NATIONAL PARLIAMENT OF
DAILY HANSARD
SECOND MEETING – EIGHTH SESSION
The Speaker, Rt. Hon Sir
Peter Kenilorea took the Chair at
Prayers.
ATTENDANCE
At prayers, all were present with the exception of the
Ministers of Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Department of
Justice & Legal Affairs, Department of Culture & Tourism and Members
for
PRESENTATION OF PAPERS AND OF REPORTS
‘
‘Special
Audit Report into the Affairs of the Civil Aviation Division of the Ministry of
Infrastructure and Development’
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
9.
Sir KEMAKEZA to
the Minister for Provincial
Government
& Constituency Development: Will the
Minister inform Parliament as to when the present Government will introduce the
Federal Government Government Bill?
Hon WAIPORA: Mr Speaker,
first of all I would like to thank the Hon. Member my good friend from
Savo/Russells for raising this important question, which is very appropriate
for the Government to inform the Parliament as well as the public.
Mr Speaker, the Grand Coalition for Change Government
is following the constitutional process in the White Paper, which is the Member
for Savo Russells tabled in the House in December 2005. Mr Speaker, the immediate focus of the
Government is to complete the drafting of a new Federal Constitution. The
Government plans to have it completed by early 2007. That process involves careful review of the
present draft by the Constitutional Congress which is to be appointed soon
ensuring that its wording is consistent with the Constitutional Reform and is legally
and procedurally sound. Having achieved
that, it is the intention of the Government to have the new Federal
Constitution endorsed by a constitutional convention planned for next
year. If all goes to plan the new
Federal Constitution will be brought into force by Parliament by a process of a
time yet to be specified.
Mr Kemakeza: Mr Speaker, I
would like to thank the Minister for his assurance and the answers given.
10. Mr
KEMAKEZA to the Minister for Education & Human Resources Development: Will the Minister inform Parliament of the
present Government’s policy on upgrading of existing community highs schools
from Form 4 to Form 6?
Hon SOGAVARE: Mr
Speaker, the Minister is still in the country and I think he is not in
Parliament as yet. I would leave this
question to be answered by him properly.
Question No. 10 deferred.
Mr Speaker: At this point
in time because of an urgent call for my attention to matters in Hospital I
will now suspend Parliament for five minutes so that the Speaker might take
over the Chair.
Sitting suspended
for five minutes
Sitting resumes and the Deputy Speaker took the Chair
Question No. 20 deferred.
21.
Mr RIUMANA
to the Minister for Agriculture & Livestock: The latest discovery of African Giant Snail
taken in by careless logging companies posed potential risk to limited
agricultural commodity of the country.
What have been the measures taken by the Government through the Ministry
to remedy potential outbreak?
Hon OLAVAE: Mr Speaker,
in fact what happened really caught us by surprise because we have never
experienced this problem in the last 28 years.
When the episode was made known, responsible quarantine officers liaised
with the company involved. Mr Speaker,
the Bio Security Bill will be tabled in Parliament early next year to take on
board any such occurrences in the future.
Mr Riumana: I am asking for
what measures taken by the government to remedy any potential outbreak of this
snail. We cannot wait for future bills.
Hon Olavae: Mr Speaker, I
think I have already alluded to earlier the measures this government is taking
or will be taking is by bringing in the Bio Security Bill early next year to
take on board such problems occurring in future.
Mr Riumana: Mr Speaker, is
it safe to wait for that bill to be passed before taking any measures?
Hon Olavae: Mr Speaker,
in the interim quarantine officers have already liaised with the company
involved and at the moment the officers will be monitoring the arrival and
departure of any logging companies. Since
the onslaught of this episode officers have already monitored or started
monitoring all loggings ships. Before
any logging ships depart the wharves the officers responsible have to check the
arrival and departure of those boats.
Mr Riumana: Can
the Minister inform this Parliament if this African giant snail has been discovered
in other parts of the country?
Hon Olavae: Mr Speaker, at
the moment this is the first kind of incident that happened in the country. So far I do not have information that the
snail has affected the whole country.
Mr Riumana: Can
the Minister inform Parliament what country is the source of the machinery that
this African Giant Snail was found in this country because I understand that if
the African snail is discovered in
Hon Olavae: Mr Speaker, so far I do not have any idea
about where the source is from. But this
is the first time that this snail is discovered in the country.
Hon SOGAVARE: Mr Speaker,
the Member is asking a very important question and it is an issue that we all
must be concerned about and we are taking it very seriously. If the Member for Kia/Hograno has any
information that will help us on to address this issue we would welcome it.
Mr Riumana: I am very
concerned because this logging company also operates in my constituency and therefore
poses great risk to agricultural commodities in my constituency. That is why I want to know what measure has
the government taken against this logging company.
Hon Olavae: Mr Speaker, I
think my office has already worked on measures in the interim period to ensure
all logging companies operating throughout the provinces are monitored or
checked so that we minimize the risk of having these kinds of problems.
Mr Riumana: Mr Speaker, if
the company is allowed to operate then the chances of them spreading this giant
snail is greater. Can the Ministry just suspend
the operations of this company while quarantine measures are put in place?
Hon Olavae: Mr Speaker,
allowing the logging companies to operate throughout the provinces is nothing
to do with my Ministry. If the
landowners continue to entertain logging companies then the Ministry does not
have any right whatsoever to stop them from operating. My officer’s job is to ensure that the snails
are not present in the logging boats.
Mr Kengava: What are the
penalties of anyone found to bring in African snails into the country?
Hon Olavae: Mr Speaker, I
have to check with the judiciary on any penalties because they are responsible
for penalizing people. At the moment I
don’t know what the punishment is because I am not a lawyer.
Mr Kengava: Mr Speaker, yes,
you are not a lawyer but a Minister but you could ask your quarantine officers
to give you the answers.
This question is very important that if a company or
whoever is found to bring in the African snail is in breach of any laws of the
country, are there plans by the division to put charges on them?
Hon Olavae: I said that
the Ministry has already liaised with the Ministry responsible to penalize the
company that is responsible for bringing the snail. So let justice take its course, and as time
goes on, surely they will be charged accordingly.
