NEW Year’s greetings and welcome back to our readers and advertisers! This is our first issue for this year after the two-day break we had on Wednesday and yesterday. 2013 has indeed gone down the memory lane. We are now into the third day of 2014. Like the future, we all don’t know what this…
Frustration, confusion and disappointment are some of the things going through most of the teachers residing in the urban centres especially in Honiara. This is because most of them have yet to receive their traveling allowances or if they did the amount is just unbearable because its just insufficient. Some of the teachers in Honiara…
Over the last few days the public, news media and the social network had produced, published and broadcasted so much fabricated information and news about the episode surrounding the recently ill-fated MV Francis-Gerena. While we do appreciate public and press freedom, we must also be mindful of the wilful damage such unfounded fabricated information could…
WE know everyone is excited about heading out to their villages at this time to spend Christmas with loved ones. But please don’t overload our ships. The sinking of MV Francis Gerena eight miles off Anuha island in the Central Province yesterday offered us a big lesson. The vessel, on its way to the northern…
BETEL nut vendors are again invading almost every corner of the city with their vending activities. Some of them are now doing it openly, right in front of shops and bus stops in central Honiara. The sale of betel nut is not illegal. But selling it along the main streets is. The Honiara City Council…
WHAT lesson can we draw from Nelson Mandela’s leadership? That’s the question many Solomon Islanders were asking yesterday when they learned of the passing of Mr Mandela, the former South African president. Mr Mandela, a man who needs no introduction, died quietly in the presence of family members in his Johannesburg home in South Africa.…
In yesterday’s editorial piece (‘Is Number 9 Melanesia’s Worst Hospital?’, Solstar 2/12), the author made some very good and challenging points about NRH and provincial health services, highlighting areas of concern of which the Government is no doubt aware and seeking to address. Arguments of this nature rightly challenge responsible authorities to improve performance and…
THE Solomon Islands Rural Development Program (RDP) is the largest project that the World Bank supports in Solomon Islands. With new funding support from the Australian Government announced Tuesday, the project investment will exceed US$37 million. The Program is implemented by the national government through the Ministry of Development Planning and Aid Coordination (MDPAC) and…
I am encouraged to read that the new Special Coordinator to the Regional Assistance Mission (RAMSI) has said she will continue to work with the RSIPF in support of the SIG-RAMSI five year development plan announced comparatively recently. I acknowledge the excellent work undertaken by RAMSI since 2003 in re-training and developing the capacity of…
The young, skinny Navy officer walked along the dock at a South Pacific base and met his new crewmen for the first time, as they stood on the sun-drenched deck of a nondescript, navy green torpedo boat. Some of the men on board were crusty old sailors and war veterans, others just young and cocky…