DEAR EDITOR – Please allow me space in your Letters to the Editor to respond and add wisdom to the article Customs and Vehicle by Davidson Bosebose.
There were some concerns and issues that have been raised by few people namely Ken Qwaina, Pedro Maeohu, and Davidson Bosebose, regarding the above matter on how Customs & Excise Division acquired a forfeited vehicle and the subsequent incident that the said vehicle was involved in.
Let me clarify here that as far as I understand the Customs & Excise Division of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury is a law enforcement agency and this particular vehicle according to information was forfeited on legal grounds according to Customs & Excise Act CAP 121 which should you be interested to know what it says and should you need more information, please call in and talk to the Customs Executive face to face at Customs office, Point Cruz.
Going to the media will not solve your problem and concerns.
Concerning the incident and the probationer, I am aware that the case was already reported to the responsible bosses to deal with which is the right procedure to follow in a Public Service organisation, and not by unnecessary comments and waste of your time in the media trying to point fingers at others and trying very hard to undermine the authority of the management.
Maybe you have hidden agendas related to this issue.
Please allow wisdom to prevail and let me tell you, you can never predict what the future is like for anybody or what will happen to you.
Accidents can happen to anybody at any time, and anywhere, and you three gentlemen are also not immune.
There are right ways, and procedures and policies in place for sorting out such issues which depend very much on the nature of the incident, timing, and its legality.
Hem no olsem hao iufala likem wea iu olredy condemim man befo hemi givim saed lo stori blo hem.
Remember, there were a lot of Government vehicles that were badly damaged costing a lot of tax payers’ money.
Some of vehicles have even been written off resulting in huge loss to government in comparison to this which is a minor incident.
We should all be concerned about misusing tax-payers money since we are all Tax payers.
Tax Payers for your information includes everybody in this nation. That means the Customs Executive and the officers involved in the incident have been tax payers all their lives, and are still doing so from their PAYE every fortnight.
Similarly the person on the street indirectly is also a taxpayer when he buys that packet of noodle.
Therefore your concern for the taxpayer is an old cliché.
Who knows maybe the PAYE that has been deducted from the officers’ salary each fortnight over the last ten or more years is being used to pay for the cost of repair.
Work that out for yourself.
As you guys continue to repeat yourself over and over in the media, it is becoming evident that the real issue is neither the vehicle nor the accident, but a chance to settle scores with Customs Executive and officers involved in the incident.
To the Customs bosses and officers let me encourage you, be cool and continue to do the excellent job of protecting our Borders, collect revenue for the government to provide free services for the three gentlemen and the people of this good country.
Penalise those who are non-compliant to the sovereign law of our nation and deal with them accordingly.
I encourage you officers to dwell and focus on the positive and not the negatives that will not do anything good for anybody and any organisation.
To Mr Qwaina, Mr Maeohu, and Mr Bosebose, please use your literary skills to promote and edify your fellow country folks than using it in a destructive manner which will backfire on you sooner or later.
Jack M. Kwaifii
Central Honiara
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