The Parliamentary Civic Education Awareness Team has begun its Civic Education awareness program in Temotu, beginning on Saturday the 6th and continues to the 16th of November 2021 particularly in the Nende Constituency.
This round of tour is to cover schools and communities in Nende constituency with plans to cover other constituencies of Temotu Province in the near future.
The team consisted of six Parliamentary officers, one UNDP support officer and four logistics support personnel on the ground and are travelling around Santa Cruz Island for the first time to present information and discuss with constituents the role of Parliament and Members of Parliament.
The program includes a series of presentations for both schools and communities, hence a total of six schools and ten communities will be visited in the constituency.
Since gaining political Independence from Great Britain in 1978, the Preamble of the National Constitution of Solomon Islands (SI) clearly outline the power of ruling SI belongs to the people of Solomon Islands and in order for peoples ideologies, customs, cultures and beliefs are well respected, uphold and maintained, the three arms of government were established to enforce the power of people and to take care and reconcile our many differences. The arms of state are Executive, Legislature and Judiciary
The Legislature or Parliament as commonly known, is the only legal institution our 50 elected Members of Parliament (MPs) are mandated to carry out four functions of Parliament, this includes representation, scrutinize government of the day, its national policies and programs, make laws and consider public expenditure.
Majority of Solomon Islanders are yet to fully understand and appreciate the electoral system of SI and its procedure good leaders into Parliament.
With around eighty percent of constituents living in the constituencies outside of Honiara having limited knowledge of the functions of Parliament and role of its members and its relationship to SI electoral system, voters themselves continued to experience difficulty understanding our electoral system.
All challenges hence, affected the electing of political representatives into Parliament.
Since March 2011 the Parliamentary Civic Education Unit started conducting constituency visits and are able to speak to more 50,000 people across 20 constituencies already.
Temotu Nende have added the number of constituencies covered to 21 now but Parliament is hopeful to cover all 50 constituencies in the coming years.
It is through these programs that Parliament as a democratic institution came to realize that majority of Solomon Islanders do not fully understand and appreciate the Parliament System in Solomon Islands.
So with these program ongoing, Parliament expects that people will now be able to understand and appreciate the Parliamentary system in Solomon Islands and will be able to make informed decisions when casting their votes in future National General Elections.
Thanks to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) through the Strengthening Legislatures Capacity in Pacific Island Countries Project, for fully funding this program.
UNDP has been supporting this program and other Parliamentary programs in the past and present.
This Nende Constituency tour is expected to end on Tuesday the 16th of November 2021.
– Source: Parliament Media
