

“But we know the jobs are few. So as the other opportunities!

“So people ended up on the streets; doing virtually nothing.

“Honiara is getting overcrowded.

“There are more people in the city now than last year.

“The situation gave rise to higher demand for accommodation, water, and electricity – the basic necessities city residents need to live a normal life.

“Already homes have been overcrowded as new members of the extended family moved into Honiara to take residence with relatives.

“Solomon Power and Solomon Water will need to keep up with the demand.

“Otherwise, the city may run low on both water and electricity.

“Leaders need to wake up to this reality and take the necessary steps to address it.

“Unemployment is a threat to law and order, as well as peace and stability.

“This is because unemployment is a recipe for criminal activities.

“Our leaders love to talk about rural development.

“They always promise our people that they’ll bring development to rural areas.

“And so they allocated themselves a huge chunk of the development budget in the name of Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

“This is money they promise to use to develop the rural areas.

“But how much of the funds are used to develop our rural areas?

“Very little!

“This is why people are coming in their droves to the city in search for economic opportunities.

“The situation is precarious so the government must take urgent steps to reverse it.

“Failure would result in serious consequences for this country.”

On 8 February 2014 writing to the Solomon Times I expressed very similar concerns and titled my article ‘No Time to Lose in Tackling Youth Unemployment.”

This is what I wrote (quote)

“The seemingly intractable problems associated with youth unemployment in Honiara and the resulting evidence of increased substance abuse, including the growing and use of marijuana, the consumption of kwaso (home brew), incidences of anti-social behaviour and criminal acts have featured significantly in Editorial columns of the local press and in other articles this past week.

“Honiara isn’t alone in facing the problems highlighted and, indeed, it can be said many of the Pacific states face the same, if not more serious, issues arising from the respective nation’s ability to manage development and provide for the rapidly growing population. The Solomon Islands is no exception.

“The various schemes implemented by the government, such as the rapid employment scheme and the offshore, seasonal work offered to young people engaged in fruit harvesting simply isn’t enough to meet the needs and expectations of the growing numbers of school drop outs and idle youth flooding into the national capital from the provinces.

“I am not alone in describing the current situation as a security challenge akin to a ticking time bomb, although I likened the situation of the unemployed youth in 2009 to a tinder box. (See my letter to the Pacific Islands Report entitled, ‘Idle Solomons Youth a Tinder Box’, published on 10 December 2009)

“I am detached from the local scene but I have repeatedly suggested ways in which help might be forthcoming for the youth in articles that I have contributed to the local Solomon Times online publication. In one article I forecast that help could possibly be sought from the Government of South Korea (‘South Korean Help in Training Solomon’s Youth,’ dated 4 December 2008) and in another (‘A possible solution for the rural poor, dated January 10, 2011)

“In the last article, I had mentioned how the Japanese Government’s External Trade Organization (JETRO) was helping to promote Thailand’s growing and successful “OTOP” products in Japan.

“I don’t know whether any of my suggestions were considered by the Solomon Islands Government.

“The challenges the nation faces in respect of its unemployed young people must be tackled before the situation does become the ‘time bomb’ others have referred to.

“A starting point, in this election year, I would suggest is that the government re-examine the findings and projected solutions to youth unemployment in the excellent report styled, ‘The State of Pacific Youth – 2005’ written under the support of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF Pacific) and funded by the New Zealand’s International Aid and Development Agency (NZAID.

“Yes, 2005. I haven’t written the wrong date. The information in that report is just as relevant, if not more so, than when it was first compiled and issued.

“I understand copies of the report can be downloaded or obtained from the UN Children’s Fund Headquarters in Suva.

“I would even go so far to suggest to the Solomon Islands Government that the author of that report, if still available, Dr Chris McMurrary be consulted and to advise the government on measures that might be taken now.

“The report is very comprehensive and clearly argued that not enough had been done to address the underlying causes of the youth unemployment problem and indicates how youths have become disempowered in the process of often being ignored and not listened to.”

The Star Editorial piece once again draws readers attention to the Constitutional Development Funds (CDF) paid annually by the Government of Taiwan and distributed to local Members of Parliament for constituency development in the MP’s rural areas.

There is a comment, now all too familiar, about such funds when one reads (quote)

“Our leaders love to talk about rural development. They always promise our people that they’ll bring development to rural areas.

“And so they allocated themselves a huge chunk of the development budget in the name of Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

“This is money they promise to use to develop the rural areas. But how much of the funds are used to develop our rural areas? Very little!”

It is surely in the interests of the Solomon Islands Government to ensure CDF money translates soon to positive economic, rural development and jobs for the unemployed with better planning allocation, management and strict auditing.

