BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

DESPITE negative debate on handing over of Outboard Motors (OBM’s) for constituents, Ngella citizens and recipients appreciate receiving Constituency items for support.

Locals say OBM’s they receive will help them through transportation for health services, church programs and other purposes for transportation.

It has been highly debated in Ngella Constituency that handing over of OBM’s and such from the Constituency’s Office are just cover-ups for campaigning.

“A passenger ship should be purchased for the Constituency rather than giving OBM’s being similar to giving death,” suggested locals.

However, such debate has been refuted as Ngella Constituency’s Development Officer (CDO) Mr David Teva said that they are maintaining their delivery service for the Constituency.

The Ministry of Rural Development during a recent handing-over of twelve OBM’s thanked Ngella Constituency for supporting the constituents with boats as one of their ongoing program in the transportation sector.

“Access to service is important in our islands as these boats are here to improve the livelihoods of people in areas of income and so forth,” said the Ministry.

“It is important recipients receive and care for these materials as they are purchased by public funds.”

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

THE execution of court orders in relation to repossession of land has always been an issue and the courts are urging parties to respect the law.

During the opening of the legal year, President of the Solomon Islands Bar Association Silverio Lepe said this issue is of concern to the court and the lawyers, and that parties must always respect the law and avoid taking the law into their own hands.

He said there are avenues to seek proper legal advice and bring grievances to when one encounters problems.

“You can seek assistance from the Public Solicitors office if you are unable to afford a private legal representation.

“Please do not sit on your right,” Mr Lepe said.

In the courts record a total of 43 cases were issued in 2017 and 28 enforcement orders were issued, 19 from the High Court and nine from the Magistrates Court in which half of the cases were successfully completed while the remaining half are still outstanding.

He said he acknowledge the Sheriff’s office that there are some movement in the enforcement of the court orders and also he thank the work of the police for maintaining peace and law and order during the enforcements.

Meanwhile the Chief Justice Sir Albert Palmer also shared the same sentiments that the courts must value the orders at least as much as individual litigants do and wherewithal to make justice happen on the ground.

“Progress in this area has to date been measured, but if we are to move forward at a better rate this year there must be tangible signs,” Sir Albert added.

He said sometimes executions of court orders are difficult when dealing with difficult and stubborn parties who blatantly refuse to comply with orders of the court.

And thus sometimes it has been necessary to require police assistance, which again takes time to organise, coordinate and facilitate prolonging delays further in enforcement, Sir Albert said.

BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE

SPREAD of the coconut rhinoceros beetle to the rural areas will be a challenge for people who are mostly dependent on the country’s most important crop.

This is according to the Government and Palm Industries CRB Taskforce which expresses that people will have to make hard decisions whether it will be deciding whether to make copra or consume it with low probability that the crop will be enough for both.

Moreover, the taskforce expressed is if they should feed their family with free healthy food or to make copra to cater for school fees, food and other necessities.

In addition, the report stated that health will also be affected given that if families choose to make copra then this would mean that they would have to buy more food from the shops most likely cheap, less healthy but available food which in turn will increase the consumption of soft drinks followed by high diabetes cases.

Furthermore, the taskforce advises that everyone can help control the spread of the rhinoceros beetle Guam biotype (CRB-G) by cleaning up and destroying breeding sites as well as by cutting down dead palms and getting rid of palms that have recovered.

POLICE in the Makira Ulawa province have successfully mediated a long standing land issue between a logging company and landowners during a meeting held on January 23 at Kirakira.

The long standing land issue involves a logging company currently conducting logging operations on disputed customary land in Central Makira.

During the meeting, Chaired by the Provincial Police Commander (PPC), Makira Ulawa Province, Superintendent, Peter Sitai, the tribal leaders with representatives of the company to resolve:

• The road block by landowners be lifted as of January 23, 2018,
• Through a new agreement to be drafted by all the parties and signed within five days as from January 24, 2018.

PPC Superintendent Peter Sitai explains, “Some members of the land owning groups of the Beana customary land in the Central Makira Constituency were not happy with the initial plan to allow one single tribal member to sign on behalf of the different tribes. The disagreement had led to some of the landowners frequently erecting road blocks preventing the company’s operations to continue.

“The police is mandated by law and has a role to play in any dispute and this is to mediate, ensuring the dispute is resolved amicably.

The outcome of the mediation meeting has been welcomed by the logging and land owners.

The company’s operations will now continue as all the parties implement what was agreed on during the meeting in Kirakira.

Sitai says, “The police is neutral and does not in any way take sides with any of the disputing parties.

“I appeal to landowning groups in the Makira-Ulawa Province to think about the benefits and the side effects of logging operations or any other business before signing any agreements because if these things are not planned properly then it will lead to disputes within families and communities.”

–POLICE MEDIA

BY BEN BILUA

TRANSPARENCY International (TI) 2016 Corruption ranking shows Solomon Islands sitting at 72nd position out of 176 countries with a score of 42 out of 100.

The ranking indication certify zero as highly corrupted countries and 100 as very clean and corrupt free countries.

From the ranking, Solomon Islands can be described as average country with corruption existence in the society.

Research found that higher-ranked countries tend to have higher degrees of press freedom, access to information about public expenditure, stronger standards of integrity for public officials, and independent judicial systems while lower ranked countries affected by opposite system.

It is said that lower-ranked countries in TI index are plagued by untrustworthy and badly functioning public institutions like the police and judiciary, even anti-corruption laws are on the books and practice, the legislations and institutions are often skirted or ignored.

TI report stated that lower-ranked countries are frequently faced with situations of bribery and extortion, rely on basic services that have been undermined by the misappropriation of funds, and confront official indifference when seeking redress from authorities that are on the take.

The higher-ranked countries are not immune to closed-door deals, conflicts of interest, illicit finance, and patchy law enforcement that can distort public policy and exacerbate corruption at home and abroad and that most obvious forms of corruption may not scar citizens’ daily lives.

According to the report, Solomon Islands continues to face numbers of corruption challenges fuelled by the size of the country and its geographic features, low state penetration, weak central institutions, of the region and specific governance challenges associated with the management of natural resources.

It is highlighted that corruption manifest itself in a variety of forms, ranging from petty corruption, embezzlement, grand and political corruption and various forms of nepotism and patronage networks.

Corrupt practices in the management of natural resources are specific areas of concerns given the current prospects of transitioning from a logging to a minerals-based economy in the coming years, with the country insufficiently prepared for the transition.

The development of the anti-corruption strategy, a freedom of information policy, the enactment of an anti-corruption bill and a whistleblower protection bill as a precursor to a right to information bill, as well as reform to strengthen existing anti-corruption legislation and institutions are action taken to fight corruption.

In the meantime the report highly recommends that measures can be taken at the agency level to empower staff in their interactions with public officials to resist acts of bribery and extortion.

Such measures typically involve having clear anti-corruption guidelines and principles in place, building the capacity of staff to deal with such situations, and empowering them to report safely and transparently on such occurrences through internal policies, training and practical guidance.

The report stated that there are few operational policies, strategies and tools publicly available to assist agency staff in resisting such extortion.

Donors can also help influence the overall country context by fully harnessing existing internal and external reporting mechanisms and using citizens’ accountability tools, including new technologies, to resist petty bribery.