TREASURE HOARD found in Ontong Java recently is still being kept in the Central Bank of the Solomon Islands, despite being dubbed as only mixed metals.

From test results, public were told that the metals were only mixtures of lead and iron.

Police Commissioner Frank Prendergast when asked yesterday why the metal bars weren’t destroyed if they had no value, said that additional tests are still to be carried out on them.

He clarified that the police’s role in the matter was only to confiscate the bars and keep them safe until all tests are completed.

However, he said that it is the Government’s and the founders’ responsibility and concern what happens to the bars.

Adding that the additional tests depends on the experts when they are to be carried out.

Ministry of Mines experts also confirmed to Island Sun that the metal bars were only iron and not gold as claimed.

The officer admits that some of the bars may contain Gold among their mixtures but that they would be present in small amounts, which would not justify the cost of reprocessing to purify them.

But when asked what they will do with those items, the officer said that the country has other ACT dealing with wreckages.

CBSI also confirmed to this paper that the items are still with them, however, they are not making any comments on the items.

The alleged gold bars were salvaged by villagers of Ontong Java, led by Dr Reginald Aipia and his men.

There were more than a hundred bars and police seized the cargo and took it away for safe keeping and examination at the CBSI in March this year.

The story went viral and was taken up by the regional media, who reported that “gold bars from an old sunken ship were salvaged by villagers in Solomon Islands”.

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MORE THAN 30 health workers in Western province have been displaced following the burning down of the old Gizo hospital last Friday afternoon.

This was revealed in a meeting by the fire disaster task force committee and Western Provincial health services with the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) in Gizo this week.

Director of NDMO, Loti Yates, told participants that according to reports, close to 40 health staffs including nurses and other health workers have been left displaced after the hospital fire.

“Close over 30 to 40 staffs were displaced as a direct impact of the old Gizo hospital fire disaster.

“This is because the medical store, antenatal and environmental health, provincial health administration, mental ward, kitchen and laundry were all destroyed during the fire.

“The loss itself does not only include the office space and the building, but just imagine all the administration and financial records, and the equipment that were lost,” Mr Yates told local journalists in an interview at Gizo this week.

When asked about the likely worth of the loss, he could not confirm but said he believes that it may be in the millions.

He said the NDMO coordinates the disaster assessment and will advocate for donors to seriously consider the priority key areas to address the aftermath of the fire disaster.

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POLICE AND Our Telekom have signed a partnership which allows them to work together on strategic projects on security against crime.

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a broad non-legal binding framework to them to work in close partnership on a range of strategic projects was signed yesterday.

Police Commissioner Frank Prendergast thanked the Our Telekom for their support towards RSIPF.

He said the MOU will assist the parties to facilitate the lawful and efficient exchange of information in support of RSIPF investigations.

An example is the recent gifting of a number of large TV monitors by Our Telekom to the RSIPF, Mr Prendergast said.

These have been installed in the RSIPF Police Communications Centre and Police Operations Centre and will assist police command, control and coordination during normal policing activities and major events, as they will be able to display operational information, CCTV footage or information such as the location of police resources in Honiara and the Solomon Islands.

He said that the MOU may be used to formalise a project to work with Our Telekom on marketing and technical solutions to combat the extremely high number of non-emergency calls to 999.

In the month of June 2016, the 999 emergency number received 11,048 nuisance calls and 4,216 dead-time calls (where callers hang up). This is currently impacting on the RSIPF’s ability to respond to real emergency calls where lives of the community may be at risk.

The MoU on Investigations Support has been developed in relation to investigations conducted by the RSIPF to ensure timely provision of information, security of investigations and positive outcome of legal proceedings conducted in relation to serious crimes committed in Solomon Islands.

The MoU was formally signed by the RSIPF Commissioner, Frank Prendergast and Our Telekom Chief Executive Officer Loyley Ngira at the Police Head Quarters at Rove.

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A NEW scientific research project has the potential to boost the livelihoods of Solomon Islands cocoa farmers.

The project, a partnership between the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR) and the Solomon Islands Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, will strengthen the cocoa value chain and address specific needs in the market.

Approximately 13,000 households in Solomon Islands are engaged in the cocoa industry either as farmers, shippers, agents and exporters.

Acting Australian High Commissioner Dr Jasmine Cernovs was pleased to sign off on the project alongside Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Mr Jimi Saelea on Friday.