As the Star’s Editorial piece has predicted failure to act on the spate of unemployment will likely have serious consequences and repeating my words expressed way back in 2008, 2009 and in 2014.

Yours sincerely

Frank Short

Could it be a tip of the iceberg?

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

He came in yesterday morning just to thank me.

“Thank you for raising the concerns which we have been trying to disclose but we never got through even with our government officials,” he said.

“The logging activities on Parcel Nos. 191-060-01, 191-060-02 and 191-060-03 by One Pacific Company Ltd are illegal. Why? It is government land, not customary land anymore,” the man said.

“We told the director of the company, Mr Wong Hook Ping, that we cannot log the area because the land is on lease to the government. It is government land,” we told him.

But he turned around and said the influential people in appropriate ministries “are my boys”.

To date, more than 66, 000 cubic metres have been logged, earning some $64 million in export revenue for landowning community group between 24 November 2015 and 04October last year.

Under a five-year Felling Licence granted by Commissioner of Forest, Reeves Moveni, One Pacific Company Ltd still has about 400, 000 cubic metres to log. But the future may not be as rosy as they once thought.

Since Island Sun newspaper had broken the story on the illegal logging activities, Prime Minister Ricky Houenipwela has ordered an investigation to determine the Commissioner’s involvement.

Some in the government were already calling for Mr Moveni’s head, arguing that as a senior government official that he is, he should have been well-versed with all government land.

In this case it would appear both the Ministry of Forest and Research and indeed the Office of the Commissioner did nothing to help the Commissioner determine the issuance or otherwise of the felling licence.

There was not even any consultation between the Office of the Commissioner of Forest and that of the Commissioner of Lands, who is the custodian of all government land, including the parcel numbers in question.

As it is the Commissioner of Forest proceeded with issuing Felling Licence A1011521 on 23 April 2015. It expires on 23 April 2020.

Under the licence, some 50, 000 cubic metres are to be extracted annually – 40, 000 cubic metres for export and the balance (10, 000 cubic metres) to be sold as sawn timber locally.

There is no doubt the Commissioner of Forest and his officers have their own explanation for their actions. And that is what Prime Minister Houenipwela too was interested in.

Why for example did you, Commissioner, for example, allow other people to make tons of money from government land? True, Mbetilonga Landholding Group Community Company Ltd paid import duties totalling $14, 849, 142.62 up to 4th October last year.

But that is a statutory charge obligatory on anyone engaged in logging activities in Solomon Islands.

In the instance of the operations, it is estimated that the government was denied around $30 million in lost revenue – money that can become really handy at a time when even the government cannot find enough money to provide essential services.

One would only hope that a fair and respectable outcome would result from the investigation.

Already, a landowner has denied the communities in the area having benefitted from the operations, despite the company having raked in about $64 million from the operations.

Where has the money gone? Who benefitted from the money?

For communities that are not so large, one would expect to see huge improvement in the people’s livelihood. According to my visitor, there is none of that sort.

The disturbing allegation that one government official was receiving $4 per cubic metre from every cubic metre of log exported is and must be investigated.

The investigation ordered by the Prime Minister is an opportunity to clear the air of suspicion over this type of hearsay allegation.

The landowner is even calling on the government to deport the director of One Pacific Company Ltd.

MPs please curb yours first

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

AS talks of the budget is now before the Public Accounts Committee, it is important that we as citizens of this country must take an avid interest to read and listen to what will transpire during this hearing.

Much has been said about budget cuts and more-so the setback this will have on the operations of government ministries including the provincial governments.

It is a worrying thought especially when we see so much that needs to be done in terms of infrastructural development amongst other activities that will boost our economy.

Recently a team from International Monetary Fund (IMF) visited the country and staff teams from IMF that were here issued a press release stating that ‘consideration should be given to maintaining expenditures in priority areas and curbing expenditures in areas which have expanded recently’.

Solomon Islanders do not need to have a degree to know where government’s expenditures have expanded recently.

Tertiary scholarships, CDF and shipping grants are some areas that need curbing.

Take for example, from 2013 to 2015, a total of $70.3M from taxpayers money was allocated for the National Shipping grant programme known as the National Transportation Initiatives Programme.

This is a lot of money and we should as tax payers be wary of how our government will be spending our money.

If any area that needs curbing, the areas where MPs have used programmes of this sort for their own benefits should be the first to be curbed.

Strong winds strike Bellona

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
A house is halved by fallen trees.

BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

BELLONA island in Renbel Province experienced strong winds this week that resulted in many homes being damaged including the only Anglican Church amongst the community there.

Locals on the island tell Island Sun that around 4am on Monday morning, a gush of strong winds hit the island, lasting for nearly three hours.