Mr Kwanairara: Mr Speaker,
suspension of any logging license is a different matter under the Ministry of
Forests. But what I want to ask is, are
you satisfied with the measures that your department is taking at the moment? Are you satisfied that the measures taken so
far will not spread the American snail throughout the country?
Hon Olavae: Yes, what the
officers have done so far is satisfactory. I am satisfied with what they have done.
Mr Zama: Mr Speaker, I
wish to ask a supplementary question out of interest. The yard where these African snails were
found directly relates to a company that is currently operating on Rendova too.
Mr Speaker, I would like to know if the Minister can
directly target the areas the concerned company is operating so that awareness is
made to the people concerned in their constituencies and in areas that this company
operates.
Secondly, we have heard so much about the risks that
the African snail poses, but our people living in the villages don’t know the
risks. They even do not know how an
African snail looks like, which comes back to the first point of awareness. I want the department to directly target the area
where the concerned company is operating so that the people are aware of this
snail.
What is the department doing in trying to help our
people in regards to awareness of this African snail?
Hon Olavae: Mr Speaker,
since the snails were discovered, responsible officers have already taken
measures and they have already started monitoring the places where the logging
companies are operating throughout the provinces to prevent any future occurrence
of the snail.
In regards to awareness, my Ministry’s fundamental job
is to carry out awareness program so that information is disseminated to the population.
This should assist the people to be
alert and aware of any occurrences in the future.
Mr Boyers: Mr Speaker, part
of the answer the Minister has given on this issue, it is my understanding that
this is not the first time this snail was found – this snail scare in
Can
I ask the Minister responsible if he can ask the Department of Quarantine to supply
comprehensive report on measures taken, issues surrounding the snail, what they
have done and the history of this snail in Solomon Islands so that all Members
of Parliament here can have a report so that we can be aware of the issues
surrounding this particular snail and whether this is the first time it was found
in this country.
Mr Speaker: That point has
already been covered by the Prime Minister.
He has assured Parliament that they will submit a report on that matter.
Mr Huniehu: Can the
Minister look at the possibility of banning imports from countries that have
snails abroad? Or to put in a milder way,
can the Minister ensure that all imports coming into Solomon Islands meet the
requirement standard to avoid importing goods that may contain this serious
creature, snail?
Hon Olavae: Mr Speaker, I
am going to liaise with all my officers to ensure the actions we are taking are
within our legal framework.
Hon Sogavare: There was a
suggestion made by the Member of Parliament for East Are Are is a good
one. That is a policy decision the
government is going to take after looking at reports and the seriousness of the
issue and if there is need to ban imports from countries that have these snails,
we will need to do it. It is in a policy
decision the government is going to take after reading reports.
Mr Riumana: Mr Speaker, I
thank the Honorable Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries for his
answers. Just a comment before I sit
down, I think in future it is good for Ministers to come together.
Question No. 23 deferred
STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT BUSINESS
Mr Fono: Point of order
Mr Speaker, there is a deferred motion?
BILLS
Bills – First Reading
The
Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2006
MOTIONS
Mr Huniehu: Point of
order, Mr Speaker. The Gaming and
Lotteries Act has been set down for first reading today and not the second
reading, but you amended that statement.
Mr Speaker: The first
reading is distribution of the bill to the pigeonholes of all Members of
Parliament. That is the first
reading. It is now set down for the
second reading. That is the Speaker’s
order.
Hon DARCY: Mr Speaker, point
of order. The Prime Minister has just
moved an amendment to Government business, and I thought I heard that the
motion to thank His Excellency has been proposed to be the first to be dealt
with, after which the motion to move the resolution by the Minister of
Finance. Perhaps you could check with
the Clerk just to correct that Mr Speaker?
Mr Speaker: According to
the Clerk’s Office, this debate on the Speech from the Throne will continue
later.
Hon Darcy: Point of
order, Mr Speaker. I think the Prime
Minister has moved the amendment to government business in which you have
granted leave for the Prime Minister to move.
The first to be dealt with should be the motion to thank His Excellency.
Mr Speaker: Since there
is no objection from the Clerk’s Office to the amendment on the government
business by the Prime Minister you can now debate the motion to the Speech from
the Throne.
Motion of Thanks to His Excellency the
Governor General (debate to continue and conclude)
Hon WAIPORA: Mr Speaker, I
would like to take this chance to contribute to the Speech from the Throne by
His Excellency, the Governor General.
Mr Speaker, other colleagues have
already made contribution to the Speech from the Throne delivered by His
Excellency, the Governor General on
Today,
I would like to join them to contribute as well to that very important
traditional speech from the throne on behalf of my people of West Makira
Constituency.
Mr Speaker, the people of West
Makira Constituency would like to assure His Excellency, the Governor General
for their humble pride, honour and privilege to have one of their leaders of
their humble province attain that most highest and honoured leadership position
in the land. Mr Speaker, I join my
people in wishing him and his good lady, God’s blessings.
Mr Speaker, with those humble words
of greetings to His Excellency, I would now like to turn to the speech
itself. I will confine myself within
three areas:
1. Rural
Development – a bottom-up and holistic approach on page five.
2. Federal
System of Government on page 8.
3. Ethical
leadership standard on page 6.
Mr Speaker, on rural development,
under the present system of government, in my humble view, when we talk about
rural development, we are actually talking about decentralisation and
devolution of central government functions and powers to the rural areas.
This concept started way back during
the 1970s up to 1980s, which done the former Local Government Act under the
four district administrations under colonial rule were abolished to pave the
way for the Provincial Government System.
In 1981 the Provincial Government System came into place.
Mr Speaker, the intention to have
provincial governments was for the effective delivery of government services to
the rural areas on behalf of the central government. Any central government functions and powers
that are to be transferred and delivered to the rural areas must be made
through the decentralisation and devolution process between the central
government and its agencies - the provincial governments, at present nine in
all.
Mr Speaker, I cannot agree anymore
with the people from every corner of this country leveling criticisms at the
present provincial government system that it does not meet the expectations and
aspirations of the people of the rural areas, and that it should be
changed. However, as someone who has
served in the system for 20 years, I found there is nothing wrong with the
system.
