THE second teachers’ strike has entered its third week. We still don’t know how soon this will end. The Government has warned teachers to resume duty or face disciplinary action. Teachers in Honiara met over this threat yesterday. They refused to back down and instead blamed Government’s ignorance for the situation. Except for a few…
SO our teachers have resumed their nation-wide strike action. And the Government has chosen to remain silent in the face of this national crisis. This is unbelievable. The least this nation expects of its leaders is to step out and tell them whether their children will return to their classes Monday next week or not.…
TODAY is International Women’s Day, and a perfect time to reflect on why it is so important to promote gender equality in the Pacific. In the last decade: womens voices are increasingly being heard and more women are entering the formal workforce. And in the Pacific, political leadership has endorsed the Pacific Leaders Gender Equality…
Christians in the early church, those whose doctrine included the life and example of Jesus, that of his birth, his manhood, his passion, his crucifixion, death and burial and his resurrection and ascension, Lent is an important part of their faith and practice. This season of Lent provides a time in which believers of the…
Australian Aid at all destinations should be reviewed, perhaps through a Royal Commission. For example I saw former PM Howard announce AUS$800 million aid for Solomon Islands but a later SMH report stated $600 million never left Australia. Google “phantom aid” and “boomerang aid”. Solomon Islands people virtually have no money. An experienced SI economist…
I THINK that the prime minister’s intention to sue the Solomon Star and the Forum Solomon Islands International (FSII) for the publication of allegations of sex scandal will be personally and politically detrimental to him. It will harm, more than help, his reputation. I am therefore surprised that his lawyer and close associates have advised…
EVERYONE must know that compensation is not an opportunity to extort money or goods from someone or another party. Customarily, compensation is a bridge, a form of punishment which attracts reconciliation that is normally made to mend any problem between two people or parties. A person or party that committed wrong always pays a very…
The aid sector gasped this week at the news that the Australian government would divert $375 million of foreign aid away from helping the world’s poorest people towards meeting the costs of supporting asylum seekers in Australia. This decision, perversely, makes Australia the third largest recipient of Australian aid. No right minded individual would deny…
It can choose to be transparent and reveal all or wait for the legal challenge or a Commission of Enquiry, or both, to unravel its callous handling of the Members’ Fund. Last Wednesday 21 November, in the Solomon Star, Malaita Ma’asina Forum (MMF) warned NPF that if it did not come clean on certain actions…
FOR the first time in the history of this country the government was able to organise a church fellowship program for its public officers. The country had seen the public officers engaging in social activities such as the inter-ministry league where public officers came together to compete in sporting activities. This is to address some…