Many barricaded themselves in their homes and some, who have cyclone designed houses, had to dig deep.

Daylight revealed the extent of the damages, with many homes having their roofs blown off, home-made kitchens and huts blown to the ground, roads blocked with fallen trees, and water tanks damaged.

“The strong winds had occurred around 4am Monday morning in which luckily there was no injury,” locals report to the paper.

They are currently calling on the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) to assess their situation as they are in need for assistance.

An officer of NDMO spoken to, who wishes not to be named, says his office is currently having talks on sending an officer to the island to assess the damage, but cannot elaborate when this will take place.

A house in central Bellona has its corrugated iron roof and walling
blown off.

 

Heavy rain warning cancelled

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE

A heavy rain cancellation notice was issued yesterday morning by the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology’s forecasting team.

Solomon Islands Meteorological service’s heavy rain warning initially set for provinces like Guadalcanal, Malaita, Central, Makira, Renbel and Temotu was cancelled at 11am yesterday.

They also stated that the weather situation is that an area of convergence lies over Solomon Islands with a tropical low located South-southwest of Rennell Island in the Cora Sea with low pressure travelling at nine knots, expected to move south-westward.

Also stated in the cancellation issued is that associated heavy rain, showers as well as thunderstorms are slowly decreasing in pace.

To add on, an advice for people to avoid making an attempt to travel across flooding rivers and large streams was also made by the MET service.

Heavy downpour in the capital has caused much stress on the roads, with some feeder roads damaged making it risky for those who use them to travel.

Roads have also experienced more pot holes due to the rainy weather.

SICCI maintains provincial outreach to Gizo

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
Chris Elphick conducts a training with participants from the business community in Gizo, Western Province.
Chris Elphick conducts a training with participants from the business community in Gizo, Western Province.

THE business community in Gizo concluded two days of successful meetings with the Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SICCI), as the private sector body maintains its strive to connect with businesses in the province to help build their capacity.

SICCI representatives Membership Officer Naomi Mara and training provider Chris Elphick of Breadfruit Consulting, made the Chamber’s first visit in 2018. This visit followed on from previous training held in Gizo Western Province capital from July 4-6, 2017.

25 participants, representing both large and small businesses in Gizo as well as provincial government officials, met with SICCI at the PT109 Bar & Restaurant for a Business Planning training that proceeded throughout the two days visit.

The training is a follow-up from last year’s visit where participants who had attended the inaugural raised their interest for a Business Planning training.

Chris Elphick who delivered the training says the training is aimed at helping all businesses be the best they can be.

“This time our focus was on planning and it was great to work with such a lively group and I look forward to running further training in June and October.

“The training events give a good opportunity for networking and for businesses to help and support each other.

“I commend SICCI for developing its work in the provinces and I am very happy to continue to support business development in Gizo.”

Many positive feedbacks were expressed by participants who acknowledge that the trainings are useful for them as businesses owners.

Ms Mara says, “Apart from delivering the training, the trip was also aimed at getting insights on some of the issues businesses based in Gizo are facing.

“This is to help SICCI understand the challenges businesses are facing in Gizo and to explore avenues to help address these.

“I’m very pleased with the turnout and feedback we’ve had in Gizo and hopefully we can make more visits to the Western Province as we work on to close to gap between the private sector in Honiara and in the provinces.”

In 2017, SICCI made visits to both Gizo and the tuna cannery hub in Noro.

SICCI is planning another two visits to Gizo later on in the year with 2018 plans also scheduled for Auki, Malaita and Kira Kira, Makira.

–SICCI PRESS

SICCI attends first Regional International Arbitration Conference

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

THE Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SICCI) joined legal practitioners from across the South Pacific region in the first Regional International Arbitration Conference held in Nadi, Fiji last month.

SICCI Vice Chair Katalaini Ziru and SICCI Advisor Charles Persson attended the two-day conference that was organised by the Asian Development Bank in partnership with the Fiji Government and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific.

The conference surrounded discussions on the development impacts of international arbitration reform in the South Pacific with a targeted audience of Government officials, policy makers, development partners, judges, law practitioners and private sector representatives.

SICCI Advisor Mr Persson felt that the conference was a great success that allowed him to meet and exchange views with participants from other Chambers of Commerce and private sector organisations.

“In particular it was instructive to see the research and analysis that indicates the unambiguous link between the rule of law in a nation and growth in foreign direct investment.

“Our thanks to the Government of Fiji, Asia Development Bank and the United Nations Commission on Trade Law for co-hosting the conference.”