Mr Speaker, the problem is us, we ourselves. In this system, we have political problem,
administration and management problem and financial problem. My department is seriously addressing these now.
Mr Speaker, under the Provincial Government
Act of 1997 provincial governments have powers to take over a lot of central
government functions and powers but there is a lot of problem especially in the
area of trained and experienced manpower to be able to facilitate and carry out
the policies of the provincial governments.
Mr Speaker, there is also lack of
understanding in the Provincial Government Act and most provinces do not have
political will to do things for the province but engage more on personal
interests like logging.
Mr Speaker, I would like at this
juncture to take this opportunity to thank all the provincial staffs in all
nine provinces for their efforts in trying to keep their respective provinces
running.
Mr Speaker, I know for the last four
to five years that some provinces had very big challenges in that they did not
have senior staff to captain their provincial governments.
Mr Speaker, I must tell this House
that this country has 229 managers to manage the affairs of this country. What I mean by this, is that we have 229
elected politicians altogether to govern this nation. These are, for
Makira and
Renbel has 1 Member of Parliament,
10 Provincial Assembly Members, a total of 11 elected politicians.
Although I am not responsible for
This is 50 Members of Parliament and
179 provincial assembly members, a total of 229 elected politicians Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, in my humble view, for a
country that has about 500,000 people, I think we are over-governed. That is why in 1999 I suspended the area
councils. The area councils are still
sleeping to this day. They are
suspended, not abolished as some were saying.
Mr Speaker, the delivery of services
to the rural areas where more than 80% of the people of this country are, is
very costly and very expensive. I will
give you the picture.
Mr Speaker, with the new initiative
policies of the government on rural development now, $66,739,499 annually
should be reaching the rural areas through various development services
throughout the country. This comes from
provincial services grants, the RCDF, SIG-ROC Micro Project and the Millennium
Goal. They are as follows:
Malaita
monthly service grant - $246,858.41
Annually - $2,962,300
Makira
monthly service grant - $147,200
Annually - $1,766,406
Annually - $2,947,181
Annually
- $2,056,355
Annually - $1,680,412
Annually - $2,184,726
Annually - $1,582,360
Temotu
monthly service grant - $157,014
Annually - $1,884,179
This
is a total of $19,739,499. That is the
provincial services grants. The RCDF is
$18,800,000. I am talking especially about
the rural areas. The Micro Project is
$9,400,000, the Millennium Goal is $18,800.
So the total we are talking about that we as managers should see going
right down to the rural areas as we are working on the rural development plan
we are starting off with $66,739,499.
Mr Speaker, with more money being
channeled through the rural populace my department will continue to work
closely with the Department of the Public Service on the question of manpower
and of course the training of staff for the provinces.
In fact, my Department is currently
working on the exercise to make sure all vacant posts in all the provinces are
filled as soon as possible. We are fully
aware that the first and foremost interest of our people in the rural areas is
the effective delivery of services to their doorsteps. Business people to deliver those rural
development services, and my department will get this as soon as possible.
Mr Speaker, I have just answered a question
this morning about the constitutional reform programme of the government. Mr Speaker, I will now turn to the federal
system of government mentioned on page 8.
Mr Speaker, our people have made
their decisions already that we should change to the federal system of
government. As such, the outgoing
government of Prime Minister, Sir Allan Kemakeza, among other policies has made
a fundamental policy to introduce the federal government system in
Mr Speaker, indeed, it is the wish
of the people for a change of government from the present unitary government
system to a federal system. Therefore,
when the Grand Coalition for Change Government took over power in May this
year, it upholds that policy and worked on from where the previous
administration had left. In fact, the
work had already been 50% done by the previous administration.
The draft federal constitution of
The White Paper was thus introduced by the government
and passed by Parliament in its final meeting in November – December 2005. The White Paper sets out a progress program
to complete the task within the next 12 months.
The time frame is not strictly compulsory, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, the immediate focus of
this Government is to complete the drafting of the new federal
constitution. The Government plans to
have that completed by early 2007.
Sir, that process involves a careful
review of the present draft by the Constitutional Congress which is to be
appointed soon ensuring its wording is consistent with the constitutional
reform goals and legally and procedurally sound.
The primary functions of the
constitutional congress are to undertake assessment of the draft federal
constitution and to prepare final instructions for the draft of a new
constitution.
Mr Speaker, plan for the next phase
of the constitutional reform. The
project work plan has provided the appointment of up to 15 members of the
Constitutional Congress. Having achieved
that, Mr Speaker, it is the intention of the Government to have a new federal
constitution endorsed by a constitutional convention planned for next
year. If all goes according to plan, the
new federal constitution will be brought into force by Parliament by a process
at a time yet to be specified, as I have said in answering a question this
morning.
Mr Speaker, an independent expert
assessment of the draft federal constitution has been undertaken. The
The audit report was reviewed by
constitutional experts at the
Mr Speaker, local final
consultations will begin soon.
Consultations will be at provincial headquarters beginning this month to
discuss the draft federal constitution with provincial elected leaders and
elders. Consultations will also be made
in
With regards to funding of the constitutional
reform, the SIG has decided not to seek funding outside for the project so that
the Solomon Islands Government takes ownership and directs the constitutional
reform process. Experiences in the past,
Mr Speaker, of external funding have put SIG in the back seat.
The Solomon Islands Government will
commit $5million in the 2007 budget to complete the task. This shows how serious this Government is
about completing the task. The bulk of
the money will be spent on completion of the federal constitution of
Mr Speaker, the states will need the
assistance of the government to make sure the states do the right thing in
their own state constitutions.
Mr Speaker, I will be very brief on
ethical leadership standard mentioned in the Speech.
Mr Speaker, you academics would
understand very well what ethical leadership means. For those of us who are not academics, I will
tell you the meaning of ethical leadership.
Mr Speaker, in my humble
interpretation of ethical leadership, it means other people trusting us because
we follow every thing the government has put for us to follow. Whether it is a small rule or big rule we
must abide to them.
I have already alluded that we in
this House are managers. With those in
the lower houses in our provinces there are 229 managers of the affairs of this
country, and we must be honest. If we
are leaders we must uphold what is ethical. You academics understand very well what this means. But it needs trustworthy.