The research is supported by a SBD700,000 grant from the Australian Government, via ACIAR.

“This exciting work will assist Solomon Islands cocoa farmers evaluate and share the best bean varieties, boost crop yields, and improve fermentation and drying practices,” acting Australian High Commissioner Dr Jasmine Cernovs said.

“Sales of dried and fermented cocoa beans represent over SBD100million of export income to Solomon Islands every year.

“By partnering with Australian scientists, staff at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock will also have access to new techniques and skills development,” Dr Jasmine said.

“Given the rich, unique soils of Solomon Islands, there is a strong demand for the country’s high quality cocoa beans from niche chocolate manufacturers around world.

“This project will build on previous successes in Solomon Islands cocoa industry as well as important lessons from other Pacific nations with the aim to take this valuable export industry to the next level.”

— AUSTRALIAN HIGH COMMISSION PRESS

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THE DEVELOPMENT Service Exchange (DSE) will stage a one-day programme to raise public awareness on their work.

The programme will be hosted during the organisation’s open day on 26 August at the National Museum where public will be privileged to learn more from them.

The theme for this event will be “Strengthening partnerships for a robust and active civil society” which goes in line with the DSE’s aim to promote the growth of robust and active Civil Society Organisations (CSO) through the event.

Report received from DSE stated that this event will be their third Civil Society Open Day that they will host.

The ultimate aim of the event is to bring together CSO operating in the country to share and showcase their varieties of work to the public, development partners, government, business and other CSOs.

The statement pointed out that this event will also be an opportunity to raise awareness, especially to young people about the contributions CSOs make to our country’s national developments.

The proposed event’s activity will include panel discussions on multi-sectoral partnerships for national development, CSO capacity-building workshops and youth photography exhibition.

This programme will be supported by the Solomon Islands Oxfam.

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HONIARA AND Taipei have been acknowledged for the assistance they provide towards the ‘medical education and health collaboration and exchange’ programme between the Solomon Islands National University (SINU) and the Kaohsiung Medical University (KMU) Hospital of Taiwan.

The acknowledgement came from the President of KMU Hospital, Professor Ching-Kuan Liu on the occasion of Prime Minister Sogavare and his delegation’s visit to the institution yesterday.

The Prime Minister and his delegation, which includes; the Minister for Rural Development, Hon Jimson Tanangada, Minister for Police, National Security and Correctional Services, Hon Stanley Sofu, Minister for Infrastructure Development, Hon Jimmy Lusibaea, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Hon Dudley Kopu, Minister for Lands, Housing and Survey, Hon Moses Garu, Deputy Chair of Caucus, Hon Namson Tran and Chair of the Cabinet Sub- Committee on the Russell Islands Plantations Limited, Hon Dickson Mua, are on a state visit to Taiwan.

The KMU Hospital visit is part of the visitation programme that the Republic of China Government put in place for the Prime Minister and his delegation.

“I sincerely appreciate the Solomon Islands Government and Taiwanese Government for without your kind assistance and coordination, it could have been tough for us to carry out medical education and health collaboration and exchange.

“Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital is the first private medical university in Taiwan. In November 2013, I was the representative of the institution to sign a sister relationship Memorandum of Understanding with the Solomon Islands National University.

“We have been collaborating very closely with the Solomon Islands National University in numerous fields. Just in June this year, two lecturers from SINU attained their masters degree in nursing here at the Kaohsiung Medical University, whilst another lecturer is undertaking his PHD studies.

“Furthermore, another three lecturers from SINU would be undertaking masters degree courses. All these lecturers are studying here under the KMU scholarship for SINU,” Professor Liu stated.

Professor Liu said it is the obligation of KMU to support its sister university and a friend country.

Apart from the KMU Scholarship programme for SINU, he said nine other Solomon Islanders are also studying medical technology at KMU.

The KMU Hospital Superintendent, Professor Inn-Wen Chong also told the Prime Minister and his delegation on that occasion that KMU Hospital has also been collaborating with Solomon Islands National Referral Hospital (NHR) and the Ministry of Health and Medical Services under an affiliation agreement.

He said that affiliation agreement, which KMU signed with NRH in 2006, manages and implements the ‘Taiwan Health Centre in Solomon Islands Project’ which sees these two signatory institutions closely collaborate in various aspects.

