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56,000 plus doses administered so far

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vaccination sites in Honiara.

A TOTAL of 56,928 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered so far, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare says.

Sogavare highlighted this during his nationwide address, Monday this week.

The data is as of Saturday 7th August 2021.

Sogavare said13, 188 people have now been fully vaccinated, whilst 30,552 people have received their first doses and are now waiting for the second doses.

He said this is only 3.2 % of the total eligible population to be vaccinated of the 414,327 people.

“Fellow Solomon Islanders, COVID-19 vaccination is the only proven way to counter the spread of COVID-19,” he said.

The Prime Minister, however, said last week was the best vaccination week since the COVID-19 vaccination program was rolled out in March this year.

He said a total of 9,000 people came out to receive their first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccination.

“I am profoundly happy and thankful to all of you who are turning up in numbers to get vaccinated to protect yourselves and members of your families that cannot be vaccinated against COVID-19,” he said.

Prime Minister Sogavare said if we continue with this current vaccination rate, we will be able to administer the first doses to cover our total eligible population of 414,327 people in 40 weeks, which takes us into June of 2022 and perhaps to December 2022 for full vaccination.

“This is too long. The Delta variant or other newer and even more dangerous variants of COVID-19 could invade our country way before our population is fully vaccinated.

“COVID-19 will not wait for us to be vaccinated before it enters. It is in our collective interest to get vaccinated before it enters our country,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has renewed calls for all citizens who are 18 years and above, to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

“This is your duty to protect yourself, protect those you love and protect your country,” he said.

Battle of Guadalcanal marked

Written by
Eddie Osifelo
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Guests with Foreign Minister, Jeremiah Manele

By EDDIE OSIFELO

SOLOMON Islands and United States of America celebrated the 79th anniversary of the Battle of Guadalcanal in Honiara last Saturday.

US Consular, Keithie Saunders read the speech of the United States Ambassador Her Excellency, Erin McKee, who was not present for the occasion.

Local Scouts at the Scouts and Coast Watchers Memorial

“The United States and the Solomon Islands share an intimate history, forged in blood and mud on the hills of Bloody Ridge, on the surrounding seas, and on beaches and forests throughout this remarkable nation.

 “Today we mark the 79th anniversary of the Battle of Guadalcanal, one of the most significant events of World War Two.  The events of those difficult days would prove to be the turning point in a conflict that engulfed the planet,” she said.

 “It was here, a lifetime ago, that Americans, Solomon Islanders, and our Allies, developed a bond of mutual respect, under the most difficult circumstances imaginable.

“As the Guadalcanal hero John Basilone, would accede, “God doesn’t give the hardest battles to his toughest soldiers, he creates the toughest soldiers through life’s hardest battles.”

Martha Matzke (US Cit) singing US National Anthem

Ambassador McKee said those battles led to an extraordinary partnership between the United States and Solomon Islands that we look forward to expanding in the years ahead with the help of your Pacific neighbors.  

“Today we remember the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and coast watchers who served. We remember their bravery, their suffering and sacrifice, and their ultimate victory in protection of democratic values. 

“For decades, American engagement and partnerships here, and in the greater region, have protected our shared values of freedom, individual rights, goodwill, and mutual respect across the Indo-Pacific region,” she said.

Ambassador McKee said it remains a fundamental priority for the United States of America to enhance our regional partnerships so that the people of Solomon Islands benefit from an environment that promotes partnership, not rivalry; prosperity, not dependence; security, not domination; opportunity, not threats.

Malaita’s vaccination roll-out launch this week

Written by
Mavis Podokolo
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AstraZeneca vaccine. Photo by NDTV.

BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO

The official launch of vaccination rollout for Malaita province is scheduled for this week.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare confirmed this in his national address on covid-19 updates yesterday.

“I am happy to inform you that the launch for the Malaita vaccination roll out is scheduled for later this week to be followed by the full roll-out in the province.

