DEAR EDITOR – “Silence is golden” so the saying goes. How true that is, is farfetched to prove.
But this is a good virtue to embrace. Unfortunately it will be naive to ascribe to such a virtue if you are a leader of some sort in the society or community in which you live or of which you are responsible as well as answerable, if you are ignorant of your role as a leader.
Not in the too distant future the country by constitutional provision and mandate, will be queuing up to the ballot box to cast or tick in their say as to who shall be their leader for the next four years, to enjoy the coolness of the chambers up the hill, snoring away without saying a word, except the ‘’ayes have it’’.
That is possible by you the voters in not voting in the right person suitable for that public office, thus propagating that culture of silence to continue unabated.
The silence we have been having for the last four years should be sufficient an evidence to determine the casting of your/our vote.
This country needs people, men and women who are hungry to talk and talk sense, rather than tug and number-making as it were, for the sake of enabling someone to hold onto power until his term ends, despite being a silence goose.
The culture of silence is pertinent in the both private and public sector and equally obvious also in various other organisations; the churches no expectation.
There are some legal opinions which, if you are faced with a challenge or challenges; it is advisable to lie low and keep your silence; hoping that the issue in contention would naturally die away.
That is possible in some cases but in many instances, you are just fuelling suspicions and your integrity is put in the spotlight for possible public scrutiny.
The general election for instance is an excellent political x-raying box of someone’s personal integrity.
The recent debated and passed legislation on integrity issues of MPs by parliament is one of the mechanisms need applying in drilling the integrity of any candidate who wishes to seek entry into parliament from henceforth.
It is hoped that the voting public is made to understand the rationale underlying such legislation; otherwise it is of little use in passing so many bills and making them into laws, but have not been taught to bite.
Lately, the CBSI governor echoed a vital point about the financial wastage this country has been enjoying since the introduction of the CDF funding and other funding programmes as well (my own emphasis) without much or no tangible developments in the rural segments of the country, by way of profits(if any) of such investments so to speak.
Why that is so because it has been a hand- to-mouth investment, fuelled by political motives.
A sitting Member of Parliament, (MP) now is banking on that lucrative political ploy for his re-entry no doubt and possible retaining of the same chair for his socio-economic survival and that of his cronies and supporters and virtually no one among the current mob is excused.
In certain circumstances no one makes a noise but only remains silent.
In my opinion, the CBSI governor should go on and suggest remedies and one of which is revive DBSI or create a similar institution and channel the CDF Funding into that institution which can be loan to very serious business- minded people so that they can become partners in the economy and there you can feel and see economic growth.
But sorry to say, it is the politicians who killed the then DBSI then, because some of them owed the bank a lot of money and would rather see the bank stuffed to death by withholding funding and so it was the case.
The coconut and cocoa plantations were owned by some Solomon Islanders now, have been the products of DBSI in the past.
That financial scheme should be revisited again by MPs making the right noise in the parliament and not to be silent about the potentials and not to snore away, only to be woken by “the ayes have it” indeed silence is golden and to maintain the status quo, is to maintain the culture of silence only, to the detriment of this country.
John Tinonbona
Tulagi Gela