FRIDAY 21ST MAY 2010

Parliament Staff

A few weeks following the dissolution of Parliament, staff of the Parliament took the initiative to evaluate and refocus on its corporate goals and objectives established under the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Parliamentary Strengthening Project and to prepare for the 9th Parliament . To achieve this aims, parliament staff with the assistance of UNDP, facilitated a retreat program in Tavanipupi Island resort in Marau Sound, Guadalcanal.

The retreat allowed the National Parliament to review its progress as well discusses key functions in light of the annual tripartite reviews conducted by Machinery of Governance, Parliament and UNDP. The retreat was timely because each department had been busy executing their activities, in accordance with the work plan and corporate goals, but this retreat also gave them the opportunity to discuss with other departments.

Furthermore, parliament in 2009 and 2010 recruited new staff members in almost all departments replacing many of the original project recruits who have left to work in other organisations or went for further studies. Many of the new recruits have not been inducted into the projects overall goals and work plans. It was therefore important for all departments to convene to introduce the corporate goals to new staff members as well as refocus into the overall goals and work plans as an institution. The Tavanipupu retreat covered a period of two days of formal presentations, reporting, education and discussions. The Clerk of the National Parliament Ms Taeasi Sanga made the following remarks in her welcome speech:

“Our coming to Tavanipupu is to reflect and ponder on what have been achieved and not achieved from the corporate plan incorporated during the first induction program conducted in 2007 at Maravagi Resort in the Central Islands Province”

Each department leader presents a report of their departmental achievements; goals that have yet to be achieved; the various challenges faced and a brief outline of future plans aligned with Parliaments overall goals. The presenter’s also availed time for participants to ask questions, make recommendations, contributions and to discuss ways to overcome the challenges faced in departments and the entire parliament as an organisation.

Participants also established a working committee mandated to oversee and coordinate the induction program for members of the new parliament (9th parliament).

FRIDAY 16TH APRIL 2010

Hon. Edward Justus Huniehu

Just twelve days before the current (8th) Parliament dissolves, Parliament lost one of its long serving Member, the Member of Parliament for East Are’Are, Hon. Edward Justus Huniehu. The late Member passed away on Monday 15 April 2010 at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara after a long period of illness.

On Tuesday 16 April, Parliament started its sitting with a tribute to the late Hon. Huniehu. The Speaker officially informed the House of the passing of one of its own and expressed his condolence to the late Member’s family and constituents on behalf of Parliament. The House then observed a minute of silence in memory of the late Member before the Speaker opened the floor for obituary speeches. While this type of speech is permitted under Parliament’s Standing Orders, this was the first time it was used.

Almost all Members present at the sitting made obituary speeches, including the Prime Minister, Hon. Dr. Derek Sikua and the Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Manasseh Sogavare. Members spoke highly of the late Hon. Huniehu. The Prime Minister described him as loyal member and strong supporter of his government, the CNURA Government since it came into power in December 2008. Hon. Dr Derek Sikua also recalled that the late Hon. Huniehu was instrumental in a number of national projects including those related to hydropower.

Other Members also paid tribute to the late Hon. Huniehu’s notable contributions to hydropower in his constituency and the country and described him as the “Champion of Rural Electrification”.

The late Hon. Huniehu hailed from Manawai village, Are’Are and was born on the 1st January 1956. He was educated at the Su’u National Secondary School in Malaita and later ventured into private business, operating a wholesale and retail shop in Honiara. As a prominent businessman, he was a staunch advocate of the private sector.

From the private sector, the late Hon. Huniehu took up politics. He was first elected into the National Parliament in 1992 as the Member for East Are’Are in a by-election, following the resignation of Sir Peter Kenilorea (the current Speaker) who left politics to take up the position of Director of the Forum Fisheries Agency in Honiara. Since then, the late Hon. Huniehu held that seat for five terms, the last being the current which is just about to end.

