A Village Chief has applauded the woman member of Parliament (MP) for Gizo/Kolombangara Constituency for her continuous recognition and support towards human resource development plan for all zones within the her constituency.
Chief Joseph expressed this despite the criticisms against the lady MP on social media and the print media.
In a statement yesterday he sincerely commended Lanelle Tanangada MP for Gizo Kolombangara Constituency for making a bold decision by considering equality to access education for constituents of all zones within the 3 wards in Gizo and Kolombangara Islands.
Mr Joseph defended Ms Tanangada saying that criticisms against the MP is based on blatant ignorance and lack of understanding by public and members of social media on the management of overseas tertiary scholarship allocation program for the constituency.
“Many critics against the MP are in fact within certain zones that have benefited most for the last five years,” he said.
Chief Joseph stated that it is the right thing for the MP to support their candidate who is her husband based on the strong recommendation of zone 6 and 7 leaders.
He further stated that zone 6 and zone 7 include members of Kolombangara Tribe Sustainable Development Association (KTSDA) who continues to pursue their 10 years development plan which began in 2014.
“Supporting the advance study programs of our human resources are part of the objectives of our association.
“There is no secret in the choice of Jimson Tanangada under the recommendation of zone 6 and 7. He is the only person who applied under those two zones and why should his application be rejected?
“Our son who is our MP’s husband is our resource person and he will continue to do so to ensure that our people are well informed about the socio-economic issues affecting our local communities and the nation as a whole.
“We recommended him for further studies and I am here to inform the social media commentators about that decision.
“We are proud that our previous effort to invest in him does not only benefit us but our sister tribes within Kolombangara and Gizo Islands in Gizo Kolombangara Constituency,” he said.
Chief Joseph said that it is their local institution’s goal to serve the whole country and they are happy to see their son serving the nation.
“We have privately invested into his previous tertiary studies and our communities are backing him through our recommendation that the government supports his further studies,” he said.
In addition, the chief said they can sponsor him back to school with all the available resources they have.
“We had done that for him to get his first degree but why should we be ignored our right to be treated the same as all other zones? We have contributed much of our resources into the government coffer since colonial times to this very day.
“Where is that equal access to education for our zones? Where is the transparency on the part of considering our recommendation for advance studies from the past and current ruling government within the constituency?
“Out of our only two university graduates in the past, there is no single government scholarship offered for our scholars.
“Some government sponsored students failed and returned home but our self-sponsored students graduated and returned home only to be seen serving the government and people of this country from the heart. Is that not injustice on our part for keep depriving our scholars?
“Under the current MP leadership, our very own people served the whole constituency first in terms of recommendation for tertiary studies. In fact members of zone 6 and zone 7 supported all the other zones previous recommendations from 2015-2019.
“Allocation of Constituency Tertiary scholarship awards are based on constituency study priority areas and it is not necessarily based on education and human resources development priority from the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development. It is rural-based scholarship initiatives and selection processes involving the rural communities where 80% of the people of Solomon Islands live,” he said.
He said in their case, zone 6 and zone 7’s turn comes after 5 years under the current constituency program.
“Our recommendation is our only son who is the husband of our MP. Our record proves that our son who is the husband of the MP is not first served. He is the last .
“He is the only one within our zones who has the offer for tertiary studies overseas. We could have sent someone if we have any besides him.
“Now we do not have one and he is our only recommended candidate on behalf of the two zones. All other zones have recommended their scholars to the MP for the past 5 years, our turn has come for 2020,” he said.
Chief Brow Joseph presented the updated record of numbers of scholarship recipients per zone in Kolombangara Island from 2015-2020. Zones within Gizo Ward have their separate record.
The table below clearly presented that all zones within Kolombangara Island except zones 6 and 7 have had at least one student being recommended and sponsored under the constituency scholarship from 2015- 2019.
Chief Joseph said that ‘leaders within zones 6 and 7 strongly support that their son has the right to be given the opportunity for further studies not as a husband of Hon MP but as the son of their communities within zone 6 and zone 7’.
He further stated that ‘our two zones that have been left out for tertiary study scholarship recommendation for the last 5 years and now deserves the same treatment as other zones. We have made our recommendation to our MP and it stands. He is Jimson Tanangada. No more no less. It is now all up to him to decide which tertiary institution he would like to attend.
“It cannot be termed as nepotism but it is the absolute right thing and respect given by the Hon MP to our communities in zones 6 and 7 within Kolombangara Island in accordance to our recommendation for achievement of our 10 years development plan,” he said.
On the matter of 2014 National General Election petition, Chief Joseph said that people of Gizo Kolombangara had proven the outcome of the Court through the 2018 by-election.
“Let the result speaks for itself,” he said.
Chief Joseph acknowledged that there is currently a petition case taken again by Gordon Darcy Lilo.
“All must respect the Court processes and wait patiently for the outcome,” he said.
At the end of the day Chief Joseph expressed; “that all must be matured and respect our elected leaders. Accept the fact that once our time to lead is up we give way and support the next because even in history, Moses never led the children of Israel to the Promise Land,” he said.