“I thank the health theme that has been working around the clock to ensure the vaccination roll-out in Malaita province commences this week,” he said.

He said many countries have made vaccination mandatory for certain groups of their populations and some have made it mandatory for their total population.

He said the key reason for mandatory vaccination in this country is to ensure most of their population are protected from covid-19 before they reopen their borders so that their economies can be revived.

Juveniles stealing prevalent in Honiara: Court

Written by
Jennifer Kusapa
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BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

Young people ending up in court for stealing is prevalent in Honiara, it is reported.

Principal Magistrate Augustine Aulanga uttered this when sentencing a juvenile to 12 months’ imprisonment yesterday for stealing three iPhones sum-worth $15,200 and cash of $14,000 from a residence in Honiara in March this year.

Aulanga, while explaining the non-custodial sentence, said stealing from shops and business houses is now a very common occurrence in Honiara.

“The number of cases coming to the court is self-evident that property offence committed by young persons or juveniles is prevalent in Honiara,” Aulanga said.

Thus court, he said, should pass sentences which are also of a deterrent nature for like-minded members of public especially juveniles.

Aulanga said stealing is not natured but nurtured and no young person is a born-stealer.

He said a person only learns how to steal by developing bad attitudes during his/her life. As a result of the economic and other difficult circumstances faced by many people in Honiara, this bad attitude is prevalent and is now proliferating amongst many young people.

Regarding yesterday’s sentencing, Aulanga said:

“The gravamen of this offence involves a deliberate and outright theft of a significant amount of money, that is, $14,000. Hence, the court should not just shrug it off with a lenient sentence that will indirectly send a message to juvenile offenders that is okay to steal. In other words, when it comes to a serious theft offence like the present case, the court should not shirk its duty by giving a noncustodial form of sentence to this offender since this will be seen as sending a wrong message to likeminded juveniles and the public at large, taking into account that stealing from shops and business houses is now very common.”

Quarantine facilities now delta proof: PM

Written by
Mavis Podokolo
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Chengs Quarantine Station

BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO

Current quarantine facilities have been improved to contain the covid-19 delta variant.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare in his national address yesterday said: “We have conducted assessment to our quarantine facilities to ensure they are able to contain the delta variant without leaking it to outside communities should we have people infected with the variant in the facilities.

“Solomon Islanders the delta variant is very different from original strain of covid-19; it is more transmissible, it is more deadly, it affects people of any age group from children to adults.”

Sogavare said the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States has compared the delta variant’s ability to spread through the air to that of chicken pox.

Meanwhile, he said the temporary closure of the country’s borders has allowed the oversight committee and frontline ministries to re-asses and reset strategies to deal with the delta variant.

“We are now reviewing when will we reopen the borders and at what rate we will allow people to enter from countries with different risk profiles from the delta variant.

“Covid-19 can only enter the country through our international airports, international sea ports and through our western border.

“My government has invested much in the management of this potential entry points to ensure we detect potential COVID-19 risk before it reaches the country or reaches our borders,” Sogavare said.

“Our focus is to stop the virus entering the country or eliminating it at the border quarantine stations.”

New measures for vessels soon

Written by
Mavis Podokolo
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BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO

New measures for foreign vessels will be released soon, says prime minister Manasseh Sogavare.

In his national covid-19 address yesterday, Sogavare said:

“A new shipping advisory will be released later this week out lining new measures for some classes of foreign vessels coming into the country or domestic ships that travel out of the country and return to the country.”

Sogavare reassures public that every foreign vessel that enters Solomon Islands country undergoes a covid-19 risk assessment by the Oversight Committee’s vessel exemption sub-committee.

“This committee determines the level of risk on the vessel and makes decisions in relation to the timing of inward clearance where the committee has concerns about the COVID-19 it can authorise COVID-19 testing to be done on some or all crew members before inward clearance is authorised.

