|
HONIARA REJECTS its very own; MEDIA EYES on Maravagi; SAMOA’S VIEWS on Fiji...
Latest from Honiara: The Solomons Islands Government has rejected two prominent Solomon Islanders as members of the Pacific Islands Forum taskforce to review RAMSI. They are Dr Jimmie Rodgers, director-general of the Secretariat of Pacific Community, and Joy Kera, permanent secretary of the ministry of reconciliation and peace. The four-member taskforce appointed by the Forum are Rodgers, Kera, former New Zealand diplomat Neil Walters and Fiji’s former foreign minister, Kaliopate Tavola. It is understood the Forum Secretariat will now write to the Sogavare Government to ask why the two highly qualified locals were being rejected. One wonders why? Meanwhile, only two taskforce members—Tavola and Walters—were in Honiara late last month for a preliminary review of the Regional Assistance Mission in Solomon Islands (RAMSI).
Comms man singled out: Could the current director of the Solomon Islands’ Government’s communication unit be facing the music soon? Word from Honiara, the capital of the Hapi Isles, is that the comms man could be finding himself transferred back to the agriculture ministry. WHISPERS has been told his boss, the PM himself, might not be happy with him running some RAMSI features, hence his transfer. The comms man is not a happy man. WHISPERS understands he has written to the PM asking for an explanation on why he has been moved. Coconut Wireless believes the comms man might be replaced with a relative of the PM who had helped controversial Fiji-born Aussie lawyer Julian Moti to get out of Papua New Guinea.
Samoan views: Never let it be said the Samoans don’t have a viewpoint. Especially when it comes to regional neighbours and rivals Fiji. Here’s part of a recent editorial from the Samoa Observer newspaper: “Must our political leaders continue to remain passive while Fiji’s inept leadership is allowing terrorism to become a serious threat in the peaceful South Pacific? Fiji must be told point-blank it should contain its problems within its borders. They cannot be spilled over into its peaceful, politically stable neighbours.” So there it is.
Changes cooking? More news via the Coconut Wireless from the peaceful Cook Islands. Deputy Prime Minister Sir Terepai Maoate is apparently the subject of growing concern as he pushes hard to get his own way on a variety of things. Some are even asking who’s the real PM? In the latest development, former PM Maoate pressured current PM Jim Marurai to give up the broadcasting portfolio. Then Maoate, as new broadcasting minister, pushed his controversial Media Bill through cabinet and into parliament. Maoate is said to have hoped to drive it through a select committee and back into the House to become law. But he ran into problems. Foreign Minister Wilkie Rasmussen won control of the select committee. Chairman Rasmussen made it clear he and others in the House are not fans of Maoate’s bill. His select committee will, he said, hold full public consultations on it. If there’s public opposition, the bill will go nowhere, Rasmussen said. Talkback on Radio Cook Islands suggested there’s plenty of that opposition. Rasmussen has shown he’s not afraid to stand up to the veteran Maoate, something popular ex-college-principal Marurai appears reluctant to do. Some in Rarotonga even speculate Rasmussen could be a PM in the making.
Media eyes on Maravagi: A Solomon Islands resort will be the centre of regional media attention late this month. Maravagi Resort in the Florida Islands is where the biennial general meeting of the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) will be held. PINA, once internationally known for its busy activities, has gone through difficult times since early 2003. That’s when, after two AusAID-funded meetings, the Pacific Islands Broadcasting Association (PIBA) was merged into PINA. It was a difficult marriage. When in 2005 Canadian broadcaster Ken Clark, of Fiji TV, became the first expatriate elected PINA president, there were hopes his management experience could get the “new” PINA on track. Clark found this even tougher than he expected. As this edition went to press, the PINA Secretariat in Suva still did not have a long-awaited manager. Hosts Media Association of Solomon Islands (MASI) meanwhile had taken on most of the convention preparatory work PINA’s Secretariat in Suva used to do. Clark won’t be at Maravagi Resort for the biennial general meeting. He has other commitments. The regional media attention will be on who next is willing to step forward and try to lead PINA back to its glory days.
Samoa calls: Iosefa Maiava, the former longtime Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat man, is now Foreign Affairs Secretary for Nauru. He’s trying to help that once rich but now struggling island. Fiji, rather than Samoa, has been Maiava’s home for years as he worked away for the Forum. But he obviously doesn’t quite regard Nauru the same way. The Samoa Observer newspaper reports his contract includes a trip home to Samoa every 10 weeks to visit his family, domiciled there.
