Tuesday, 19 May 2015 7:02 AM Reshuffled Ministers Sworn In The two cabinet ministers who swapped portfolios in a minor reshuffle exercise by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare last week were sworn-in at Government House yesterday.
Governor General Sir Frank Kabui administered the oaths at a brief ceremony attended by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, senior Cabinet Ministers and officials.
Former Minister of National Unity, Reconciliation and Peace (MNURP) David Day Pacha is now the new Minister for Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification (MERE) while the former Hon. Samson Maneka is now the new Minister for National Unity, Reconciliation and Peace.
Hon Pacha returned to the Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification portfolio which he held in 2009.
Prime Minister Sogavare said the changes were necessary to ensure Ministers utilise their expertise in appropriate portfolios.
JAPAN is deepening its engagement with Solomon Islands with the visit this week in Honiara of Tatsuya Haga, secretary general of the Japan Pacific Islands Association.
Mr Haga, who arrived last Saturday, was here to further explore areas the Japanese government could further engage with Solomon Islands.
“My trip is sort of like a research trip to see how Japan could further engage with Solomon Islands,” Mr Haga told the Solomon Star yesterday.
While here, he’s meeting leaders of various government agencies, ministry officials, as well as Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.
He will also travel to Gizo, Western Province, to see the modern hospital the Japanese Government built at Gizo.
“This is my first trip to Solomon Islands and through my meetings, I hope to have a better understanding of the economic and development situation here,” Mr Haga said.
He confirmed his visit was part of the Japanese Government’s efforts to deeply engage with Pacific island countries.
Mr Haga, who is also secretary of the Honorary Consulate of Solomon Islands in Tokyo, said Japan Pacific Islands Association is chaired by Takahiro Kitano.
Mr Kitano, a prominent Japanese businessman, is Solomon Islands’ honorary consul in Japan. He is also owner of Kitano Mendana Hotel in Honiara.
Japan Pacific Islands Association is a friendship and research organisation established by business circles and Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1974 as a private sector body to strengthen relations and understanding between Pacific island countries and Japan.
Over the years, it has played the role of a think-tank supporting Japanese government’s policy-making about Pacific Island countries and rousing public interest in the Pacific region for Japanese people.
Funding for the organisation comes from private agencies, individuals and corporations.
Its activities include investigation and research, organising conference and symposium, friendship and goodwill exchange, consultative works for study and business, and providing useful information.
Mr Haga said former Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori is the honorary chairman of Japan Pacific Islands
He said upon his return, he is expected to compile a report about his visit.
Mr Haga’s trip comes at the back of the recent seventh Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM7) that concluded at the Japanese city of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture.
Deputy prime minister Douglas Ete attended the summit.
Amongst PALM7’s conclusion was the emphasis of the importance of people-to-people exchanges between Japan and Pacific island countries, in particular, the reciprocal visits of the youth who will bear the future of the Pacific region.
The leaders reaffirmed their intentions to continue to consider introducing the relaxation of visa requirements on a reciprocal and bilateral basis based on the commitment of PALM6.
Recalling that more than 1,000 youths from the Pacific region visited Japan under frameworks such as “JENESYS2.0”, the leaders expressed their appreciation to Japan for these initiatives, and underlined the importance of continuing frameworks such as “JENESYS2015”.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took note of a proposal by the leaders of the island countries for a student exchange programme between Japanese universities and the University of the South Pacific.
The leaders also appreciated the vital roles played by the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) and Senior Volunteers as bridges between Japan and Pacific island countries.
The leaders reaffirmed the importance of fostering a wide-ranging mutual understanding at grass-roots level through such interactions.
At PALM7 Japan pledged US$452 million in aid to the island nations over the next three years in order to boost relations and help them cope with disasters.
Mr Abe also announced his government will upgrade its diplomatic office in Honiara to embassy level.
Published: 05 June 2015
UNDER the Mining Act, an operator is only allowed to hold three tenements at a time.
Anything other than that is illegal.
So why did PT Mega Bintang Borneo of Indonesia reportedly owned 11 tenements under different names but with the same directors and yet continued to be allowed to operate in the country?
Surely, something is not right here. Or someone is not doing his job.
What is the Government, or in his case the Ministry of Mines and its Mineral Board, doing about this?
Are they still going to give another permit to Bintang to extract more bauxites from Rennell island?
What is so special about Bintang?
We already knew their prospecting licence had been cancelled late last year.
This means they should pack up their bag and leave Rennell at once. They did not.
Instead, they continued to illegally extract bauxites on Rennell and stockpile them at their base.
We also knew the former minister for mines Samson Maneka rejected an appeal Bintang made for the reinstatement of their prospecting licence.
In their greed and quest to export their s illegally harvested bauxites, Bintang forged an export permit in an attempt to deceive Customs.
They were caught in the process and their shameful act was publicly exposed in the media.
Then the DCC Government took matters in its own hands.
It shifted Mr Maneka away from the Ministry of Mines and placed him in the Ministry of National Unity, Reconciliation, and Peace.
David Day Pacha was made to replace Mr Maneka.
Then it sacked the ministry’s permanent secretary and director of mines.
A few days later, Cabinet ordered Customs to grant Bintang a licence to export its illegally extracted stockpile of bauxites from Rennell.
Documents the Solomon Star obtained claimed certain cabinet ministers are sitting comfortably in the pockets of this little-known Indonesian mining firm.
And they are the ones pushing for an export licence to be granted to Bintang.
For cabinet ministers to associate and support a foreign company that all along was undermining our mining laws was beyond any decent mind.
Solomon Islanders expect their political leaders to stand up and protect the resources of this nation from unscrupulous investors.
It leaves much to be desired when our very leaders are seen to be working in union with so-called foreign investors to break our laws.
Where is this country heading? How long are we going to continue opening our doors and entertaining so-called investors who showed not respect to our laws?
The Sogavare government owes Solomon Islanders an explanation why it continues to entertain Bintang when it’s already public knowledge that this is a company hell-bent on breaking our laws.
The government promised to bring change and tackle corruption head-on.
Where’s that change? And where’s the action to back its words?
The bauxite mining saga gave a different and negative picture of this government.
Solomon Islanders expect foreigners breaking our laws to be shown the exit door and told in no uncertain terms to pack up and leave.
BUT big obstacle to be overcome by SMMS even if wins appeal is that
The landholders have legal veto power over mining projects
Draw your own conclusions and always invest wisely and seek professional advice
AVQ Price at posting:
43.5¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
