A group of East Kwaio voters in Malaita Province have expressed concerns about their Member of Parliament (MP’s) health, which they say has been deteriorating since the April 17 joint elections.
The current MP is Stanley Festus Sofu.
“The MP continues to receive tax-payer funded salary and other perks while voters have been left in the cold,” they said.
“What we want to know is whether the government is going to do something about the situation or allow the East Kwaio Constituency people to suffer while their MP continues to enjoy a welfare system he is on.
“Our situation is being exacerbated by lack of medication, non-functional telecommunication and most of all the absence of a voice in Parliament,” the men told Solomon Star.
They said in Ward 18 which shares a common electoral boundary with East AreA’re Constituency for example, Our Telekom network has been out of service since two years ago. They are still without telephone network, This is impacting very hard on school children who are required to do on-line studies,” they said.
In Ward 17, north of Atoifi Hospital, the network comes out irregularly. By nightfall you’ll be lucky to get a connection. At Sinarangu in the middle, there has been no telecommunication. Teachers in particular, have to travel to Atoifi hospital by outboard motors to relay urgent messages to relatives in Honiara or elsewhere.
“It is that bad,” they said.
“We are appealing to the GNUT government to deal with the problem as soon as possible. If our MP is no longer fit to serve the people of East Kwaio, then the government must have the courage to deal with the problem, unless it now wants to introduce a welfare system for everyone,” they said.
The Office of the Speaker is said to have received medical advice in recent weeks to deal with MPs who no longer have either been partially or fully incapacitated due to illness.
There’s been no official response from the office of the Hon Speaker on the matter.
By Alfred Sasako