As a politician, the late Hon. Huniehu held various ministerial portfolios during his 18 years in politics. In 1993, he was appointed as the Minister of Transport, Works and Utilities in the Billy Hilly Government. After that government lost power in 1994, the late Member remained in the Opposition and was subsequently appointed as its Leader in 1997 during the reign of the Mamaloni administration. After the outbreak of the ethnic tension when the Kemakeza Government took office in December 2001, the late Hon. Huniehu was appointed the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock. He held that portfolio until December 2002.

Following the general elections of 2006, the late Hon. Huniehu was part of the first government under the leadership of Hon. Snyder Rini as the Minister of Education and Human Resource Development. When the GCC Government took power following Hon. Rini’s resignation, the late Member joined the Opposition until the GCC regime fell and was replaced by the CNURA Government in December 2007. During this period, the late Hon. Huniehu was the Chairman of the Bills and Legislation Standing Committee of Parliament. In his time, the committee played an instrumental role in scrutinising bills that came before the House. The late Member was part of the group which came into power as CNURA Government in December 2007. He was initially appointed as the Minister of Energy and Rural Electrification in that government but had to resign from the position in 2009 on medical grounds. He, however, remained a strong backbencher of the CNURA Government until his passing.

During the obituary speeches in Parliament last Tuesday, Members collectively summed up the legacy of the late Hon. Justus Huniehu in Parliament in one acknowledgement – that he was indeed one of the longest serving politicians of Solomon Islands with flying colours.

Late Hon. Huniehu is survived by his wife, Mrs. Helen Osiabu, and five children.

TUESDAY 30TH MARCH 2010

In a historic event, the President of the Republic of China on Taiwan, His Excellency Ma Ying-Jeou, visited the National Parliament of Solomon Islands and addressed the House on Thursday 25th March 2010 as part of the President’s 3 day visit to Solomon Islands. This was following a resolution of the House on the day before, on a motion by the Prime Minister, Hon. Dr. Derek Sikua, to invite President Ma to make an address to Parliament. That resolution also allowed the President, five Congressmen from the Taiwan Government, Taiwan Ambassador to Solomon Islands and a translator to be on the floor of Parliament.

The Speaker of Parliament, the Rt. Hon. Sir Peter Kenilorea, received the Taiwanese delegation and formally invited President Ma to make his address. In making that invitation on behalf of Parliament, Sir Kenilorea was very appreciative of the landmark visit and recalled inviting President Ma’s predecessor on a similar visit in 2005. The Speaker noted the strong ties between Taiwan and Solomon Islands over the past 27 years and the many development initiatives that Taiwan has given to the people of Solomon Islands. Sir Peter was especially pleased with direct assistance to Parliament, in particular the new office complex for parliamentarians that is funded by Taiwan and is currently being constructed. The construction was officially launched earlier in February this year in a ground breaking ceremony which was attended by the Foreign Affairs Minister of the Taiwan Government.

On being invited to make his address to Parliament, President Ma expressed sincere gratitude for the hospitality he and his delegation were receiving on their trip and was equally pleased with the strong link between the two countries, which he believed was steadily growing. President Ma attributed such strong ties to the fact that two countries share common values of democracy, freedom and peace. On behalf of the Taiwan Government, His Excellency thanked the Government and people of Solomon Islands for their support and kind concern in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakat which devastated Southern Taiwan in August last year. He was particularly moved by the story of a chief from Isabel who travelled a long distance to donate money on behalf of his community towards the typhoon victims.

Elaborating on the diplomatic ties between the two nations, His Excellency acknowledged Solomon Islands’ support to Taiwan in securing recognition amongst the international community. The President believed that with the support of allies like Solomon Islands, Taiwan has recently experienced increased recognition worldwide, including from the WHO. President Ma also attributed recent improvements in the peace process between Taiwan and mainland China to the same allies.

