View from the Bench is appalling

Below is the full text of the speech High Court judge Justice STEPHEN PALLARAS delivered at the Family Violence and Youth Justice Workshop that ended recently in Honiara. In his presentation, Justice Pallaras criticised the regular travels and absences of Director of Public Prosecution Ronald Bei Talasasa, which led to a heated media exchanges between…

Bear With One Another

The seventh of the ‘one another’ sayings of the New Testament for our thought for this week is “Bear with one another” (Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:13; James 5:7-11).  Someone has perceptively pointed out that “the church is not an art gallery for exhibition of eminent saints, but a hospital for helping sick sinners.” Most, if…

Is it reasonable?

TWO weeks from now the Ninth Parliament will be no more. A series of things will have happened. On 8th September, Parliament will have been dissolved, ordinary MPs will have come back down to earth and be like one of us, leading a normal life. The Executive Government that is, Cabinet though, would continue but…

Appointments to key Gov’t positions

IT’S natural to think of elections when we think of political corruption. People or business organization with their own agendas can twist voting and influence results. They may secretly give candidates big financial donations which in turn enables candidates to buy votes instead of winning them. But political corruption isn’t just about election rigging. When…

Types of leadership

THERE are at least four kinds of leadership. They are leadership by instruction, leadership by initiative, leadership by sacrifice and leadership by compromise. 1.      Leadership by instruction Is about depending on others to tell you what to do; little of what is called brainstorming by oneself. Putting it quite crudely, leadership that is commonly understood…

Pragmatism and politics at work in Solomons

It appears that the Hon Sogavare has become more forgiving and forgetting, based on Radio New Zealand International reports about the appointment of another Australian as Commissioner of the Royal Solomon Islands Police after the debacle of the expulsion of the last Australian Police Commissioner, Shane Castle.    This might be considered to be pragmatic, given…

Safe level for foreign reserves

Uncertainties arising from the Ukraine and Middle East conflicts with their likely upward impact on commodity prices are causing worries to policy makers. Ukraine is one of the world’s largest wheat exporting countries; and the Middle East is the area on which the world depends for oil supply. What is the safe level for foreign…