A half-cooked bill

TRANSPARENCY Solomon Islands is deeply concerned that the Traditional Governance and Customs Facilitation Bill 2018 is currently in its second reading before the Parliament. When the Traditional Governance and Customs Facilitation Bill wasfirst introduced a few months ago, there was ahuge outcry from the public opposing this Bill and the shallow policy or no policy…

BLOW FOR MINISTER

Manetoali charged on the eve of 10th parliament’s dissolution By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN   GAO Bugotu MP Samuel Manetoali’s bid for a fourth term in parliament suffered a huge blow last Friday after police arrested and charged him with one count of conversion. Manetoali, who has served his constituency for the last three consecutive terms, and…

Parliament dissolves

THE tenth Parliament has dissolved as of 12am midnight early this morning following its final sitting last night. This means most of the Members of Parliament (MP) are now ordinary members of the public while those in the Government are in the caretaker position for next few months till the next government comes into power…

NEW MINIMUM WAGE ANNOUNCED

GOVERNMENT last night announced an increase in the country’s legal minimum wage from $4 per hour to $8 per hour that will come into effect as of next year. Outgoing and caretaker Minister of Commerce, Industry, Labour and Immigration William Marau announced this on the floor of Parliament last night while contributing to the Sine…

Two permanent secretaries sworn-in

TWO permanent secretaries (PS) were sworn-in on Thursday at the Government House by Governor General Sir Frank Kabui. The two permanent secretaries are Nego Sisiolo who was reappointed as the PS for the Ministry of Public Service and McKinnie Dentana as the new PS for the Ministry of Finance and Treasury. He replaces Harry Kuma…

HCC to dissolve Dec 17

LIFE of the Honiara City Council’s (HCC) current political administration will come to its end Monday next week. That’s according to the council’s legal adviser Vincent Kohata. Mr Kohata said the decision to dissolve the political administration headed by mayor Andrew Mua on 17 December was based on advice they received from the Attorney General’s…

Wale: Flawed Bill

THE Chairman of the Bills and Legislation Committee (BLC) and Member of Parliament for Aoke Langalanga Mathew Wale sternly argued that the Traditional Governance and Customs Facilitation Bill is flawed and it needs to be withdrawn. He made this strong comment when he debated the Bill on the floor of the parliament which resulted in…

GOV’T HOLD BACK BILL

Proposed law withdrawn from floor of parliament By ANDREW FANASIA  THE Government on Thursday withdrew the controversial Traditional Governance and Customs Facilitation Bill after several MPs spoke against it in parliament. The bill was still being debated when Minister for National Unity, Reconciliation, and Peace, Comins Mewa was forced to withdraw it. Opposition leader and…

Sikua’s cup end with success

The Sikua’s 2018 Cup successfully ended with prize presentation at the Christian Outreach Center in Balasuna, North East Central Guadalcanal yesterday. The winner Geza A FC received a cash prize of $10,000 with gold medals and trophy while the runner up Balanga B received $7,000 with silver medals. The second runner up Green Snail A…