PURSUING THE PATH TO PEACE

Honiara:  1 March 2018

Letter to the Editors, Solomon Star and Island Sun newspapers.

PEACE BUILDING IN THE SOLOMON ISLANDS

I welcome the news that the Solomon Islands Government under the leadership of the Prime Minister the Hon. Rick Houenipwela, is committed to furthering and sustaining peace and stability as a national priority.

I particularly welcome the support being offered to the Solomon Islands from the United Nations in the manner of a Joint Programme Initiative to consolidate peace, stability and social cohesion post the RAMSI period.

The Prime Minister has been right to have said that peace building requires inclusive solutions to be implemented and supported by UN agencies, such as the UNDP and UN Women.

Moving forward the government must identify and adopt the key governance systems and tools to drive its post-conflict reconstruction aims linked specifically to the many challenges that the Solomon Islands still faces in leadership, solid government structures, gender equality, education, health care, economic development, employment, corruption, community participation, civic dialogue, mediation, land reform and more generally good governance.

Adopting a mix of sound policies based on democratic and universally shared values and the proper and visible use of management systems will be crucial to the success of the government’s four key pillars, already outlined.

A major factor in promoting a sustaining peace building will be evidence of committed leadership, solid government and openness in order to build people’s trust and legitimacy in the elected government members.

The continued claims and counter claims about the state of the government this last week can have done little, I fear, to give the feeling of a solid, unified, government leadership.

It is generally acknowledged that the critical determinant of sustainable recovery, peace and development is a committed leadership aimed at: protecting human rights; ensuring rule of law and security; re-establishing and strengthening credible, transparent and accountable public administration institutions; reconstructing an efficient, representative public service that achieves equitable service delivery and re-generates an equitable post-conflict economy.

With the ever-present specter of corruption allegations a focus of ongoing attention and even some prosecutions for alleged corruption allegations, together with the constant references to the alleged misuse of the Constitutional Development Funds (CDF) and, more recently, allegation, regarding the so-called Discretionary Fund, there is much work that needs to be done to change public perceptions and put the work of the government and certain aspects of the public service in better light.

One step in the right direction has been the change to the Ombudsman’s Act with better provisions to counter illegal practices and to bring offenders to book.

The proposals by the government in creating a better development pathway to empower woman and youth are encouraging and should be relentlessly pursued.

I wholeheartedly wish the PM and the government well in cooperation with the UN agencies in moving things forward that will ensure a lasting peace, a united Solomon Islands and a brighter economic future.

Yours sincerely

Frank Short

THE RSIPF’s LOGISTICAL RESOURCES AND MAINTENANCE CAPABILITIES

 Honiara :  7 December 2016

Letter to the Editor, Island Sun and Solomon Star Newspapers.

Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Hon Julie Bishop, was in Honiara yesterday when she made a statement during a press conference at the Prime Minister’s office in Honiara.

Foreign Minister Bishop said the people of Solomon Islands have reasons to maintain confidence in the police.

FISH FARMING COULD AID RURAL FOOD SECURITY

Overfishing and climate change have depleted much of the Solomon Islands natural resources and increased pressure on subsistence-level livelihoods.

There was once a small scale milk farming project in operation in Malaita which met local demand for fresh fish and protein.   I am not aware that the project is continuing but small scale fishing farming of either milk fish or tilapia could very well be the answer to providing food security for communities in the rural areas of the country.

GOVERNOR GENERAL ENCOURAGES SOLOMON ISLANDS TO FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION

Honiara:  13 June 2015

In his keynote address, at today’s Queen’s Birthday Parade held at Lawson Tama, His Excellency the Governor General, Sir Frank Kabui, GCMG, CSI, OBE, said corruption was as old as humanity and it needs to be fought with God’s intervention.

I referred to a similar message prior to Easter when I wrote, in an article to the Solomon Star, newspaper and published on my website,  "Corruption. to widen the term one might expect to find defined in the proposed anti-corruption legislation, has implications in morality and rights and “Though Shall Not Steal” is one of the Ten Commandments which are widely understood to be moral imperatives by legal and Christian scholars.

In my early religious instruction I seem to recall that in the book of Leviticus, the prohibitions of robbing and stealing also included dealing falsely or fraudulently in matters of trade and negotiations.

It has often been argued that the church and politics should be separate and I feel sure the concept, largely, applies in the Solomon Islands.

I would acknowledge such limitations on the role of the church exist, but in terms of all the actions and events relating to governing, administrating, managing and building a just civil society and, specifically in the context of dealing with corruption, the church must have a say in the socio-political debate.”

His Excellency was therefore right to signal that ‘God’ through the churches views on ethical, moral and religious teachings must be part of the overall strategy to combat corruption within society.

The Governor General mentioned, too, that education about corruption does help to understand the problem as being one of the human heart but education itself was not enough.

Fighting corruption in any society does need a change in mind set and the reinforcing of moral principles will help but enforcing an anti-corruption strategy requires a three pronged approach focusing on deterrence, prevention and education.

In terms of enforcement, priority must be given, from the onset, in any locally established Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) to targeting corrupt officials and demonstrating to the public the political will to fight corruption at all costs.

Effective enforcement will act as a strong deterent.

To be successful in enforcement the ICAC must recruit professional staff of high integrity and intelligence and provide them with wide powers of investigation and prosecution in terms of appropriate legislation.

I envisage an ICAC Operations Department needing intelligence experts, technical experts, accountants, lawyers, information technology specialists, ethics and public relations experts, writers and surveillance staff, and all must have, apart from personal integrity, a passion and sense of mission in carrying out their duties.

Witness protection officers, computer forensics and protracted financial investigators will also be needed for specialist positions.

In terms of an overall effective deterrence strategy, educational programs must be instituted to broaden the knowledge about corruption and to induce public reporting of complaints to a centre manned on a 24 hour basis.  A telephone hotline to the ICAC must also be facilitated.

Finally, an effective anti-corruption prevention strategy, I suggest, should begin by reducing the corruption opportunities in government departments and public institutions with priority given to public procurement, tendering processes, public works, licensing, public service delivery, law enforcement and revenue collection.