Mr Speaker, up to this time, I want
to tell you the cost of my staying in
When I talked about it that person
says do not worry about it. Is that ethical
leadership? $100,000 unnecessarily spent
Mr Speaker, when I have a house to stay, and I am entitled for the house to live
inside.
Mr Taneko: Point of
order, Mr Speaker.
Hon Waipora: Mr Speaker,
he has already had his time to speak. This
is my time to speak. What are all these
rules for? Is it only just me that has
to follow those rules?
Mr Taneko: Mr Speaker,
this place is a place which he has said, ethical leadership.
Hon Waipora: Mr Speaker,
he has already had his time, and I don’t want you to interrupt me.
Mr Taneko: Mr Speaker, I
am still explaining. We must not
personalize things.
Mr Speaker: Order from
the chair.
Hon Waipora: I am concern about
the money of this country; the finances of this country must be spent in the
right way, Mr Speaker. Why are we
spending money on things that we should not spend money on? Mr Speaker, that is why I am talking about
ethical leadership.
Mr Speaker: Order, order,
please can you sit down Minister for Provincial Government.
Hon Waipora: If I sit down
I am not going to talk again but have you heard it?
Mr Speaker: That issue
will be handled by the appropriate authorities.
Hon Waipora: I am
concerned about the money of this country being spent unnecessarily.
Mr Speaker: Minister you
can continue with your speech but leave the issue not to be unnecessarily
argued in Parliament.
Mr Taneko: Mr Speaker, I
have not even explained my point of order.
This house is not to personalise things.
This house is in the accord of leadership that we have to show and
respect. We are here as leaders, the 50
Members to speak outward of the justice in this nation on who is going to fix
our benefits here?
Mr Speaker, I would like us to be
humble and not to deal with issues that are outside of the motion, and not to
personalize things. I have problems of
my own and my people.
Mr Speaker: Order Member
for Shortlands, take your seat please.
Hon Waipora: Mr Speaker,
thank you very much for allowing me to speak on that. I am saying this because I am concerned about
how we leaders of this country are spending money on right things. That is my concern.
With those few remarks, I support the motion.
Hon Tausinga: Thank you, Mr
Speaker, for the opportunity to speak again to wind up the motion.
Mr Speaker, I was asked as to how long I would take to
do the winding up. I suggested may be 10
minutes.
Mr Speaker, Solomon Islanders always try to be polite
so they don’t normal tell the exact time and so if I have to exceed 10 minutes
then that is the Solomons’ way.
Mr Speaker, there are three motions that are designed
to be distinctive in the proceedings of Parliament. One is the motion of no confidence, the other
is to offer thanks for the Speech from the Throne and the other motion is the
motion of adjournment sine-die.
Except for the motion of no confidence, which is a
constitutional requirement under section 34(1), the others are provided for in
the Standing Orders of Parliament. Moreover,
except the motion of no confidence, the wording of the motions of both the Speech
from the Throne and the motion of adjournment sine-die Order 77(7) and Order 8(3)
respectively are expressed in the Standing Orders and therefore are no
constructions of Members of Parliament.
These are traditional in terms of their inclusion in
the Parliament democracy because these are part of the
Members of Parliament need no reminding to the
circumstances that usually give rise to the introduction of these motions. They are well versed of the
circumstances. But perhaps Sir, suffice
to say, the motion of no confidence is usually moved to remove a Prime Minister
on grounds incompetence in leadership, either by way of alleged abuse of power
or alleged compromising of sovereignty or other allegations.
The motion to offer thanks to the Speech from the Throne
is to acknowledge and appreciates the Speech from the Throne but at the same
time to make observations on the intentions of the government contained in the
Speech and the relevancies of the intentions of the development needs of the
people of the country.
The motion to adjourn Parliament sine-die is
termination of Parliament meeting because the Government no longer has any
business to warrant continuity of the meeting, and is usually moved by the
Prime Minister.
Therefore, the motion that is on debate now, and which
I am now winding up is the Speech from the Throne - a motion I am introduced
earlier in order to satisfy the requirement of the
Having said that, I wish to thank those who have
spoken on the motion. Their observations
are pointers on the manner the government should conduct developments for the
people and the country.
However, in my listening to the debate of the motion
and issues raised by Members who have spoken, I found that some members, in
particular the Member for Savo/Russells, with due respect, misunderstood which
motion was on debate and therefore was trying to debate my speech rather than
the speech from the throne. This gave importance indeed to my speech and
whether or not he really grasps what I titillated about is a matter for
colleagues to make their own judgment on.
My speech, I believe, was an informed discussion of
some of the issues raised or implied in the Speech from the Throne and as well
appreciation on the various intentions the government has for the development
of the country. It was designed to allow
Members and Ministers in particular to add relevant discussions about their own
ministries if necessary. It was not
designed to be conclusive.
Perhaps my weakness that made the Member for
Savo/Russells misconstrued me and my speech and tried to debate my speech was that
my speech in some ways was very philosophical.
And whilst I advance the idea of improving the life and the living of
our citizens, the Member was talking about the absence of the Secretary to the
Prime Minister. And whilst I observed
impediments that need improvement for purposes of development, the Member was
talking some books and documents from which government policies were derived
from. And whilst I observe the interest
of the present government to work on areas that might help in the improvement
of peoples living, the Member was lamenting on non-acknowledgement of the
performance of the last regime, not realizing that we have no access to the
past except its history.
We are living in the present and thus the government
is trying to make things happen by providing the direction and the bearing upon
which the country is to be steered forward.
Yes, maybe I was in many ways philosophical in my
speech and I must apologize for my incomprehensiveness to the Member that made
him misunderstood me and thus discuss the motion in rather wobbly way that made
him out of context.
I have observed in debates both past and present
Houses that there were observations made to elevate oneself particularly to get
credit for the work that situations demanded and collectively agreed to by Members
of Parliament and people.
I think this makes things interesting and perhaps
feature well on the types of people that we have in leadership. But I take comfort on the wisdom of Mahatma
Gandhi who said, “There are two types of people. One is those who make things happen and the
other is those who want to take credit”.
He went to say that he wanted to be in the former category to be amongst
those who make things happen because there is less competition on that. I share the same sentiment.
