OUR Party President Manasseh Sogavare says accusations leveled against his party as being anti-aid donors and anti-RAMSI were ill-conceptions of its genuine concerns about aid money and the intervention mission.
Mr Sogavare was speaking at the launch of OUR Party in Kirakira on Tuesday.
“OUR Party has often been accused as anti-donors. This is pathetic,” Mr Sogavare said.
“We are rightly concerned about aid donors and the utilisation of their funding because they can have a tremendous negative effect on the capacity of our country if we are careless.
“There is a vast difference between responsible utilization of aid money and the blind use of aid money.
“The former term carries the concern for the sustainability of funded programmes which is a very important consideration,” he said.
On the anti-RAMSI accusations, Mr Sogavare said OUR Party’s concerns over the intervention force are legitimate concerns that any sovereign government could have.
He said the concerns are over the tremendous powers and privileges accorded to the visiting contingent, the logistic gap between the Solomon Islands police and the participating police force, tax exemptions accorded to Australian companies providing support services to RAMSI and the non-existence of capacity building programme for Solomon Islanders.
“The members of the visiting contingent have a duty to ensure they are not careless in the way they exercise the powers, privileges and immunities accorded to them under the legal framework governing their operation here.
“The implementation of a police capability programme must be realistic.
“The logistic capability gap that exists between our police and the PPF must be aggressively narrowed by visible transfer of the use and control of logistics to enhance the capability of our police under the supervision of RAMSI.
“The tax exemption status of the Australian companies who obtained contracts to provide support services to the visiting contingent should be reconsidered as taxes from their operations could go a long way to assisting the national budget.
“There is a need for the implementation of an active and visible counterpart arrangement for technical officers holding new and existing line posts to avoid an experience gap when expatriates leave,” he said.
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