I am writing this article from the provincial capital of the Western Province, Gizo. The last time I visited Gizo was in December year 2000. There were some obvious developments in Gizo over the last 14 years. These include new shops and buildings, new hospital, and more vehicles. Just to name a few. However, the…
LAST week, we discussed about fear of devaluation of Fiji dollar. This week our focus is on the fear of appreciation of Papua New Guinea (PNG)’s currency, the kina. Under a fixed exchange rate regime, the Fiji dollar can be up-valued or devalued only by central bank. PNG has a floating exchange rate regime under…
Corruption can be eradicated and reduced in the country if all citizens seriously take up the responsibility to phase it out. Corruption is like a viral disease in reality and people just cannot accept that it exist, a challenging notion to fight. Inclusive responsibility is pertinent to fight against issues from the public sector to…
Thank you for choosing to read this week’s column. My name is Dr Brinsley Lane and I am a doctor of chiropractic. Were you aware that the body has about seven hundred billion (700 000 000 000) cells? Each of those cells communicates with all the others through the connections of the central nervous system.…
ALL of us – the phone users – have one complaint or another against Our Telekom, the telecommunication carrier that largely controls the multi-million dollar a year market in Solomon Islands. Its monopoly is undisputed. Its services are substandard. Its costs are phenomenally high. In some cases one can be forgiven for suggesting that the…
Pacific tourism is in the news again. The South Pacific Tourism Organization (SPTO) released this week its latest estimate of tourist arrivals. The number of tourists who flocked to Pacific island countries (PICs) last year is 1.7 million. The figure for the previous year is 1.5 million. Certainly, tourism to the Pacific is on the…
Last week’s visit to Fiji by Australia’s foreign minister, Ms. Bishop has raised hopes of return to normalcy in bilateral relations between the two countries. The visit has been fruitful in many ways: Fiji has been added to the list of Pacific island countries (PICs), which are eligible for Australia’s Pacific Seasonal Workers Program. This…
On Friday 16 May I had the privilege of attending the final program of a training workshop, facilitated by the Ministry of National Unity, Reconciliation and Peace. The workshop’s aim was to create a culture of just peace in East, Central and West Honiara Constituencies. The workshop had brought together a large group of youths…
The most important of all our perceptions is the way we perceive ourselves. There is a story in American Indian folklore that illustrates this truth very clearly. According to the legend, an Indian brave came upon an eagle’s egg which had somehow fallen unbroken from an eagle’s nest. Unable to find the nest, the brave…
For the past four decades, Pacific island countries (PICs) are well known for their aid dependency syndrome, a continuing malaise ever since their independence in the 1970s. Generous aid money received from donors, who were the former colonial rulers, was initially for annual budgetary support. Aid, known as official development assistance in terms of pure…