Happy Independence Day!

I CAN still remember, as a young boy living in Australia in the 1970s, reading about the world’s newest independent country. It was a place in the South Pacific called ‘Solomon Islands’. I had a map of the world in my room and I could see that Solomon Islands was very close to Australia. But…

Is the forestry sector the next battleground?

ON June 14 this year, the nation’s forestry industry regulator, Solomon Forest Association (SFA) issued a warning that illegal logging practices were “getting out of control”. The SFA called on the Government to act immediately, or it would dissolve itself so thatthere is a level playing field on corruption for everyone in this country. “The…

Telekom service in Makira-Ulawa

Dear Editor – Grateful if you could publish this piece of concern from Kirakira and more broadly across Makira Ulawa Province. People in Makira Ulawa Province, particularly in the Provincial capital Kirakira and surrounding communities, have been experiencing very poor telecommunication services by Our Telekom. This problem has been on-going for many years now, most…

A welcome interest rate payout

THE National Provident Fund on Thursday announced a 10 per cent interest payout to its members. This is for the financial year ending 30 June 2016. NPF also paid similar interest rate in the last financial year. This financial year’s interest pay-out comes on the back of a $276 million profit the fund made during…

Maepio assures people, province

Western provincial Deputy Premier Wayne Maepio says that there are proper channels that can be and should be taken when there are complaints against the government. In an interview he explained that the provincial government is the overall mother body looking after everyone including the provincial executives and any complaints can be channelled through the…

Samples sent to Australia

SAMPLES from a post-mortem done on a young man who died in police custody Monday this week have been sent to Australia for further testing. Police Commissioner Frank Prendergast said the doctor who did the post-mortem decided to send the samples to verify certain aspects of the results. David Saemala, 23, of Malaita died on…

Malaita police chief gets new posting

MALAITA Provincial Police Commander Alfred Uiga will leave his current job tomorrow to take up a new role within the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) in Honiara. He is expected to take up a new position as Assistant Commissioner of Police, Provincial Policing. Mr Uiga confirmed his relocating to Honiara and said he looks…