Professor Liu said these collaborative aspects include KMU’s sending of professors and staff to Honiara for variety of workshops and missions.

“This coming August, Taiwan will send a health delegation to Solomon Islands to review and strengthen our collaboration on this front. Also, later this year, KMU Hospital will hold workshops on medical care-related topics for the staff of NRH and provincial hospitals and we hope we can help improve the health sector of Solomon Islands through our collaboration,” he added.

Meanwhile the visitation programme for the delegation for yesterday includes a visit to the Taiwanese Legislative Yuan and a meeting with the Legislative Yuan President, His Excellency Su Jia-chyuan as well as a visit to the Taipei Municipal Government’s Department of Sports.

— OPMC PRESS

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THE INAUGURAL meeting of the Clean Pacific Roundtable concluded in Suva on 28 July, 2016.

Over the course of four days, a total of 96 participants from 21 different countries and territories discussed key priorities for the implementation of the Pacific Regional Waste Management and Pollution Control Strategy 2016-2025 – known as Cleaner Pacific 2025.

The Clean Pacific Roundtable was coordinated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) with the generous support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the European Union.

Hot topics of conversation included the improved management of disaster waste and green waste, the importance of establishing public-private partnerships, the viability of a regional recycling network and the emerging threat of marine debris.

Key elements from the Roundtable discussions were captured in an Outcome Statement which was endorsed, in principle, by participants in the meeting’s final session.

In his closing remarks to the meeting, Mr Shiro Amano, former Chief Advisor of the JICA-funded Japanese Technical Cooperation Project for Promotion of Regional Initiative on Solid Waste Management in Pacific Island Countries (J-PRISM) project, noted the strong level of engagement and robust dialogue that endured through all meeting sessions:

“I’d like to congratulate all of you for your participation, engagement and success. The Clean Pacific Roundtable serves a good example to other countries and agencies to work in coordination and cooperation – not competition. On behalf of JICA I extend my deep appreciation to everybody involved in the success of this meeting.”

These comments were echoed by Mr Jesús Laviña, Head of Section for Natural Resources and Infrastructure at the European Union Delegation for the Pacific:

“The Clean Pacific Roundtable is something that has been anticipated for a long time. Now that it is a reality, and we have seen first-hand how well it works, I have no doubt that it will exist into the future as a pivotal mechanism for improving and innovating waste prevention and management in the Pacific region.”

The inaugural Clean Pacific Roundtable was held from 25 – 28 July 2016 at the Holiday Inn, Suva,

In attendance at the Roundtable were delegates from American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Joining country and territory delegates at the Roundtable were representatives from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), European Union, World Bank, Asia Development Bank, New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme, PRIF Coordination Office, Melanesian Spearhead Group, University of the South Pacific, University of Newcastle, Griffith University, the Pacific Community, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, POETCom and a range of private sector organisations.

— SPREP PRESS

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THE MATANIKO River Clean-up and Rehabilitation Project was highlighted at a recent regional gathering of waste management professionals.

Solomon Islands was one of 13 Pacific island countries represented at the Fourth Annual Steering Committee Meeting of the PacWaste project in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu.

PacWaste (Pacific Hazardous Waste) is a €7.85 million, four year project funded by the European Union and implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) to improve regional hazardous waste management across the Pacific.

Solomon Islands is one of 15 countries participating in PacWaste, with activities taking place in the project domains of healthcare waste, E-waste and asbestos.

SPREP’s PacWaste Project Manager, Mr Stewart Williams explains some of the activities that will contribute to the protection of both the people and the environment of Solomon Islands:

“PacWaste has purchased five new healthcare waste incinerators which will be installed at hospitals in Honiara, Gizo, Munda, Auki and Kirakira. Additionally, specialised training in healthcare waste management will be provided to staff at all these locations. The project will also arrange for the removal, secure transport and safe disposal of around 500 square metres of asbestos cladding from Makira.”

Representing Solomon Islands at the meeting was Ms Rosemary Apa, Chief Environment Officer at the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology.

As well as presenting to delegates about the Mataniko River Clean-up and Rehabilitation Project, Ms Apa enjoyed hearing the experiences of other delegates:

“This was my first PacWaste Steering Committee Meeting so it was really interesting to learn more about the management of hazardous waste in the Pacific. Healthcare waste a big issue in Solomon Islands and the support provided by the PacWaste project will make a huge difference. It was also great to learn about the initiatives taking place in other Pacific countries, for example the market composting progamme in Suva is very interesting to me as we are looking to commence something similar in Honiara.”