“We have detected seven confirmed COVID-19 infected crews in four international vessels between April and July this year.”

He said for the MV Run Fu 6 case, the vessel is under quarantine and will be managed until covid-19 free before it is allowed to undergo clearance.

“We banned another vessel from entering our borders when we established 12 of their 13 crews members were infected with covid-19,” Sogavare said.

Court circuits for August deferred

Written by
Jennifer Kusapa
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BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

Court circuits for August have been deferred until further notice.

Principal magistrate Felix Hollison announced this in court yesterday, explaining that this deferment will have an impact on an ongoing case against five men in Buala, Isabel province.

The case of Jimmy Taea, Tony Godwin, Hamilton Puza, Joseph Sago and Steward Gift was set for trial on August 16 in Buala.

Meanwhile, defence also informed court that they are having difficulty with funding and might not be available for the trial.

Hollison adjourned the case to August 27 for mention.

The men are accused of damaging and destroying properties belonging to a number of families at Jejevo Village, Isabel Province over a mining row early this year.

The men are each facing one count of going armed in public, 13 counts of wilful and unlawful damage and three counts of simple larceny.

Police alleged that on March 8, 2021 between 2pm and 3pm at Jejevo Village, the men entered the village and committed the offences.

The allegation said on March 8 about 20 men including the five accused left Furona and went to Jejevo armed with weapons such as knives, spear guns, spears, axes and rocks.

It is alleged they entered the village and destroyed a number of properties belonging to 13 families in Jejevo Village and stole properties of three people, the total value of properties destroyed is $350,000 while the total value of the stolen items is more than $67,000.

The accused are represented by private lawyer Lappy Hite while Police Prosecution Service prosecutes the case in court.

DEAR PRIME MINISTER

Written by
Brian Lezutuni
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CALM DOWN: Police Inspector Tex Tafoa addressing a crowd that gathered at Kukum yesterday in anticipation of a protest march to the Prime Minister's Office. Heavy presence of Police on ground at Kukum on Monday calmed the rowdy crowd and dispersed them while their leaders worked with Police to address the issue.

–Planned protest foiled

-Honiara-based Malaita group to resubmit petition

-Group denies yesterday’s crowd

BY JARED KOLI

Another petition is in the works directed at the Prime Minister.

This outcome follows yesterday’s successful quelling of a planned protest march by police.

Leaders of the so-called Honiara-based Malaitans group, which was reportedly behind yesterday’s planned march, say they are working to include their names and signatures and resubmit their petition.

Interestingly, the ad hoc Honiara-Malaitans group have denied any part in the rowdy crowd which gathered at the Kukum market area yesterday, geared up to march for the prime minister’s office.

A spokesman for the group, Noxly Atu said they have been in dialogue since Thursday last week because the Prime Minister reportedly did not receive the petition they had handed his office on July 23, 2021. It was also reported that the petition was not properly signed. 

“Because of this we are working on it to have our group leaders to sign it, and we will resubmit it to the Prime Minister tomorrow [today],” said Mr Atu.

The initial petition was reportedly submitted to the Prime Minister two weeks ago, July 23 and copied to the Opposition leader, Police Commissioner and the Honiara City Mayor.

Only Opposition Leader Matthew Wale and the Honiara City Mayor have acknowledged receiving their copies of the petition.

On Sunday a crowd of Honiara-Malaitans met with senior officers of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) at the new Kukum market where they dialogued following the petition.

Police told the crowd and leaders of the Honiara-based Malaitan group to allow time to sort things out.

Yesterday, a rowdy crowd gathered again at the Kukum market area with plans to stage a protest march to the Office of the Prime Minister.

A heavy police presence was at the scene and officers managed to calm the crowd and disperse them with help of the group leaders.

Inspector Tex Tafoa told the crowd that public assembly is not allowed while the State of Public Emergency (SOPE) exists.  

He said Police will work together with leaders of the Honiara-Malaitans to give the signed petition to the Commissioner of Police, who will then submit it to the Prime Minister when it is ready.

