HONIARA City Council (HCC) heads of divisions (HOD) yesterday supports FSII’s call for more education and awareness programs in Honiara communities and schools targeting attitude problems.
FSII management yesterday made a presentation about two initiatives it plans to implement in the Honiara City within the next three months once given the green light from responsible authorities, particularly the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development and Honiara City Council.
Speaking during the presentation, Redley Raramo FSII President said these initiatives are aimed to consolidate the good work of HCC, the World Bank, MID and other stakeholders such as the Solo Environment group and church groups.
“The aim is to support HCC’s effort to clean up Honiara city, by providing well designed bins along the main streets of Honiara and to provide a decent bus stop for bus commuters not only for shelter, but one that provides enough space and comfort for users such as the elderly and disabled,” said Raramo.
Raramo added: “The properly designed bus stops can also provide an alternative platform to educate Honiara commuters by hosting an information and educational hub at the bus stop with written messages and notices, aimed at educating citizens to change their attitude and build a sense of ownership which seemed to be missing”.
The HCC Heads of Divisions expressed their satisfaction and praised FSII for what they have been doing to the Honiara Communities in the past and for coming up with this great initiative.
One of the Divisional Heads explained that HCC has been doing awareness programs in the communities and in schools and will continue to carry out education and awareness, despite difficulties being faced. And so with the initiative presented by FSII, it will help their efforts.
“The results as we can see are not encouraging but that doesn’t mean we should stop. We must continue with education and awareness hence I thank FSII for coming up with this initiative”, he said.
Meanwhile the HCC Clerk, Mr. Charles Kelly stated that many Honiara residents do not accept the tough actions taken by HCC to clean and remove illegal buildings and vendors’ alike but said we must fulfill the City Act and HCC ordinances.
“We know people are not happy with our actions but people must understand that as the custodian of the HCC Act and HCC ordinances, we must act”, Kelly said.
“The Honiara City belongs to every city resident but Honiara City has its own law and rules that everyone is expected to adhere to”, Kelly emphasized.
He said school community remains the core target group because of the fact that once children grasp the good messages, they can grow up with them hence gradually changes their attitudes.
FSII has come up with an initiative in collaboration with a business to build bus stops in Honiara and provide rubbish bins.
“But it all depends on the outcome of our consultations with relevant authorities and stakeholders”, Raramo said.
FSII calls on Honiara residents to respect community properties and look after them because the properties are there to help us when we need them.
“We must respect public properties. These properties are there to provide convenient access for whatever we need,” Raramo reiterated.
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