At the meeting, Mr Jesús Laviña, Head of Section for Natural Resources and Infrastructure at the European Union Delegation for the Pacific, Suva explained that the European Union considers collaboration and twinning to be an essential aspect of development assistance in the Pacific:

“Collaboration is at the heart of the PacWaste project. We see this gathering of PacWaste stakeholders in Vanuatu as an important means of promoting networking between participating island countries and to strengthen sustainable links between all countries and territories in the region.”

The Fourth Annual PacWaste Steering Committee Meeting took place from 18-20 July, 2016.

— SPREP, PACWASTE & EU JOINT PRESS

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THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a highly-regarded group of the world’s leading climate scientists.

At their meetings in 2007 and 2011 they stated that “it is beyond scientific doubt that human action is the key driver in the current and ongoing warming of the earth’s atmosphere”.

One consequence of this warming of atmosphere is an inevitable rise in sea-levels.

The world’s sea levels were basically stabilised about 1200 years ago.

The Pacific Ocean level has been rising very gradually since about 1800 (since 1900 it has risen 15cm).

Recent history of sea-level rises in the Solomon Islands group varies slightly.

From 1993 to 2010 the following rises were recorded by the Solomon Islands Meteorological Services (SIMS):

Santa Cruz (in the east) – 7 to 8mm

Guadalcanal & Malaita – 8 to 9mm

Central & North Islands – 9 to 10mm

This variation is caused by the west to east rotational force of the earth.

The eastern Pacific (on the coast of South America) is about 450mm lower than the western Pacific.

So the difference of 2 to 3mm between the east and west of the Solomon Islands, over 1300 kilometres apart, is consistent with that ocean-wide variation.

Predictions are that the sea-level at Honiara will rise between 5 and 15cm by 2030 and between 35 and 40cm by 2100.

Other, similar predictions, have a rise of 9cm in 15 years, 19cm in 40 years, and up to 40cm in 75 years.

It is significant that both these predications have a reasonable level of scientific confidence and they are fairly consistent.

So sea-level at Honiara will, almost certainly, be 9 to 10cm higher by 2030 and 18cm higher by 2050.

That is not much, it can be accommodated with simple foreshore works.

But – and it is a big but – when these minor rises are accompanied by king tides and/or storm surges the combined result makes the necessary sea wall defences a more serious engineering project.

Work such as that done on the breakwater near the Breakwater Café or the seawall of the Pacific Hotel/Casino at Kukum are examples of such works.

What are often called ‘king tides’ are officially known as Mean Higher High Water (MHHW) events.

Between 1974 and 2011 there have been ten such top events at Honiara with rises of 390 to 495mm.

60 percent of these rises occurred during La Nina events, 30 percent during Neutral events and only 10 percent during El Nino events.

Top ten MHHW events measured at Honiara (39 to 49.5cm)

So the worst-case scenario is a combination of long-term sea-level rise and a Mean Higher High Water event, with the resulting, occasional sea-level rise at Honiara being 49cm by 2030 and 68cm by 2050.

While such rises may seem alarming, they would occur only once every 3 or 4 years on average.

It is interesting to note that the MHHW event of April 12, 1986 came less than a week before Cyclone Namu struck Malaita, Guadalcanal and other Solomon Islands.

Despite the future sea-level rises most of the sand or pebble beaches of the Solomon Islands should gradually and naturally build up beach levels to give some protection for most villages and roads close to the shore-line.

In places where higher water levels result in scouring out of existing sand/pebbles there may be a need to undertake subsurface, off-shore, reef-like deposits to positively influence beach-sand build-up.

Within the Solomon Islands group there are many scattered low-lying islands. Some low-lying islands are insignificant but several, such as Rennell and Bellona Islands, Utupua and Duff Islands in the Santa Cruz Group and parts of the New Georgia and Shortland Islands Groups will need specific investigation to see if adequate protection from sea-level rise can be provided economically.

Where this cannot be done, resettlement programmes within the Solomon Islands will have to be sensitively handled.

Engineering works to save some islands, or the costs to resettle populations from other islands will need significant funding from national and international sources.

