Four ministries without ministers

The Government has four of its ministerial portfolios vacant  as it struggles to regain numbers ahead of Monday’s no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare. Following the mass walk-out over the weekend, Mr Sogavare on Wednesday sworn in eight ministers to replace the defectors. But they were mostly from his backbench, including two MPs…

‘WE ARE WITH YOU’

Maelanga assures Taiwan of support By DELI OSO THE Solomon Islands-Taiwan relationship will be maintained even if the Sogavare-led Democratic Coalition for Change Government (DCCG) is ousted from office through the motion of no confidence scheduled for Monday. Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs Manasseh Maelanga made the assurance to the visiting…

Gov’t sworn in 8 new ministers

THE GOVERNMENT on Wednesday swore in eight new ministers amidst the persisting political uncertainty. They are:  (a)  Ishmael Avui, Minister for Development, Planning and Aid Coordination; (b)  Augustine Auga, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development; (c)   Nestor Ghiro, Minister for Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening; (d)  Bradley Tovosia, Minister for Forestry and Research; (e)  Moses…

Village census set to roll

THE much anticipated nationwide Village Resource Survey and Household Listing 2017-2018 first phase is set to start with deployment of field enumerators as of next week. Headed by the Solomon Islands National Statistics Office (SINSO) within the Ministry of Finance & Treasury (MoFT), this is a pre-census count for the 2019 national census. VRS National…

Opposition claims its MPs offered cash

THE Opposition claims the Office of the Prime Minister has been attempting to lure its MPs with offers of lucrative amounts of money. In a statement issued last night, the Opposition said: “We condemned attempts by the Prime Minister’s Office in trying to lure our Members of Parliament with lucrative amounts of money. “Desperate attempts…