The focus of any development is people, people first,
and that was my discussion in relation to the motion because that is the Government’s
development drive.
The notion to develop the country and hence to talk
merely about attracting investors and other super or mega developments is not a
bad proposition. In fact such intention
form part of our policy direction and programs, but in my view is very
cosmetic.
The Government is working towards and encouraging
total development, foreign and local investors as well as people of the country
in the concept of the bottom up approach.
The other Members who have spoken including the Member
for East Are Are, and I hold highest respect for him, suggested that the bottom
up approach is not new and that they have tried it before and it did not work
or it did not achieve or achieved little outcomes.
The problem in this observation is that it
demonstrated shortsightedness because really one has to know the kind of
activities associated with a development in order to know the outcomes. There are some activities that are long term
thus the outcomes are not immediate. Others
are medium terms and therefore their outcomes are within few years, and there
are short terms that can provide immediate outcomes.
To suggest previous governments have tried it and were
disappointed with the results is wrong in its entity. The disappointment should be the inability of
the government to make things work or relevant to the people who should be the
focus of the development.
The development approach this government is advancing
is not rural development but rather a bottom up approach, a way to go about
rural development. Many who have spoken
misconstrued it to mean the same thing.
No, they are different concepts and policy direction altogether but
targeting the same people.
Sir, the rural development that was initiated by
previous governments including that of the recent regime was in relation to
activities the government conceived to be appropriate development needs of the
people.
The bottom up approach that is in the present
development strategy of the government in coalition is the recognition of the
rural people’s potentials and have those potentials put into play on activities
identified by the people themselves and not activities identified by the
government as were previous cases.
We have to appreciate that the Government has two
resources except that which it obtains from the resources of the people. Recognizing that the people own the resources,
the government is redirecting its focus to the people and to have them engage
on appropriate activities and to develop the potential current in their
locality and on the resources that they own.
The Government is to help facilitate and provide the
financial support and expertise and the opportunity for the marketing of their
products.
We must not only provide opportunities for the
participation of the people, but we must also encourage other stakeholders, the
non government organizations to play active roles in making people believe in
themselves and their ordinary island style living for the influences that reach
the people have changed them indeed in many ways. The foods they eat, the drinks they choose,
the way they dress testify to the growing influences that can have their living
dictate their life.
Some examples come to mind. There is a man who went fishing and returns
after a hard day’s fishing and sold all the fresh fish and then asks his seven
years old daughter to buy the family a can of tuna and two packets of noodles
for their dinner.
There is also this old man of 70 years whom his granddaughter
asked him to join the family for the evening dinner. He was invited, come have some food said the
daughter, what do we have for dinner replied the old man, fresh bonito from the
sea said the daughter. The old man stop
for a few seconds and then said, ‘I am tired of eating bonito can I have a can
of tuna please.
Thus the improvement of life and living goes beyond the
economic activities of the people.
Often in the past rural development was thought out to
mean that the government was a ‘fix-it’ man which gave rise to dependant
mentality and which made development long sighted.
And
those who were at the helms of leadership in the context of servants failed to recognize
these phenomenons that perpetuate the government as a ‘fix-it’ man - a
psychology that eroded the potentials of man.
Out of the unthinking notion of government is a fix-it
man, comes the approach on institutional oriented reforms. And many of these reforms relate to
departmental structures and job descriptions and placement of personals in
positions that the government felt to be best for purposes of delivering
services. And whilst I do appreciate
that the government can make reforms in the government institutions, however, I
fail that institutional focus alone is insufficient for improving the life and
living of the people and the country.
In the bottom up approach the government is offering
the opportunity to reverse the money psychology - from money makes people to
people making money.
There comes a time in the life of a nation when we
have to ask what have we achieved in the last 28 years? What have our people gained from our independence
from the
The economic problems, and the social welfare and the advancement
of six hundred thousand people rests on the collective participation of the
three units of governance of the country - national government, Provincial
government and community governance by village chiefs, elders, church leaders,
and others like the business community.
We must recognize these and share the responsibility
of nation building, and each must respect and support each other and each
others’ contributions and the way each of these units lead, and manages and
serves contributes to the wellbeing of the social fabrics. If all works well the fabrics of society is
secure and sound. But I must commend
leaderships prior to independence and as well immediate after independence when
rural development was supported by rural budgets, and this was the time when
rural people engaged in cocoa and coconut plantings whose benefits we are
harvesting today.
The encouragement provided by way of subsidies, expert
advice and markets by the government and private enterprises were invaluable
indeed. The bottom approach hopefully
will go beyond by way of engaging people in activities and appreciate the role
they can play in order to make their living better and as well as to appreciate
the role each plays in building the country. There can be no better times to appreciate ones
role in his/her welfare except by engaging in beneficial activities and as well
there can be better way to appreciate ones role in helping to build the country
except by participating in activities that go towards strengthening the
country.
Sir, I have spent a fair bit of time discussing the
bottom up approach simply to explain what it is in the context of the new
policy direction of the government, and perhaps to also draw the distinctions
between the rural development concept and the bottom up approach.
I have observed in the debate that some Members of
Parliament still confused themselves about democracy in the context of
representing people. They are led to
believe that democracy is representing people in both the government and Parliament
and that we are respected because of the belief that we are leaders.
This notion is misguided because a representative is
someone who takes the hopes, the desires and the expressions of the people he represents
forward to the large domain of Parliament.
Therefore, in the context of democracy parliamentarians including the
Prime Minister and the executive government are all servants of the people
whether out of ignorance or willful disregard of this democratic principle,
there has been indeed serious deviation from this principle.
Our people require from elected leaders the use of our
knowledge, our skills and devotion to be exercised with wisdom to provide
essential platform services to make life comfortable from which they can look
after themselves. They put their trust
in elected representatives and they expect results. The results they received from successive
governments have not been to their expectations, to say the least.
If we can see this as a master/servant relationship, the
voters and their families being the master, we can see clearly that it is the
people who are providing the resources and the environment.
It is their hard work, production, duties and taxes
that feed the economy and the financial resources to the government. They employ representatives who hire others
to make things work for them. The
servant uses these resources for the welfare of the master. So the subject of leadership in the context
of Members of Parliament and that Members of Parliament are leaders is
misguided and can be misunderstood and alienate us from the people. Members of Parliament are the servants of the
people.
