After I have been written number of articles on the Anatomy of corruption in Solomon Islands.
I now would like to make some suggestions in an attempt to remedy corruption in Solomon Islands.
When a doctor examines his patients to diagonise their ailiments, he ends up with recommendation some remedy. In the same way, this article will be on suggestions, however imperfect, as to how to check corruption in Solomon Islands.
May be, some people have expressed the hope that corruption in Solomon Islands will die with the expansion of education.
It is unlikely that by education they mean going through school and university. In my observation, Solomon Islands had a set of educated men at the helm of affairs from 1978 when we attained our independence, but see what a fine mes they made of it all.
They led us to the coup of May 5th 2000, and subsequently bloody tension among the politicians of the independence erra were great scholars, brilliant teachers and authors and witty legislators they displayed a suavity worthy of members of parliament and emunent lawyers as well as educationists could be found both sides of the House at Parliament.
Yet they did not deliver the good. Instead of giving us a united and prosperous country, they merely concentrated on those things that divided us while pursuing their own interests – acqusition of wealth and planning of grandiose political ambitions.
There is always the great temptation to blame our ........while colonial masters for all our ills as a nation. We accuse them of taking away with the left hand what they were giving us with the right hand.
We claim that they intentionally bequeathed to us a political structure which was bound to lead to constant trouble and eventually disintegration of the post independence politicians had the chance, if they really meant it, to ensure peace in the country and to correct the imbalance credited to the colonial masters.
All they needed to do was to do what the army eventually did – divided the country into more states or provinces and make the centre strong. But petty jeolousies and bitter rivalry prevented them from pursuing that line of actions.
It could be said, therefore, that it was the corruption resulting from tribalism and selfishness that spelled the doom of the young nation of Solomon Islands.
Now that the country has intending the Federal system structures, with the possibility of a few more, the future looks alittle rosier, but we still have to cultivate the spirit of being fair to every Solomon Islander whatever his place of origin.
If each state is beset with ethnic squables or if representatives of the state indulge in unhealthy rivalry at the centre we would not have come to the end of our troubles.
Our young ones should grow up to know themselves as Solomon Islanders first and formost. That they come from one state or the other should be seen purely as a matter of geographical accident.
The young ones should be detrihablished even if it means having jto arrange experiments in interstate living or exchanging teachers among states.
There should be school books in which the cultural life of all the thnic groups in the country is depicted, with contributions by competent sons and dauhters of each ethnic group.
In such books, the cultural life of each group should be related to the others pointing out similarities in customs. The tendency to claim superiority of one ethnic group over the others should be totally discouraged. The emphasis should be on what unites us.
If the United State of America with its mottey crowd, could be forged into one cohesive whole, allowing for idiosyncracies of each component state and group, there is no reason why we cannot have a United Solomon Islands turning our diversity into advantage.
Every American is a Yankee irrespective of his English, German, Dutch, African, Russian or Polish background. They soon learn to talk big and roll their R they take pride of being Americans.
Perhaps the most important thing is to teach the Solomon Islands young people to be proud of his personality, of his ability, of his job.
He should learn to rely more on himself than on god-fathers and influential connections.
One young Solomon Islander man cried out sometime ago in indignation against the elders who, he said, had developed the tendency of blaming every bad thing in the country on the young people.
He saw no reason why the young people should be blamed for the moral lasity pervading the whole nation when, in many cases, it was the elders who exploited the innocent youth and bent them to their immoral ways.
He blamed the elders for merely giving precepts while neglecting the more important duty of giving good examples.
The indignant youth had a point there. He would need to remember, however, a popular saying that a man takes an advice only if it suits his own inclination. Did the youth not show themselves too ready to follow the elders ‘bad examples’?
In the sad days of bitter politics, a party leader only had to say something to trigger off a chain of echoes in the Solomon Islands College of Higher Education.
Even if the leader’s pronouncement represented a right about –turn on the party’s declared principles, the youth wing of the party would claim their concurrence and extol the leader for his courage and forsight.
On the other hand, should the leader of one party make a very sensible suggestion, the youth wings of the opposing parties were bound to come up with some trechant rhectorics to condemn the sugestion. More over, the youth wings followed tribal lines.
By Kamilo Teke.
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