It is not too soon for diplomatic activity to start applications for such funding.

In the meantime, investigations should be commenced to identify those islands that may retain their population following shore protection works, and those where populations will have to be relocated.

[Published with thanks to SIBEPA – Solomon Islands Built Environment Professional Association]

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SOL POWER has resumed its normal power supply services over the weekend after a weeklong maintenance of one of their generators in Auki, Malaita province.

The town had lived through the whole of last week without any power.

The atmosphere was different with the town darker than usual, and business houses were forced to resort to portable generators for power.

Most meat shops, offices, Banks and Kiluufi hospital have been affected due to no electricity supply for the last six days.

The thing which can be remembered to have really affected people was the breakdown in communication as mobiles could not be charged.

Auki public have acknowledged the Sol Power company for tirelessly working throughout last week to ensure that power returned to Auki.

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THE HIGHEST growth rate in Vella La Vella, Western Province was identified as one of the reasons why the Western province needs to establish more schools to cater for its children.

This was according to Western Province Chief Education Officer (CEO), Hopeful Piosasa.

Mr Piosasa said Vella La Vella has the highest population growth rate in Western Province and a large percentage of this is below 18 years of age.

“This means that we need to establish more schools, quality schools with better education facilities to cater for these children.

“Quality infrastructures enhance quality teaching and learning environment. It also attracts teachers with good qualification and experience to take up teaching duties in such schools thus resulted in the production of quality students in the system,” Mr Piosasa stressed.

Mr Piosasa has conveyed that out of the 40,382 estimated schooling population of Western Province in 2016, an unbelievable number of 7,582 are left out.

“This is maybe due to that they are not attending any school or are being dropped out from school, which means some of us parents did not send our children to schools,” Mr Piosasa said.

He emphasised that the education sector is the foundation and prerequisite to any development aspiration of any nation.

Mr Piosasa said educated and skilled human resources is essential to the success of any plans that the Western Province has to improve lives.

He was speaking to a good number of people that turned to witness the official handing over of Iriqila Community High School (CHS) double storey classroom building, Thursday last week.

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PEOPLE OF East Malaita Constituency will again smile as their brand new truck is expected to hit their road in the coming months.

Member of Parliament for East Malaita constituency officially received the truck from Tongs Corperation yesterday.

Deputy Prime Minister Honourable Manasseh Maelanga said his office will pay another vehicle while awaiting funds for other small project before transporting the assistance in bulk to East Malaita.

He said a 200hp excavator he received last week was also part of the transport improvement project.

Hon Maelanga explained that his office managed to secure $1.5 million from the Transport Initiative Fund known as shipping grant from the government to buy the machineries.

“My committee decided to use the Transport Initiative Fund this way as we understand that buying a ship will not benefit everyone especially my people in the Highlands,” he said.

“We have shipping services provided by other shipping companies from Honiara to Auki, so the best way is to link the connection from my in the highland to Auki and from Auki to Honiara.”

Hon Maelanga said the cost of the truck is around $4440,000 while the excavator is at $1,158, 208.

He said the remaining from the fund will be used to transport the assistance to Malaita Province.

Hon Maelanga said people in his constituency have been suffering from poor road access for the past 30 years and it has been his plan to address the issue.

He said his committee has agreed to start constructing proper road access around east Malaita constituency.

Hon Maelanga said his committee’s plan is to connect all roads in East Malaita to the provincial capital Auki.

He said the idea behind the plan is to improve economic activities in East Malaita so that people have access to government services.

Hon Maelanga said East Malaita Constituency will slowly improve in terms of economic activities as more projects are coming up.

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DEPUTY PREMIER of Western Province, Wayne Maepio has called on landowners in Western Province to allow their land for development purposes.

“Understandably, customary land is not owned by just one person but collectively by the clan, tribes, families and so forth.

“The onus is on us to organise ourselves and allow our lands to be developed. Only through such forward thinking that we can progress and make life easier for us,” said Maepio when he officially handed over the completed Iriqila CHS double-storey building, Thursday last week.

Mr Maepio stressed that this does not mean logging, mining or other non-sustainable initiatives but basic service infrastructure and establishments like schools, clinics and other sustainable economic developments where communities can really benefit from.

“Such developments like what we are here today to witness entail a lot of hard work, time and money to put in place.