The influence of the national motto might have greater
say in our belief of ourselves that we are leaders. Because it says, “To lead is to serve”. The fact that it advances the idea to lead
made us believe that we are leaders thus the second part to serve becomes insignificant.
Had the national motto constructed in the reverse
order and advances the idea of service before leadership perhaps we can clearly
see the role of parliamentarians. In
other words, if the national motto was written like “to serve is to lead” may be
it would be easy for Members of Parliament to recognize and appreciate the
roles each plays in the service of the people.
For I believe to the contrary of the national motto
and on my own philosophy of stewardship and leadership, whilst the national
motto is “to lead is to serve”, mine is to serve is to lead.
The
reason is because out of a servant born a leader, out of a leader born a
statesman. In seeking to be a servant
one has to conduct himself with humility. That is the basis of ascending the order from
servant to leader, from leader to statesman.
But again, Sir, humility comes with simplicity and so those who have
spoken about leadership have done so for longer than 30 minutes on what it is
and what it has to be. I have this to
say.
Leadership is to say what is really necessary to be said
and to mute and in every irrelevancies.
For those who were critical and said that the people and the country
have not achieved much from successive governments since independence, I have
this to say. We have no access to the
past except its history, we are here to effect actions for the present and to
work towards the future. And as we take
on the present it is always a day away on the future. We may not reach the future but we may benefit
from the present day plan for the future.
On peace for the country, Sir, I have this to ask from
all of you that we must have a peace day set aside for the country.
In
the conduct of the affairs of the country, Sir, I have this to say. If you have a right heart, the nation is
right. If your mind is clear, the nation
is clear. If your plan is practical, the
people benefit. If the people benefit
the country benefits. If the country
benefits there is much happiness and if there is happiness we will have peace
for all. If we live in peace there is
nothing to worry about except to enjoy life to the fullest and to live it in
every good way one day at a time.
I wish to conclude now by saying that we all recognize
and appreciate that our focus must be people to provide opportunities for their
participation in development and eventually to improve their life and their living.
Sir, I am amazed however at the unthinking rejections
that many who spoke have made against the content of the Speech from the Throne,
and yet also made unthinking endorsement and unthinking support at the
conclusion of their debate. How can one
reconcile both rejection and endorsement?
Sir, I end with our motor sir “To Lead is to Serve”
but in the phrase of Sir Wilfred Grandfield who said: “The service we render to
others is really the rent we pay for our room on this earth. It is obvious that man is himself a traveler
that the purpose of this world is not to have and to hold but to give and save”.
There can be no other meaning.
I thank you once again for the opportunity to
introduce the motion and thank you also to all the participants on the motion.
Mr Speaker, I
beg to move.
Motion of Thanks to His Excellency was
passed
“That the National Parliament of Solomon
Islands, in accordance with section 103(1) of the Constitution, hereby resolves
to empower the honorable Minister for Finance to authorize monies from the
Consolidated Fund, until the expiration of four months from the beginning of
the Financial Year 2007 or the coming into operations of the Appropriation Act,
2007 whichever is the earlier”.
Hon ULUFA’ALU: Mr
Speaker, I rise to move the motion standing in my name in today’s order
paper.
Mr Speaker, the motion before this
Chamber is in order provided for under section 103(1) of the Constitution. Therefore, it is in order.
Mr Speaker, the Grand Coalition for
Change Government came into office in May this year and because of what the
Government envisages to do it needs more than nine months preparation in order
to have a proper budget for launching of its plan of actions. Hence, it was seen fit that the budget be
prolonged and instead the provision of section 103 be brought into effect.
Mr Speaker, this is not the first
time this particular section of the constitution is being used. In fact this would be the fifth time since the
adoption of the Independence Order. It
is a normal provision to use whenever the government is not in a position to
bring forth the budget as scheduled.
Mr Speaker, the main reason for
delaying the budget this year is because this government that came into office
this year is determined to do things differently. Because of that the strategic plan in process
has been changed from top down to bottom up.
This is a radical change from the usual way we have adopted since the
colonial times up until independence and up until this year. Hence, we need to redirect our thoughts,
words and deeds in order to be in a position to change. And not only redirect our thoughts, words and
deeds but all of us in the country need to do that.
Our leaders in the Public Service, our politicians as leaders,
the provinces, the women, the men, the youths, the boys and girls need to
re-orient our thoughts and words and deeds.
And doing that is not an easy thing because we are used to the way we
have been doing things for more than 100 years since the colonial power established
this country as British Solomon Islands Protectorate in 1893. So for a very long time we have been doing things
the way it suit them, which is from top to down.
The strategy is from top to down because the bottom of
their plans, their strategies is actually in the colonial government then at
that time the
The strategy of top down the colonial government
adopted was based on three pillars of colonialism, which I keep saying until we
have enough of it, are divide and rule, alienation and dependent growth. Those are the three pillars.
Under the bottom up strategy, Mr Speaker, there is
need to change those three pillars to diversity in unity for nation building realizing
that our strength is in our diversity.
That is where our strength is. Our
strength is also in that unity of diversity because it was said that no two
persons are equal even twins. That is
recognition of that diversity as the essence of unity for nation building. It is only in unity can we do things. When there is no unity there is nothing we
can do and that unity is the base of the diversity.
The second pillar is legalization. Our way of life should be our laws. This is accepting the fact that we are who we
are. And who we are cannot be somebody
else, hence our way of life on how we own things and how we develop things and
how we inherit things should be the law of the land and not the other one where
it is alienation. We alienate ourselves
from our true self and try to be somebody when we cannot be that somebody.
The third pillar is interdependent growth. It means that our diversity should give us
the basis of what we are good at as individuals and collectively. And what we are good at is what we should be
developing so that we need each other and that is where the growth of love
should be found because we are indispensable to one another. That is how the government of the day is
designing its strategy to change from top down to bottom up. In fact it is the real godly way of
living. When we do that we would now
embark on the work of creation.
It is important that creation is what makes us human
beings. That image of God as the creator,
and that is what we are as creators, and the qualification for ownership is
that we are creators. We create it. If you do not create it then you do not own
it. It is simple as that.