For such unwavering support, the President was very thankful towards Solomon Islands and was very confident that the relationship between the two nations will continue to grow. One area which the President felt had a lot of potential for Taiwan’s assistance was in alternative energy source. He was of the view that Taiwan’s recent assistance through provision of solar units has been successful. He envisaged that with further cooperation, this area could be explored further to look into the possibility of larger scale solar power centres as well as the importing of successful models tailor made for Solomon Islands to Taiwan’s other Pacific allies. While being very positive about Taiwan’s future assistance to this nation, however, President Ma cautioned that his administration has, since 2008, changed the approach to Taiwan’s foreign aid policy to accommodate universally accepted principles of legitimacy, accountability and implementation. He advised Parliament that further aid from his country will be given in this context.

Following His Excellency’s address, President Ma presented a plague to Parliament, which was received on the House’s behalf by the Speaker, to commemorate the new office complex for parliamentarians. This plague will be placed in front of the complex when it is completed. The project is expected to take at the most two years.

The ceremony ended with a short ‘meet and greet session’ which saw the President going around the Chamber to meet most of the parliamentarians. Amongst those who witnessed the 45 minutes program were the Prime Minister, Ministers of the Crown, Leader of Opposition, Leader of the Independent Group, other Members of Parliament, Congressmen from the Government of Taiwan, the Ambassador of Taiwan to Solomon Islands and his wife, senior public officials and a huge contingent of media reporters both local and international, mostly from Taiwan.

TUESDAY 23RD MARCH 2010

The National Parliament, on Thursday 18 March 2010, debated and passed the Tobacco Control Bill 2010. This was a government bill that has been around for over twenty years but which was never considered by previous successive governments. The bill was tabled in Parliament by the Minister of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) Hon. Clay Forau Soalaoi.
The main purpose of the Bill is:

1. to encourage the health of the public against the dangers of tobacco smoking;
2. to encourage non smokers to refrain from smoking and protect them from persuasion or inducements to use tobacco products and consequent dependence on them;
3. to enhance public awareness of the hazards of tobacco use by ensuring the effective communication of accurate and relevant information to consumers of tobacco products;
4. to protect the public to the extent deemed reasonable and possible from the hazards of involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke;
5. to encourage and assist smokers to give up smoking , to promote good health and the prevention of illness; and
6. to reduce some of the harmful effects of tobacco products and in tobacco smoke”.

In his opening speech at the beginning of second reading of the bill, Hon. Soalaoi praised the CNURA government for its vision and support in ensuring the bill is tabled in Parliament in the final meeting of the present House before dissolution. He highlighted that “whilst tobacco industry generated millions of dollars as revenue for this country annually, on the other hand, it has contributed to major socio- economic problems as well”.

Commenting on the negative impacts of tobacco, the Minister informed Parliament that, “over the past seven years diseases related to the use of tobacco has increased; for example lung cancer has killed 115 Solomon Islanders, of which 85 percent were male. The turnover of deaths caused by lung cancer increased in 2009, when it was recorded that 92 died from the deadly disease”.

Hon. Soalaoi was also quite alarmed with recent statistics on smoking, particularly amongst youths. He took the opportunity during second reading debate to inform all Solomon Islanders to know that currently 41.2 percent of the nation’s young generation have, or currently are, smoking tobacco products. The Minister advised further that around 23.4 percent (1 in 4) high school students use other tobacco related products whilst 25.6 percent of the present younger generation are likely to smoke in one year’s time, if nothing is done now.

Members of Parliament on both sides of the House applauded the CNURA Government, particularly the Minister, his Permanent Secretary and officials of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services for the remarkable achievement. The bill was unanimously passed by Parliament in both second and third reading demonstrating a strong and general consensus amongst politicians on the intentions of the bill.

FRIDAY 19TH MARCH 2010

As the people of Solomon Islands are looking forward to elect new members of Parliament to represent them in the next four years, the Women in Shared Decision Making Group (WISDM), in collaboration with the Centre for Democratic Institution Institute (CDI) in Australia, organized a week workshop for the Solomon Islands women intending candidates. The WISDM comprises stake holders such as the National Council of Women, Machinery of Governance (MOG), UNIFEM, NGOs and National Parliament. The workshop was held in the Flamingo Conference Room at Honiara Hotel from 8 to 12 March, 2010. This is an on-going support activity by the WISDM Group in an attempt to improve women representation in Solomon Islands political levels.