Another spokesman of the group, Lawrence Makili appealed to the crowd not to take the law into their own hands.

“Let us respect the law ….and do things lawfully and within the law.

“We must do things proper, don’t rush with it, now we the organising group will put our names in that petition so that they respond to the group. We will sit and put names and signatories in the petition,” Makili said.

Meanwhile, Atu said the large gathering of the rowdy crowd at Kukum yesterday was not from them.

He appealed to his good people of Malaita in Honiara to calm down and keep out from involving in such unlawful gathering and allow them to sort out the petition and resubmit to the Prime Minister.

Commissioner of Police Mostyn Mangau in a media statement yesterday strongly asked those who intend to join the protest to refrain.

“The planned protest was illegal under the Procession Act and the current State of Public Emergency Regulation. RSIPF will not tolerate such illegal activities that threatens Public Safety and National Security. The Police is on top of the situation and have advice the organisers not to progress with any protest whatsoever.

Commissioner Mangau said there are factors that we must take into consideration when people want to stage protest or wish to march through the streets of Honiara. Request for permission to stage any public protest must be received by the Provincial Secretary and the Provincial Police Commander (PPC) within 48 hours before the event takes place. In the case of Honiara, the request must be received by the Honiara Council City Clerk and the PPC Honiara City for further assessments before any protest could be allowed to take place “I assure the good citizens of Solomon Islands especially in Honiara that the situation in the capital city is ‘business as usual’ but police will continue to closely monitor the situation.”

Metropolis refutes mass lay-off claims

Written by
Eddie Osifelo
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BY JARED KOLI

Metropolis Pacific PTE LTD has refuted out at a social media post saying the company had laid-off a big number of staff.

It was claimed in the social media that a large number of staff were laid-off as of July 31.

But responding to this, the company’s General Manager William Ling said they are not aware of the lay-off claims in the social media.

“We (The Company) are not aware of the laid-off claims in the social media.

“We do believe that those are purely jealousy, we can’t stop people who are born for jealousy.

“They just cannot accept people are doing well and try their very best to destroy others in the social media because social media is costless and can satisfy them somehow.  Pray for them,” he said.

He said the company currently has 68 expatriates and about 120 local workers currently working at the new city at Mamara.

“I hope the media can be responsible for what has been established in newspapers and not create any confusion to the general public as what has been done in the social media,” Mr Ling said.

He said Metropolis Pacific PTE LTD is a Singapore registered company, who signed the Mamara Tasivarongo Mavo Development Agreement with the Solomon Islands Government.

“Metropolis Mamara Development Ltd is a SI registered company, wholly owned by Metropolis Pacific PTE LTD,” Ling adds.

We almost there: Rodie on students covid-19 allowance

Written by
Brian Lezutuni
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Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, Dr Franco Rodie.

BY JARED KOLI

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MEHRD) Dr Franco Rodie assures Solomon Islands students in Papua New Guinea and Fiji that the Government is “almost there” on facilitating their special covid-19 allowance.

“I cannot tell you the date in which we might be able to pay the money. But what I can assure you is that we almost there,” Mr Rodie told a covid-19 radio talkback show hosted by the national broadcaster – SIBC, yesterday.

Rodie said they received requests for this from Fiji-based students as well as students from Papua New Guinea

“It has taken us a bit of time because we got to find the money, and there has been some good discussion between MEHRD and the Ministry of Finance,” he said.

He said last year they send students special COVID-19 allowance package. Island Sun understands that for Fiji students, this was around April 2020 when the first Covid-19 outbreak in Fiji. 

“…that is what we are organising now. So we are trying to process what we need to do before we can make the payment,” he said.

Rodie said they should be able to provide that top up allowance soon for students, so that they can buy whatever they need to buy.

Meanwhile, the Education permanent Secretary said beside this normal allowances paid each month should last them until December.

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