The four words creation, ownership, compliance and
sustainability are the same. It is when
we give these words the analysis required that we can accept the real meaning
of being made in God’s image and we then are truly God’s people. It is something not to be claimed. That is what the Government is doing and to
do it is not an easy thing within the nine months of the normal budget
preparation.
As I said earlier, Mr Speaker, it is a change of our
thoughts, words and our deeds, which is not an easy thing to do. Because when you get locked up in a certain
way of doing things you think there is no other way of doing that thing. No, Sir.
We have discovered there is another way and that another way is of
essence godliness, which is recognizing our diversity as the essence of our
unity and our unity is the only way forward in building the nation.
Legalizing our way of life given to us by God is another
way. And interdependence, realizing the
differences we have as the basis of our gift should be developed to enrich our
livelihood in terms of unity. That is
the only other way out.
The perpetual state of slavery suffered by this
country as well as many other countries in the world, is a state where we
become perpetual slaves. We are slaves
in our own land. It is a very simple
thing because this country was created for them and not for us, and because it
was made for them we have to be slaves to do things for them.
The only other part of the world that has gone
slightly different from this is South East Asia, and that is why
To be able to do this will need more time for us to
put our thoughts together, our words and actions together. We need to study these things, we need to
know these things and we need to preach these things because we are talking
about ourselves. No one else will do it
for us. Even with all the money in the
world they cannot do it for us because it was never meant to be like that.
Man was created in God’s image and he does it for
himself. So with all the billion of dollars no one can do it for us except
ourselves. There is no single country in the world that is developed because it
continues receiving aid until it is developed. That is
not true. All such countries are going
backwards.
Look at the continent of Africa today, look at
In fact, during this meeting of Parliament you can see
the order in which matters from Finance have appeared. There is the supplementary appropriation bill
which was already passed, and now this motion and the next one is the actual
legislation itself to set up the strategy, the bottom up perspective. We have to do it by law in order to be able
to do it. Because there is no other way
to do it but it is the law of the land that we have to do it with.
Three
motions have been passed on this floor of Parliament in the past preparing the
way forward, and I thank the last government for accepting those three motions.
Now is the implementation of it with the
bill, Mr Speaker, a legislation so that it has the authority because only when it
is legislated on that way of doing things becomes a law and it means it is now
alive and something that is alive can grow because it is alive. When it is not a law it is void, which means it
is dead and something that is dead cannot grow. No wonder a lot of our things are legitimate
but are not lawful hence are dead.
Our land, our resources and our trees are dead and unless
we alienate them to the law they will have value and grow. That is what is happening in this country,
and not only in this country but many other countries in the world find
themselves in that situation as well, and we are not different from those
countries.
The problems we are facing these days are symptoms of
that legacy. Unless we in this country
address this legacy of us not existing, unless we make ourselves exist and become
alive we will then do things because living people can do things, can talk and
discuss. People who are void and dead
will not be able to do things. Unfortunately,
Mr Speaker we cannot change because that is not the way God meant it to be. But we have made ourselves to be dead by our
laws. We are deliberately dead by
ourselves, and it is not the act of God.
Mr Speaker, what we are doing is we ourselves
disputing the act of God. We are evoking
the wrath of God upon us because we are not doing it the way He has given to
our ancestors - the way our ancestors inherited this land. Our ancestors’ inheritance is worth nothing
as far as the law of the land is concerned but the foreign way of doing things is
worth everything. That is the denial we
are doing unto ourselves and that is why we are heading nowhere like many
developing countries in the world.
What Solomon Islands is introducing is a global
revolution and it is something that we should all be proud of to be associated
with because in a way we will help others as well. I would like to ask the Chamber that we need
to pray about these things because that is the way we should be going
forward. With divine guidance we will do
it.
The roadmap, Mr Speaker, is the basis of what we
should be doing. I ask this Chamber to
be patient with the Government and the endurance so that we get on and do it
and together we will do it. But if we
are divided we can thank no one because we shall not do it. This calls for unity, unity nationwide,
working together, sharing together, consulting together. That is what unity calls for, this new
strategy that we want to embark on.
Mr Speaker, with these few words, I do not want to
talk more because the reasons for the motion are very clear. It was something to do so that we can change
the strategy we have been developing this country ……..
With these, Mr Speaker, I beg to move.
(Debate commences)
Mr HUNIEHU: Mr Speaker, I shall be very brief in my contribution
to this very important motion seeking Parliament to agree that the National
Budget be tabled the first quarter of 2007.
Mr Speaker, I think the question that
must be asked and must be answered by every Member of Parliament is, is this
motion at this point in time in the best interest of the people of
I think the Minister of Finance may
be is genuine in asking Parliament to agree with him that the present Government
does not have enough time to prepare a Budget for presentation in this Meeting
of Parliament.
The fiscal year goes from December to December and
Mr Speaker, I can understand as to why the Minister of
Finance is asking the Parliament to defer the presentation of the Appropriation
Bill. Of course, as he had said it is
constitutional for the Minister of Finance to do what he did but, in my humble
view this is a blatant abuse of section 103 of the Constitution, which reads
“if the Appropriation Act in respect of any financial year has not come into
operation by the beginning of that financial year, the Parliament by resolution
may empower the Minister of Finance to authorize the issue of monies from the
Consolidated Fund for the purpose of meeting expenditure necessary to carry on
the public services at the level not exceeding the level of these services in
the previous financial year, until the expiration of the four months from the
beginning of that financial year or the coming into operation of the
Appropriation Act, whichever is the earlier”.
That is part of section 103 of the Constitution.
I said the Minister of Finance is abusing this section
because of my sincere belief that this Government had ample time to prepare the
budget. It is only when Parliament does
not have enough time that invoking of this section is absolutely necessary. But in this case, Mr Speaker, this Government
has ample time from April up until now to prepare for the budget and all of us
Members of Parliament have been expecting the Budget to be the main business of
Parliament this year.
The explanation given to this House and to this nation
by the Minister of Finance did not convince me one bit.
I could not understand, sense and
believe that this government does not have the time to prepare a budget. I believe that a budget can be produced within
two or three weeks if it has to be.