“And more so, they are not our money but money provided through taxpayers’ sweat and or donors’ assistance,” said Maepio.

The Deputy Premier has also appealed to people in Iriqila to take great care of the building.

“Look after it well so that it can be sustained and be able to benefit us for many more years into the future. We must take ownership and of it and treat it like our own,” he said.

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SOLOMON ISLAND’S respond to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in education is classified into seven areas of approaches respectively for 2030.

According to Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development framework, their proposing ambitious goals and targets for 2030 is inspired by the SGDs.

Their key priorities and challenges are set on the education sector in the Solomon Islands context.

With the response to SDGs, MEHRD ensures fee-free access and full completion for primary and junior secondary school, extend fee free access to senior secondary and focus on improving learning outcomes.

The Global goal also highlights that girls and boys access to quality childhood development, care and pre-primary education which MEHRD make sure full enrolment of five years, extend access for 3-5 years old and improved quality education.

Ministry also looks at quality and relevance of tertiary skills, reduces gender disparity and increased access for underrepresented target groups.

They also set their targets ensure secondary school both work-related skills and transferable skills, entrepreneurial and ICT.

Gender disparity in education is a high in Solomon Islands which has influence Education Authority to extend achievements in gender parity for ECCE and to balanced gender for both primary and secondary schools.

That also includes; explore ways to measure incidence and find affordable solutions, focus on formal education system and strengthen multi stakeholder approaches to extend adult literacy.

Ministry also set their goals in putting additional to existing curricular in primary and secondary education and to coordinate actions with other Ministries.

According to the NEAP documents, they are working on a core networks to achieve areas in poverty reduction, health, gender equality, reduce inequality, sustainable consumption and climate change.

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THE WESTERN Province is striving to encourage all children in the province to access basic education as part of the effort to achieve the Millennium goal.

“Not only are we meeting Western Provincial Government’s policy objectives but we are also striving to achieve the measures as articulated in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) which is to encourage all children to access basic education as part of the effort to achieve the millennium goal,” said Deputy Premier Wayne Maepio, during the official handover of Iriqila CHS’s double-storey building last Thursday.

Mr Maepio said Western Province’s education policy is ‘to support education infrastructure development, improvement and rehabilitation programme in schools to make education readily available and accessible to school age pupils’.

He emphasised that stakeholders should and must take driving forces in materialising important projects such as creating proper infrastructure for pupils to learn.

“I believe we have demonstrated that and that is why we are all present here today to witness this very important occasion.

“There is a song by the popular South African reggae artist, the late Lucky Dube titled ‘I m a prisoner’. In a line in one of the verses, he sang about ‘education being the key to equal opportunity and livelihood’.

“What he meant was without education, life is like a prison whether literally or otherwise,” the Deputy Premier told the hundreds who attended the handover ceremony at Iriqila CHS, Thursday last week.

Mr Maepio has also taken the time to acknowledge the Ministry of Provincial Government, and other key stakeholders that have contributed in making the completion of the building possible.

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HONIARA OUTSPOKEN man has called on the entire citizens in the country to trust and build confidence in our own police force.

Mr Henry Kahui raised the statement after a planned learnt to be in placed to engage the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in the country after the withdrawal of RAMSI next year.

He said it is a critical matter for the country to rightly take into serious consideration, and can only be happen upon the interest of all Solomon Islanders.

Mr Kahui stated that the country have its own forces and being a sovereign state, inviting foreign forces into the country will seems the country is underestimating its own force.

“We need to have trust and confidence in our own force and let them do the work others maybe invite to do in country.

“It is a serious issue to look into it, and government must make right decisions on their plan to engage AFP into the country.

“I see there’s no area for the government to invites foreign force into the country at this stage. Because I believe RSIPF can now do any work of their requirements in the country, as they can now prove their capabilities nowadays,” he said.

In the meantime, Mr Kahui recommended that if the government still doesn’t has confidence in the RSIPF, they need to look into extension of RAMSI’s term for a short while more in the country.

“Another area maybe for the government to increase their budget and recruit more police officers.

“With that, appropriate and professional trainings are needed for our local police force as it can up-skill them with more professional standard in their work.

“If not really trusting or having confident in our police force, government also needs to revisit the police act and revive special constables to help-out with the police in the country.

“Otherwise, the government to look into engaging private security firms to be part of the police forces, to assist in security purposes in the country,” he said.