The core funders of the training include CDI and UNIFEM. The week long training workshop was facilitated by CDI Associate, Dr. Norm Kelly, assisted by Ms. Linda Reynolds, a former National Campaign Manager for the Liberal Party of Australia; and Hon Dr. Meredith Burgmann, from the Australian Labor Party, a former President of the New South Wales Legislative Council and current Sydney Councillor. To assist contextualize some of the issues discussed during the week, the local facilitators included the Director of the Vois Blo Mere Solomon, Ms. Josephine Teakeni, who highlighted the need for fair and good representation in Solomon Islands Politics. The Education Officers of the National Parliament, Mr. Patteson Lusi and Ms. Ellen Rii with the assistance of the Deputy Clerk, Ms. Florence Naezol facilitated a session on the role of Members of Parliament in the Solomon Islands context. Logistical support for the workshop was partly provided by the Executive Officer for CDI, Mr. Luke Hambly, who was part of the CDI team.

The primary aim of the training workshop was to enhance the knowledge and skills on election preparation and campaigning of potential Solomon Islands women leaders, particularly those who wish to contest the upcoming general election. The topics covered included the three M’s of campaigning, namely, Machinery, Message and Money. The participants learned much about the campaign functions, particularly on building a campaign team, fundraising and structuring a budget, developing a clear message and techniques for delivering a message.

As Ms Linda Reynolds aptly put, “the training is to be facilitated in a participatory approach, which means that the sessions be facilitated in a manner whereby participants are allowed to contribute to discussions through group work, discussions and brainstorming of sessions. By doing so, it allows the participants to contribute and to contextualize the issues discussed. Hence, the workshop is to be carried out in two folds, in the morning will have theory sessions and in the afternoon the participants engage in small workshops where they collectively put down thoughts together on how to construct campaigning plan and possible methods of carrying out campaign strategy”.

The workshop was well attended, including 26 participants – 13 women intending to contest in the elections and 13 campaign managers; and one current female Provincial Member of the Makira Ulawa Provincial Assembly, Hon. Nester Marahora. Participants included women intending to contest in all provinces of Solomon Islands except for Choiseul and Temotu Provinces, although the National Council of Women indicated that other women have indicated interest to contest but are yet to confirm their intention.

A notable subject, besides the topic of campaigning, which was also addressed was the election process of Solomon Islands. On the first and final day of the workshop, a team from the Electoral Commission’s Office, led by Mr. Polycap Haununu, presented on that subject and provided further clarity on issues surrounding that process. The participants were greatly enlightened by these presentations on the significance of the process and were guided on how to identify areas in which they could be involved in this process.
Another related subject was that presented by the team from the National Parliament Office on the qualities expected of a Member of Parliament based on existing laws and rules and the experience of Parliament over the past 30 years. The ensuing discussion highlighted many areas of interests to the public in respect of parliamentarians including the structure of Parliament and government, and funding that are currently channelled through parliamentarians. While the National Parliament Office officers took part as facilitators, their focus remained on the expected ethical and procedural aspects of being a parliamentarian. These officers, however, kept a wide berth of any political discussion, and did not seek to encourage or discourage intending (women) candidates.

At the end of the workshop, both facilitators and participants felt strongly that it had been a very successful initiative. A message which resonated amongst participants y the end of the workshop was that there are many challenges which continue to constrain women representation, particularly when taking into account male domination, a common feature in Solomon Islands societies. This was recognized as a key constraint to women representation in politics so it was acknowledged that addressing this concern demands solidarity and cooperation amongst women leaders and aspiring politicians. The workshop was applauded by the participants for the high level strategic planning it imparted, and was welcomed and concluded by participants with much enthusiasm.