THE RECENT High Powered five men SIPA committee set up to investigate the Solomon Islands Ports Authority CEO, Collin Yow is foreign influenced says the Malaita Ma’asina Forum.
MMF President, Charles Dausabea made the statement yesterday, questioning on whose interest this committee set up is serving.
“The formation of this Committee is surely not from the government, but foreigners who have personal interest into the SIPA reforms and the CEO’s post,” Dausabea said.
Dausabea questions the government as to why they have to listen to foreigners and are being pulled by the nose to satisfy their hidden agendas.
The MMF president said the government should allow its constitutional institutions such as the Police, Auditor General’s Office and the Legal system to take its role as mandated under the constitution.
Dausabea questions the motive behind the establishment of this committee which the MMF viewed to be influenced by foreigners.
He further questions why the government cannot establish a commission of enquiry to look into the logging sector which ripped indigenous people of this country from their resources for the past three decades.
“Why can’t the government set up an enquiry into the corrupt practices within the Forestry sector? What has the Forest Association of Solomon Islands been doing? Why are they so silent about the billions lost in illegal operations in the country?” Dausabea asked.
He said to a layman’s view, it is illogical for the government to set up a committee to investigate SIPA CEO and the SIPA reforms, when the SOE is actually making money in barely ten months.
Dausabea said MMF is very much aware that the establishment of the SIPA Committee to investigate Mr Yow and the SIPA reforms was done because of foreign influence.
He said if the government is smart enough, it should have already set up such a committee long time ago to investigate all State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) performances and not just SIPA.
“Why investigate a man and the SOE that actually makes money? Why can’t the government set up a committee to investigate into the forestry sector that had lost billions of dollars in illegal operations?” Dausabea further questioned.
Dausabea further calls on the government to replace foreigners within the SIPA committee with qualified locals.
He said if this is a true committee that sets to work for the benefit of this country, then all foreigners must be sacked and replaced with locals.
The MMF president emphasised that the honourable thing the government should do is to strengthen its institutions and give them the power to carryout their work free of corruption and personal interests.
Dausabea then called on the president of the Solomon Forest Association, Jonny Sy to stop influencing by putting his hand into the internal issues of the government.
He then called on Sy a former SIPA board member to create a Commission of enquiry by SFA to investigate the forestry sector where billions have gone unnoticed for the last three decades.
“I call on the government to sack those foreigners in the committee and give the job to locals instead. This is our government and we should engage locals to do the job,” the MMF president added.
He said MMF knew to well the foreigners in the SIPA Committee and is sure the committee was set up for foreign interests and not local interests.
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