Topics discussed at the conference include; Promotion of cross-border trade and foreign direct investment through international arbitration reform;

Why an effective dispute resolution system is important to your country’s investment climate and economic development;

Disputes in the South Pacific region, with a focus on energy (including renewable energy), construction and climate finance and how best to resolve a dispute when contracting with a foreign party;

Overview of international arbitration, including the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York, 1958) (New York Convention), UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration and its implementation in the South Pacific region;

Contract drafting in supply-chain contracts for MSMEs in accordance with the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG); and

Role of UNCITRAL texts on e-commerce for the implementation of free-trade agreements and trade facilitation measures

–SICCI PRESS

Solomon Islands Parliament benefits from Pacific initiative

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
Solomon Islands National Parliament

By Gary Hatigeva

A group of researchers are currently in Honiara under a Pacific Parliamentary Effectiveness Initiative (PPEI) to help strengthen the country’s parliamentary system of operations and governance.

Funded by the New Zealand Government through the United Nations Development Programme for Pacific Island countries, the initiative aims to strengthen the capacity of the parliament secretariats to provide support to Members of Parliament.

These includes the enhancement in the capacity of parliaments in all participating countries to debate budgets and provide for effective public accounts committee operations at the same time mainstream development issues in the work of parliament and support the running of practice parliaments for women.

The initiative also looks to promote the selection of an increased number of women candidates by political parties and improve information exchange on the south-south cooperation between Pacific parliaments.

Meanwhile, parliament officials revealed that the group will join the budget team during the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearings where they will also, under the initiative, be providing support on the overall reviewing of the national budget.

The Pacific Parliamentary Effectiveness Initiative (PPEI) is a three-year programme designed to provide support to Parliaments in the Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands.

The project’s overall outcome is to meet citizens’ expectations for voice, development and the rule of law and accountability and through support to the partner parliaments to strengthen systems of democratic governance.

PAC hearings into Appropriation Bill 2018 start today

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
DPM Douglas Ete

By Gary Hatigeva

THE National Parliament has yesterday confirmed that hearings with all government ministries and institutes into the 2018 Appropriation Bill will start today.

The hearings will begin with presentations and witnesses from the Commercial and Banking institutions, which includes the Central Bank of Solomon Islands, the Asian Development Bank and World Bank.

National Parliament’s Media Unit in a statement further confirmed that the much awaited Bill was tabled in Parliament on Monday, March 12, 2018.

The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Douglas Ete with relief commended the government for fulfilling its responsibility however, cautioned them on the time required for the Committee to diligently scrutinize the budget.

In its statement, the Media Unit said the PAC Chairman pointed out that the budget is quite a significant one, as it is the last budget before the House dissolves.

“Given that the budget documents were brought in parts through last week and over the weekend, the Chairman emphasizes that his members ought to be briefed properly before seeing all the line ministries and their subsidiaries,” the statement adds.

The PAC Chairman then reiterated that this is a necessary part of the oversight process, as the Committee is obliged to table and inform Parliament on its findings and recommendations.

He therefore suggested that his Committee be accorded ample time of at least two weeks to fulfil their Constitutional and Legislative duty.

The Committee has written to the Prime Minister to further adjourn Parliament, when it resumes on March 19.

Meanwhile, when contacted yesterday, the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (OPMC) confirmed receiving the notice, which seeks an additional adjournment to parliament sitting, but says the Prime Minister has yet to put any official respond to the request.

Today’s hearing is scheduled to start at 2pm this afternoon while 2 ministries are lined up for tomorrow’s session, which starts at 9am with the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, followed by the Ministry of Provincial Government & Institutional Strengthening.

Later in the afternoon, the hearing is expected to receive presentations from local Provincial Assemblies, which will include Western, Malaita, Central and Guadalcanal Provinces.

The PAC during the hearings will receive assistances from seven international representatives and officials within various parliaments in Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji, who will also provide support on the overall reviewing of the national budget.

Police in Munda investigate alleged sexual grooming

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

POLICE at the Munda Police Station have thanked several women who had the courage and responsibility to report an alleged sexual grooming matter on March 11, 2018 which they are now investigating.

“We have received a report and I want to thank these women who were concerned and took the initiative to come forward to police when they saw that things didn’t look right,” says Sergeant Rachel Lilo, Officer-in-Command of the Munda Police Station.

“As citizens of this country, we should take bold actions to eradicate this kind of behaviour involving our young women and girls.

“We are now aware of the report and currently investigating it. I want to call on the general public not to remain silent on this kind of incident, but to come forward to police and report what you know and may have seen so that proper investigations can be carried out.

“I call on relatives and friends of those young women or girls as well as members of the public to come forward with information that may assist the police investigation into the matter.”

–POLICE MEDIA

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