WEDNESDAY 16TH MAY

The new Parliament complex at Vavaya Ridge

SPEAKER OF the National Parliament, Sir Allan Kemakeza has announced that new office complex designed to house all 50 members of Parliament is expected to be ready before September this year.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday the 14th May 2012 at the Parliament House, Sir Allan revealed that all 50 Parliament Members are entitled to an office space in the new building.

He said this also include office spaces for the Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition to use.

The new building will also house the Parliament library and committee Secretariat officers.

However, he explained that all members will only use the new office complex during when Parliament meetings.

Meanwhile, during a site visitation with the Deputy Clerk to Parliament, she explained that the Library can be accessed particularly by Members of Parliament and also to students for research purposes.

The building has two large conference rooms and other facilities including a cafeteria with a large kitchen and dining area.

However, the office of the Clerk and the Speaker has yet to finalise the allocation order to Members of Parliament who will be using the rooms.

Further inquiries to NPSI Media Officer: Joy Rikimae - Tele: 28520/27840/7558005 email: joy.rikimae@parliament.gov.sb or Island Sun Newspaper Reporter: Gary Hatigeva – Tele: 28091 email: gshatigeva@gmail.com

WEDNESDAY 16TH MAY

PARLIAMENTARY Education and Human Resource Training Committee have begin enquiries into the ongoing teachers’ absenteeism from classes in Lata in Temotu and in Kirakira, Makira Ulawa Province.

Left: Members of the Committee – from left to right: front: Hon John Maneniaru, Hon. Peter Shanel Agovaka ( Chairman), Hon. Manasseh Sogavare, Hon Danny Philip.
Back: Staff of National Parliament – left to right – Celsus Talifilu, Gavin Bare, Stephen Hachi and Rexford Kouto.

Right: Hon Manasseh Sogavare stressing a point to students of Waimapuru National Secondary School during a brief visit to witness the state of the school.

This was in respond to set agendas debated in parliament according to reports stating that the number of teacher absenteeism from classes has increased.

Speaking at the press conference, the Speaker of Parliament, Sir Allan Kemakeza revealed that the Committee during the enquiry, they organised an open forum for the public including parents where a lot of the comments and questions came from them.

The enquiry saw teachers and other educational stakeholders raising a lot of issues, which they claimed to be the main contributing factors to the problem of teacher absenteeism in schools.

A total of 50 people including schools’ head masters and principals were invited as witnesses to the enquiry.

As part of the inquiry, the Committee visited the Lusalemba Secondary high school to witness firsthand knowledge the state of the school.

The delegates also held visits to both Waimapuru National Secondary School and St. Steven Pamua Community College in Makira Ulawa Province.

Sir Allan added that Malaita and the Central Islands provinces are the next target for the committee to visit.

The committee is aiming to cover all nine provinces in the country for the inquiry.

Meanwhile, teachers have expressed that they appreciated the enquiry as it has given them the opportunity to share what they described as long and overdue concerns.

However, the Speaker revealed that reports of the inquiries will be known once the enquiry is completed.

Further inquiries to NPSI Media Officer: Joy Rikimae - Tele: 28520/27840/7558005 email: joy.rikimae@parliament.gov.sb or Island Sun Newspaper Reporter: Gary Hatigeva – Tele: 28091 email: gshatigeva@gmail.com

MONDAY 14TH MAY

The people of Shortland Islands Constituency described the recent one week visit from the National Parliament Civic Education team as a rare occasion in the history of their lives.

Left: Members of the team -from left to right ( Back) - Patteson Lusi ( Team Leader), John Niuman, Joy Rikimae, Jasmine Waleafea - Ray Sibisopere ( front) kneeling

Right: Children of Falamae Primeary School of Mono listening to the team Leader, Patteson Lusi - making a point

The National Parliament of Solomon Islands Civic Education department have visited 6 constituencies with the theme, “Understanding the functions of Parliament and the Role of Members of Parliament,” since they begin the tours in 2011; the recent Shortland constituency visit is the seventh and the second one for this year 2012.

The team which comprise of five members visited a total of 15 communities including schools. The team begin the tour at Mono community on Monday the 23rd of April and ended it at Kariki community on Sunday the 6th of May 2012.

The five member team covered a maximum of three communities travelling by Out Board Motor each day.

From Mono Islands to the Fauro Islands and to Aleang Islands, the rural people of Shortland Islands described the visit as a rare occasion as no state representatives has ever visited them since Solomon Islands gain independence in 1978.

A spokes person of Falamae community in Mono who is also a former Premier of Western Province, Mr Roy Kelosi said, “Due to our remoteness, never in our history did we receive any visits from the state, even successive Prime Ministers never visited us and so we feel very isolated.”

“But today we feel very special and honoured to receive such an educational visit from the National Parliament, this is the first time and we want more ministerial tours from the government and again from Parliament; we want the government to include our constituency in their touring programs, Mr Kelosi said.

Other community leaders in all the 15 communities and schools the team have visited also shared the same sentiments and have expressed their appreciation to National Parliament for giving them the opportunity to learn about the Parliament, but most importantly the Role that Members of Parliament are expected to play when they are elected as representatives of each constituency.

Parliament Civic Education Team Leader, Patteson Lusi said it is the dream of Parliament to visit the most remote constituencies in Solomon Islands this year.

He said,” It is important that Parliament reaches the people, because Parliament belongs to the people and people have the right to know about Parliament and the Role of their Members of Parliament.”

He said the National Parliament’s Civic Education’s plan is to visit all 50 constituencies before the elections in 2014. This year’s target is to reach out to the most remote constituencies thus Shortland Island constituency visit was a successful beginning for the remote Islands.