Still on Maiava... WHISPERS has learnt that the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat has apparently identified the person to take over from where the Samoan had left of. The Samoan was one of the two deputies to secretary-general Greg Urwin before he left for Nauru to take up his new appointment. WHISPERS heard from the coconut wireless that a former senior FFA official could soon be appointed to that job. And that would make two former FFA senior officials at the helm of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.
On govt payroll still: Even now, the controversial Fiji-born Australian lawyer Julian Moti continues to receive a salary, lives in a seaside hotel and drives around in a government vehicle—all at the expense of Solomon Islands taxpayers. Not bad for someone who has hardly signed a contract before he was suspended as attorney-general by the appointing authority, the Solomon Islands Public Service Commission. Moti has been dubbed by some as a “god” of wonders. Never before has an individual either from within the region or outside it has so much influence over the highest political offices in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands until the little known Moti arrived. Today, it seems, it is his music that the Port Moresby and Honiara governments dance to every night. And Australia, is vehemently irritated.
Changing sides: Observers of the Tongan scene are scratching their heads. Weren’t a couple of those now making the most noise defending the royal government previously big critics of it? Could their strident defence of the kingdom’s rule have something to do with the roles they now have in the pay of the kingdom? Surely not.
Manus not so sweet: Good to see that at least one bureaucrat has seen the beneficial side of the recent sugar shortage in Manus in Papua New Guinea. Manus administrator Wep Kanawi reportedly said it was good that some of his people had to cut back on their sugar intake because too much sugar is bad for their health. But the question is: Where are the high-profile health experts who should have been using the shortage to hammer home the same point?
Govt Haus under repair: The Chinese are at it again. They’re funding the renovation of PNG’s Government Haus at Konedobu, Port Moresby—the first major facelift since the 1950s. The K500,000 Chinese government aid covers workers brought all the way from China, materials, transportation, renovation of staff offices and the construction of two new houses for the aid-de-camp or military police in the ceremonial office block. The funding will also enable the ceremonial block at Government Haus to be fitted with air conditioning facilities, repaired and repainted. Work should be completed before the new government is sworn in this August.
Vatukoula’s twisted saga: On Fiji’s Emperor Gold Mine (EGM) affair, WHISPERS heard about how the team from the company came and spent a whole day sitting outside the interim attorney-general’s office and got no information from him on how he would like the Vatukoula Rehabilitation and Social Assistance Deed improved upon to make it acceptable. After its Aussie owner sold the mine for one Aussie dollar in April to a newly formed company Westech Gold Pty Ltd, Fiji’s interim government has held back the signing of the deed, questioned Westech’s capital adequacy as well as call for a renegotiation of the deed to treat outstanding tax/royalties issues among other things. Had the government signed the deed in its original form, it would have seen its endorsement of the sale, a full release of Emperor from any breaches of the Mining Act and the Mining Lease, non imposition of any additional requirements on the transaction and Fiji’s renouncement of sovereign immunity. The interim government is now seeking to renegotiate the terms of the deed with Emperor Mines Ltd (EML), former parent company of EGM. A source on the ground suspects Fiji’s interim government is thinking of pulling the mining lease and issuing it to someone else. WHISPERS wonders who will compensate Emperor for the F$250,000 a week it has been spending on keeping the mine dry even after it had sold it to Westech.
VTSAT ‘upgrade’: Seen in a Telecom Fiji Ltd (TFL) advert in a local daily: “Telecom Fiji upgrades VTSAT services to remote islands”. WHISPERS wonders if this is the same project that TFL paid US$6.5 million for in 2004 in a deal it signed with an obscure Norwegian company called Nera ASA. The Nordic company was contracted for the supply of two-way satellite broadband systems for TFL’s rural communication services. The project however was described as a failure by a handful of customers. WHISPERS was told the Nera ASA cost had to be written off and TFL was then forced to look for another solution provider. Subsequently TFL returned to Gilat, a company it was advised to use in the first place, as it has over 95 percent market share in rural communication satellite service.
Pride of joy: Solomon Airlines is proud of its state-of-the art acquisition–a new generation jet leased from Australia’s Sky Airworld. The jet, which it hopes to begin flying this month, replaces the Boeing 737-300 it leased from a Spanish outfit. Apart from the new jet, the airline also has a new CEO, Captain Ron Sumsum of Vanuatu, who was the airline’s flight operations director. Sumsum takes over from Joseph Anea whose contract was terminated. Top on Sumsum’s ‘what-to-do list’ is to recover what it’s owed by government for all its travels on the national airline, believed to be around S$9 million (approx A$1.6 million).
|