Mr Kahui stated that RSIPF has the capability to do what other forces can do if the government can provide appropriate resources to them.

However, RSIPF is the country’s force and it has been encouraged that the government and the people in the country to trust and have confidence on them.

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LOW INCOME has forced Wilson Wea’a from the village to spend four months in Honiara central market every year, struggling for family welfare.

He has not seen much regarding formal education, but with a strong background in farming and bulldozer operating.

He travels to Honiara twice a year with an aim to support family and children with the limited skill-set that he has.

Wea’a said he never attended school and used to work with the company known as CDC before where he acquired his knowledge and skills, 24 years ago.

As part of his work, he also tours Isabel province and Russell Islands.

Wea’a said in those days, he treated things lightly not realizing his strength, until he married a woman from Makira Province – things started to change.

Mr Wea’a decided to do taro and yam farming.

Doing this for several months, his first harvest brought good returns when he sold them at the Lata market.

As years passed the interest gradually develops and he started eyeing the Honiara central Market.

Hence, he travels over to Honiara at most three times a year to sell his produce.

When Island Sun caught up with him he was into his third year running.

He shares that he will return home later this week and return later on in the year for his third round of selling.

While he is in Honiara, he sends money back home to his family via ship or plane to keep them going while he is away.

He explains that he sacrifices his time with family and risk the journey over to the capital because the Honiara market brings income triple the amount he would take in the Lata market.

Mr Wea’a said his goal is to support his family’s welfare and ensure that his children access quality education.

“What I aiming for is to find money for the living of my family and school fee for my children to go school and have good education,” Wea’a said

He says that in town he has no kin with which he could share a roof with, and that at times he would have to make do with just the floor as his bed.

Other nights he is lucky to have few generous souls who offer him the comfort of their homes.

Meanwhile, he shares that back home with his small family they work together in their farm to make sure that produces are always ready for the scheduled trip to Honiara.

However, he says that they are facing a huge obstacle in food security due to climate change.

The climate change has affected their crops, which sometimes puts the family unit under a whole lot of stress.

He said his wife has phoned him that their farm has been flooded and that some crops have died.

Another challenge is distance from Temotu to Honiara.

But through it all, Mr Wea’a and his family face life’s challenges with positivity and a smile.

He says his eldest son has already left school, his daughter has just started form one this year and the two younger siblings are in in primary school.

Mr Wea’a said although he is faced by these challenges he thanks God that he has a family and blessed with the little things he has.

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MANY OF the over 1,000 daily visitors to the Yam Cultural Festival held at Pululaha Village, near Afio Substation in Small Malaita between 24 and 27 July 2016 participated in the community engagement sessions organised by the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) Community Policing Unit from Auki and supported by the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI).

The sessions included presentations on the impacts of kwaso and marijuana on communities, family violence and the Family Protection Act, RSIPF limited rearmament, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, preparations for RAMSI departure in June 2017 and the RSIPF Crime Prevention Strategy.

“The RSIPF and RAMSI stall at the Festival was packed daily with visitors that came to listen and ask questions on the security and policing issues covered during the joint RSIPF/ RAMSI presentations. The views expressed in the southern region of Malaita were not different to those shared by similar communities in the remoter parts of Solomon Islands,” said Mr Masi Lomaloma, the RAMSI Assistant Special Coordinator.

Mr Lomaloma added: “This was a wonderful opportunity to update communities in Small Malaita and we (RSIPF and RAMSI) are thankful to the Yam Cultural Festival Organizing Committee for allowing us to be part of the four days of celebrations, during which we were able to reach out to lots of people.”

Local confidence in the RSIPF was boosted when RSIPF officers explained that the new policing model recognised that crime prevention and security are collective responsibilities involving a partnership between the people and the police and that, when the Crime Prevention Strategy is implemented fully, communities would see themselves as part of the crime prevention and security team, not mere spectators or bystanders.

In response to questions from the community, the representatives of RSIPF and RAMSI also explained there are many factors that currently hamper an immediate police response, ranging from distance to limited police resources.

However, the officers said this would improve because an increase in the Government’s budget allocation to the RSIPF has allowed more police to be recruited this year, the police are becoming more professional in the delivery of police services, and RAMSI has been providing the necessary tools and infrastructure, such as a police communications centre and Stabicraft police boats.

