PREMIER of Malaita province Daniel Suidani has called on the 14 Members of Parliament to come down and talked together on the issue of Malaita province.
Suidani said with the recent diplomatic switch over from Taiwan to China, Malaita itself is in a fragile situation where its people have left in an awkward position whilst their leaders are driving their own interests.
“I want to call on our elected leaders at the Parliament since they are representing the same people as we do to come down and talk to us in such an urgent issue like this,” he said.
He said what the people have seen with the current diplomatic switch to China is division between the leaders themselves as well as the provincial leaders.
“We expect them to come forward as leaders to see and talk with us because these are the same people we are looking after and so when they got grievances and there is something they don’t agree about, it’s us leaders to come down and talk to them,” he said.
Suidani said he managed to talk with some of them but there is no confirmation as if there’s going to be a meet up so they can talk.
“Let me remind the 14 leaders that Malaita is in a fragile position and that its need to be addressed as soon as possible to keep this country at peace,” he said.
“My appeal is for them to come down so we can talk together or arrangement could be made for them to go down to their respective constituencies or wards because this country is made up of villages,” he said.
Meanwhile, a Malaita man Mathew Maneka has called on the Malaita Provincial Government (MPG) to invite government MPs from Malaita to explain why they supported the switch to China.
Maneka told Solomon Star Auki in an interview that there is a need for a serious dialogue between the leaders of both provincial government and Malaita national MPs to discuss the matter in hand to avoid further confusion to the Malaita public.
He said both provincial leaders and national leaders have one thing in common that is to serve the people of Malaita.
He said the only difference between this two group of leaders is national leaders has the power to make decision and provincial leaders are agents of the national government where he said this separation of roles should be respected.
“By looking at the current situation, if our leaders are not careful and feed public with confusing information the situation will go out of hand,” he said.
“So before things go out of hand, I call on the good premier of Malaita to make a request to 14 MPs representing Malaita MPs at the national level to come down to Auki and explain their stand on the China and Taiwan issue,” he added.
“I also call on our leaders to humble themselves and engage in a peaceful and meaningful dialogue to avoid our people from confusion which will lead to confrontation.”
“In times like things, we need our Malaita leaders to come clear and work together for a common good, and to keep peace between our people and bring service delivery to our people.”
He said the national government has already made the decision to switch to China where he said there is nothing the public can do about the decision that has been made by the national leaders who are mandated to make decisions for the country’s good.
Mr. Maneka said he supported the call made by the East Malaita Constituency MP Manasseh Maelanga for leaders of provincial government to work together with 14 MPs representing Malaita at the national level.
By IAN M.KAUKUI & WILSON SAENI