What’s next after the dialogue?

WOMEN representing the 14 constituencies in Malaita last Wednesday met with eight of the MPs from the province. This was during a dialogue UN Women facilitated to allow the women leaders in Malaita to meet and express their views to the MPs. The dialogue aims to highlight the issues and concerns of women in Malaita to…

New airport terminal

So Japan is going to construct a new international departure terminal building for the country. The plan was unveiled Friday during the signing of the Grant Agreement for the Improvement of the Honiara International Airport Project. Under the project, the existing terminal building will be upgraded to cater for both domestic and international arrivals. The…

A situation that must be addressed

The country’s rate of unemployment appeared to have gone through the roof. Just take a walk along the main Honiara streets during a day and you’ll realise this. Lots of people – both adults and youth – are roaming the streets doing nothing. You see them sitting along the pavements, around betel nut stalls, and…

We need a new Lawson Tama

SO Solomon Islands is clearly the best football nation in Oceania. That’s according to Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) president William Lai. He stated this in an interview with Radio Australia this week. Mr Lai’s description of Solomon Islands as a “football nation” was based on crowd attendance of regional matches at Lawson Tama. For…

The message is: kwaso kills

EVERYONE knows the damage kwaso (home-brew) can do to those consuming it. Kwaso kills. That’s the simplest way to convey the message. It’s a message health educators have been promoting over the past 10 to 15 years. Those who care to listen should take that seriously. Otherwise you have no one else to blame but…

Abolish the shipping grant!

THE need to upgrade our roads to better standards is more urgent than ever before. The state of the roads in Honiara is a total embarrassment. The situation is even worse for roads in the provinces. Covering the thousands of pot-holes that line up the roads with gravel will do no good. The roads need…

Only cults do this

THE talk over the last few days has been on a movement in Malaita that called themselves “Message of the Kingdom”. This group existed as a church for many years. But public attention turned on them in recent days after the group’s leader, who some have described as a “self-claimed prophet”, made outrageous predictions that…

We want roads we can take pride in

GOOD to hear work to repair the poor state of Honiara roads will be carried out in coming weeks. That’s the assurance acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID) Jimmy Nuake gave Thursday. We hope the upgrading working will be done sooner rather than later. Because right now, the state of the…

“Bloody ridge” plaque removal

OVER the weekend some narrow-minded people decided to remove the engraved plaque to honour our locals who have played a part in the second world war Guadalcanal campaign. Its an act of betrayal by some people believed to be locals who may have been part of the event or may have visited the monument last…