Members of the public were encouraged to report crimes to the police, including the involvement of the police in any misconduct.

On the national government’s plans for limited rearmament of the RSIPF, it was explained that a stringent world-class training regime for carefully-selected specialist police officers has been implemented by RAMSI and a robust governance policy developed for the issuing of firearms.

A final decision has not yet been made by the Cabinet to rearm the police, but that time is approaching.

The recent official opening of the National Response Department facility, which includes a high-security armoury, at Rove in Honiara was part of the limited rearmament project.

The members of the public were assured that their concerns about the need for appropriate safeguards have been taken on board to ensure that there is no repeat of what happened during the Tensions period.

The RSIPF and RAMSI officers expressed confidence that the country would not return to the situation prior to RAMSI’s arrival in 2003 and that the RSIPF was ready to be fully responsible for the security of the country after RAMSI leaves in June 2017.

In fact, the RSIPF was already maintaining law and order in the country without any frontline RAMSI assistance.

The RSIPF and RAMSI will continue the community engagement in other parts of the country in the coming months ahead of RAMSI’s departure in June 2017.

— RAMSI PRESS

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A MULTI-MILLION water bottling investment on Santa Cruz, Temotu Province, is likely to commence by the end of this year 2016 once formalities are finalised with relevant authorities.

Shareholders Nebo Investment, the Provincial Government, the investor, Solomon Mining Limited are expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) soon which will ensure Temotu Province gets maximum benefit from the proposed development.

Nebo Investment Ltd Chairman and also spokesperson for Solomon Mining Ltd, Mr Stanley Bade said their lawyer is still drafting the MoU to seal the deal by mid August.

He explained that once the MoU is signed, Nebo Investment Ltd and Solomon Mining Ltd will register a joint company with the name Santa Cruz Mineral Water Ltd.

Santa Cruz Water Ltd will then apply for an operation business licence to the Temotu Province and another MoU will be signed between the company and the province.

According to Solomon Mining’s owner and also the main investor, Mr Martin Lee, they will produce up to five thousand to twenty thousand bottles of water per hour.

“We have secured some possible markets in Europe and Asia while a company in Germany has shown interest to import water once the company starts bottling,” he said.

Mr Lee is impressed with Temotu provincial government and the people of Temotu province for their support towards this project.

The investor had already identified a suitable water source in the Graciousa Bay area, most suitable for supplying fresh water for refining and bottling.

Mr Lee said the multi-million dollar investment should be seen as means to move forward for Temotu Province, which has often been seen as lacking behind the rest of the country in terms of major economic development projects.

Meanwhile, Mr Bade said the target is to export twenty thousand bottles of water every month.

He said the identified water source possesses all the credential mineral components most suitable for a high-grade manufactured mineral water.

Laboratory tests by the company had shown that the water source is the second of its kind in the world, next to that of Italy.

Such high-grade mineral ingredient water from the source will be very demanding worldwide.

“The deal will be to manufacture water alone, nothing more, nothing less,” Mr Sade said.

This multi-million investment of bottling fresh water is expected to create a major revenue base for Temotu province to meet the costs of delivering services to its people.

Feasibility focussed target by the company is to provide employment for about 500 workers and export mineral water products direct to Hong Kong and China.

BY ELLIOT DAWEA

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NAHA POLICE station will soon be improved and strengthened according to work plans proposed for the station.

The plan is an initiative of RAMSI as they look at improving policing service in the country.

Speaking in an interview with this paper yesterday, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Police, Edmund Sikua said the plan is to expand the Naha station to accommodate more police officers.

He said work on the plan is about to be rolled out soon with face-change expected for the Police station upon completion of the work.

He also revealed that plans to revive the nearby Borderline Police Post is yet to be considered.

He said currently they’re concentrating on the expansion of the Naha police post and will look at the issue of the Borderline police post later.

Mr Sikua stressed that reviving the borderline police post will depend very much on the flow of development in the area.

One such development, he said, was the proposed relocation of the national referral hospital within the area.

Mr Sikua said these are the areas to look at, and with the establishment of these assets it will also allow the re-establishment of the police post.

However, he said that the re-establishment of the police post will not be done at the initial site, but will depend on any site decided on.

Mr Sikua said the plan is there, but that they are yet to look into it before deciding on its future.

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