He said constituencies of Temotu Vatud, South Choiseul, Renbel Province and Malaita Outer Islands will be the next constituencies to visit should their Members of Parliament accept the request from the National Parliament.

Shortland constituencies appreciate the theme of the visit and described it as an eye opening occasion since this is the first time they learn about Parliament and the work of the Members of Parliament.

Visits to constituencies only happen if Members of Parliament accept the requests from the Speaker of Parliament. The Speaker write to members of Parliament requesting a visit to educate their constituency, thus it is up to the each Member of Parliament because they are the custodian of constituencies.

The tour is funded by the National Parliament Office.

Editors Notes
Members of the team include five officers of the National Parliament. They are: Patteson Lusi (Team Leader), Joy Rikimae, Jasmine Waleafea, Ray Sibisopere and John Niuman.

A total of 6 men from the constituency also travelled with the five member team, this includes skippers and securities of the two outboard motors since the team was travelling on the boarders.

Shortland Islands is located on the Western borders of Solomon Islands and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. It is truly an untouched hidden paradise for Solomon Islands as a country. The Autonomous Region of Bougainville is only a 20 minutes drive by Out Board Motor from the closest point of Harapa community in Shortland.

MONDAY 30TH APRIL

The Clerk of the Solomon Islands Parliament, Mrs Taeasi Sanga, and Mr Albert Kabui, Constitutional and Parliamentary Law and Practise Legal Specialist of the Solomon Islands Parliament have travelled to PNG to support the Practice Parliament which took place from the 23rd to 27th April 2012.

The two were invited to help facilitate the Women Practise Parliament workshop together with other facilitators from around the region like Kiribati, Marshall Islands and Palau.

When asked why they were invited, the Clerk remarked that “the reason is because of our experience in having set up our own mock Youth Parliament and recently the Women mock Parliament to debate the Temporary Special Measures.”

She said they have been asked to share with PNG women who might be interested in contesting in their next general election.

PNG never have one mock debate before so the two officers will assist them in putting together a program for a mock Parliament.

The Practice Parliament is being organized by the Office of the Department of Women (ODW) and the United Nations (UN) as part of the national ODW strategy to support women candidates in their efforts to get elected to the National Parliament in the next elections.

Currently, PNG has only one woman Member of Parliament, Hon Dame Carol Kidu, the current Leader of the Opposition. However, Dame Carol has indicated her intention to retire from politics at the next elections. The ODW’s strategy to support women candidates is a response to the possibility that, without such assistance, the 109-member PNG National Parliament could end up having no women MPs following the upcoming national elections.

More than 70 women applied to participate in the Practice Parliament following and ODW, UNDP and UN Women selected the women based on their applications, after confirming their intention to run in the next elections.

From Monday to Wednesday, the women will be trained in parliamentary procedures, as well as substantive policy issues of relevance to the PNG people. On Thursday, they will conduct a Practice Parliament, including a Question Time session and a debate on a Mock Bill on reproductive health rights.

The Practice Parliament is supported by national and international resource people. In an exciting new initiative sponsored by UNDP, the Practice Parliament will strengthen Melanesian Spearhead Group ties.

The “Practice Parliament for Women” initiative was launched by UNDP and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat last year. Mock Parliaments for Women were organized in Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands and Palau in 2011.

The National Parliament of Solomon Islands organised three mock Parliaments since 2009. The aim of mock Parliaments is to help raise awareness and the importance of issues affecting the lives of certain groups within a country, especially developing countries like us in the Pacific region.

Further inquiries to NPSI Media Officer: Joy Rikimae - Tele: 28520/27840/7558005 email: joy.rikimae@parliament.gov.sb

FRIDAY 13TH APRIL

The EM Children’s Ministry from the Lau Baelelea Constituency visited the National Parliament House yesterday the 12th of April 2012.

The children’s evangelical group which comprised of 69 children and 14 adults visited Parliament as part of their outreach program in Honiara.

Chairman of the group, Pastor Eden Sanga said the children are all students of Madalua Primary and Community High School, ranging from grades 1 up to form 1.

Pastor Eden said this is the first time most of the children came to Honiara and also to Parliament.

They feel that it is important to visit and know about the National Parliament.

He said they have learned a lot of new things about the Parliament, and would encourage the Parliament Civic Education program to also reach their constituency in the future.

“This is a great opportunity and we value it. We also want your Civic Education program to reach us in our constituency,” he said.

The group is here for a music promotion concert which will be held at the Honiara Multipurpose Hall this Sunday.

“Since after the release of our first album “Rejoice” which hit the national music scene we decided to maintain our status nationally through such music concerts and we hope we are going to achieve this,” Pastor Eden said.

The group’s first album has a total of 10 tracks, some of which are known as the: Our Father; Rejoice and Malaita, a touching combination of the English language, Lau Baelelea and the To’obaita dialects.

The Governor General, Sir Frank Kabui invited the group to his residence for a fellowship on Saturday last week.

The group also visited Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo on Tuesday this week.

The Ministry registered a total of 150 children and 15 adults who are called their trainers from five different communities in the area since it was established last year.

The initial EM is a Hebrew initial taken from the book of Psalm: 119.

Psalm 119, like most of the psalms, was originally composed as a song to be sung in praising God. But it is also written in a unique poetic form known as an acrostic. (A few other psalms are written in this manner as well, but Psalm 119 is the best example.)

In an acrostic, the first verse begins with a word starting with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph. The second verse then begins with a word starting with the second letter, Beth. This pattern continues until the alphabet is used up.