SUIDANI HITS OUT AT GOVT
By IAN M. KAUKUI
MALAITA Premier Daniel Suidani says the Sogavare Government acted unjustly to deny the Chinese component of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to five constituencies in the province.
Government made the decision, stating the five MPs supported the Auki Communique, which amongst other things, spelled out Malaita Province will not accept any funding assistance from China.
The five MPs are Mathew Wale of Aoke-Langalanga, Peter Kenilorea Jnr of East Are’Are, Rick Hou of Small Malaita, John Maneniaru of West Are’Are and Sam Iduri of West Kwara’ae.
But Suidani said the five MPs have no input in the Auki Communique.
“Let me clarify the issue.
“Firstly the public would recollect that I made a call for all 14 Members of Parliament for a dialogue with my provincial government in Auki.
“On the designated date for the dialogue only 5 MPs have responded and attend to my call.
“It so happened that the 5 MPs were from the Opposition and those that have recently been sacked by the Sogavare led government.
“The others mainly from the government side have not responded to the call and the timetable I have requested.
“We were instead informed that the Malaita government MPs will come at their own allocated time.
“The expectation of the provincial government was to have the dialogue as members of parliament from Malaita province with us.
“A bipartisan dialogue between Malaita MPs and MPAs on the China, Taiwan issue, especially in light of the current stand that my MARA government has taken in regards to this issue.
“We met with the 5 MPs that have responded to the call I made.
“Such information were shared through frank and fair discussions we have had in the provincial assembly chamber.
“The 5 MPs then left Malaita and went back to Honiara.
“I must make it clear that the discussions and information sharing in the Chamber have not included any discussions on a communique.
“The Auki Communique was made after the five MPs left.
“The communique was a product of discussions by my provincial government after gathering information in the dialogue with the 5 MPs and through support from other Malaitans.
“There was no expectation for the five MPs or all 14 Malaita MPs to be part of the communique because the aim of the dialogue was for the provincial government to gather information on the switch and thereafter able to assess its stand.
“Going back to what I have said earlier, the Communique was put together after the five MPs left to Honiara.
“In addition the communique was made without the knowledge and direct input from the five MPs.
“If one looks at the Communique one would noticed that under the Introduction title, the three introductory paragraphs simply outlined the chronology of how the communique was put together.
“In the 3rd paragraph, it clearly stated that the Malaita Provincial Government after gathering information from these engagements expressed itself in the following terms outlined in this Communique.
“The term ‘these engagements’ is used in recognition of the different sources of information and personalities that MPG has gather information from before putting together the communique.
“I must therefore categorically denounce how the media have twisted the story and the perception that the five MPs were directly involved in the Auki Communique and therefore punished for their involvement. Simply put they are not.
“I therefore called on the DCGA government to be very careful of its responsibility to the country and to properly assess all information gather before making any critical decisions.
“The 5 MPs were never involved in the communique and thus must not be indiscriminately punished for what they have not done.
“This country will never develop and prosper if we continue to punish our own for something they have not done.
“I must remind the government caucus that you have a greater responsibility to ensure the decisions you made are appropriate and sound.
“The government has a higher obligation to use the state institutions in a manner that is fair and responsible.
“Not as weapon to punish little and trivial things that should be solved through appropriate dialogue.”
Under the China component, each constituency has been paid $1 million.
The funds have been transferred into constituency accounts recently.
