OPPOSITION leader Matthew Wale says the decision by Caucus to deny the Chinese component of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to six constituencies in Malaita is not fair.
Wale told the Solomon Star if the Caucus has to do that based on the Auki communique which was signed and forwarded by the Malaita Provincial government, then it should have applied to all the 14 MPs and not just the six.
He said none of the five MPs have signed the Auki communique including the Malaita Outer Island MP who did not even go to Auki and thus the decision to deny them is not fair.
“None of the 6 MPs signed the Auki communique. It was a communique issued by the province. So decision based on the communique to be consistent needs to apply to all 14 Malaita MPs not just the 6 in Opposition,” he said.
Wale said the decision actually demonstrates the petty politics the leaders have.
He explained the funds withheld are China’s component for 2019 of $1.1m and not the Solomon Islands Government funds.
Earlier, Premier of Malaita Daniel Suidani confirmed that the six MPs have no input in the Auki Communique.
He described the Caucus decision as childish and does not speak well of good leadership.
The five MPs who have met up with the Malaita Provincial Executive before the release of the Auki communique 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.
Malaita Outer Island MP Martin Kealoe did not attend travel to Auki, but was also excluded.
By IAN M.KAUKUI