It is not a question of the public
service not prepared to deliver a budget to the Cabinet to approve. Mr Speaker, it is normal practice, and I am
of the opinion that the preliminary figures are already there. The structure of the budget is already
there. Is the Minister saying he has a
new structure? For the last 28 years
since independence Mr Speaker, this Parliament has debated budgets structured
on the same method. What kind of a new
structure is the Minister of Finance talking about? Is it the new bottom-up approach? No, Mr Speaker, I think it is erroneous for
him to convince himself that that is the reason for moving this budget to next
year.
The Government had already unleashed
its statement of policy in June. It has
unleashed its program of action in June or July, Mr Speaker, and these are the
documents the budget will be structured upon.
If those policy statements and programs of actions were not presented to
the people of this country by none other than the Prime Minister, then I would
agree with him. But the Prime Minister
in his introduction or unleashing of the statement said that the government has
statements of policies, it has a structure and it will deliver the bottom-up
approach, which is a new government focus to the people of this nation.
The people of this nation from day one have been
expecting the delivery of services by the notion of these documents Mr
Speaker. But where are those? Are we going to prolong the delivery of these
services for another four months next year Mr Speaker? When the budget is introduced next year say in
April or May next year then it will take another one year to implement and we
are delaying the implementation process.
This is not good enough for a government that just handpicked new
permanent secretaries to do the job, only to prolong a budget, which is a
simple document that can be produced if this side of the House is to take on
power. I think the inadequacies of the
government, the inadequacies of our officers to perform must not be used to
effect rural development in this country.
I am focused and I will not support
any actions by government, any government that delays the delivery of rural
development in this country. I will not
support any actions that delay the delivery of those important services.
The Minister said this is not a new
thing, it has happened five times before.
Of course, Mr Speaker, I am not denying that it had happened five times
before but when it happened before it was for good reasons. One was when a government was formed after
July, August or September in a fiscal year and so it needs time to prepare
themselves. When there is a change of
government after July/August and September, then of course, this is a genuine
reason to request Parliament to authorize the budget, to authorize the Minister
of Finance to expend funds under the consolidated fund for the first three or
four months of the following year. But
this is not to be and that is why I said this is a blatant abuse of the constitution
privilege, and this Parliament must not be in the business of abusing
constitutional privilege. And here the
Minister of Finance is just trying to do that.
If he cannot produce a budget then may I ask the Prime
Minister to sideline him? That is the
normal conventional way in a Cabinet system of government because we are
denying the people of this country the services they deserve. We are denying the people of this
country. We are prolonging the people of
this country, the services they require.
Is this all in the interest of the
bottom-up approach that we have been talking about Mr Speaker? I do not think so because all the actions of
the government since it took office is negative to the bottom-up approach.
The Minister was talking about top-down
approach but the top-down approach as we know, Mr Speaker, must be influenced
by donors’ funds. The donors want their
taxpayers’ funds to be expended on the areas of expenditure, the programs they
think will help our economy better than we think. That is the top-down approach because the
donors from abroad do not trust Solomon Islanders administering their
funds. If they want their funds to be expended
on RAMSI, on agriculture, on education, what can you do and what can you say
because beggars have no choice.
We are talking about a bottom-up
approach that very much hinges on some people’s aid assistance. How can
If you are talking about the bottom-up approach you
are talking about different people’s money because the development budget is
made up of more than 80% of foreign money.
And under the recurrent budget all the surplus money is what you have
paid the salaries with. There is no
surplus to talk about the bottom-up approach.
I will want to know what will be the
public service wage bill in the next budget.
We have already spent the savings we need to save in order to introduce
the bottom up approach for the benefit of the rural people of this
country.
The $200million that was saved last year has already
been expended by this government. All
the savings are gone, and all the surpluses are gone.
Hon Darcy: Point of
order Mr Speaker. The $200million
surplus the Member for East Are Are is continuing to mention in this House is
absolutely erroneous. There is no $200million
surplus made by the previous government. I want him to get his facts right before he
started flagging anything that is surplus in this House. Thank you.
Mr Huniehu: I thank him
for his clarifications. Reports were
tabled in Parliament last year, I read it and I am not talking out of nonsense.
May I ask the Minister for Development
Planning to continue speaking?
I was talking about the top-down
approach the Minister of Finance was talking about. In reality we have no control over the
top-down approach the Minister was talking about.
The only way we can have control of the top-down
approach is if we have better relationship with our donor partners. That is only how we can influence them on how
we can spend the money here. That is all
I believe. If we continue to entertain
the confrontational policies, it will be difficult for us to introduce the
bottom-up approach that we wanted.
I like the bottom-up approach, it
sounds good but like I said, I want the Minister to define how deep is the
bottom up approach he is talking about.
I want the Minister to clarify this when he winds up his motion.
Mr Speaker, the problem is that the
Minister thinks he owns this country. He
thinks that he owns Parliament. No. It is the little people in the Langa Langa
constituency, it is the little people in our constituencies who own this country. We are only servants. I think the Deputy Prime Minister puts it in
a better terminology today. I have
forgotten the word he used because I am starting to have memory lapses. But we are here as servants of the
people. It was the first time I agreed with
him that we are here to serve the people.
Yes, this is not the way we serve the people. No, Mr Speaker. As leaders and our motto ‘to lead is to
serve’, this is not the way we should be serving our people.
The delaying of the budget, Mr
Speaker, boils down to one thing. It is
because from day one the government engaged in the wrong direction. It decided to employ confrontational politics
with the legal fraternity, moving into our diplomatic fraternity, and now it is
affecting their budget.
The Minister of Finance is now saying let us mend this
relationship first before we introduce the budget when things are much clearer. I warn you, Mr Speaker, that if you remain in
power it will not be mended. Our
relationship will continue to deteriorate as long as the fugitive lawyer is the
centre of our diplomatic row, Mr Speaker.
That is the truth, Mr Speaker. Let us tell the truth, face the truth and
face the consequences of the truth. We
are no longer kids. Some of us have lost
all our hairs in this Parliament, some of us have grown from our beautiful
black hairs into what is called grey hairs now but we are still not learning.
Mr Speaker, the dignity of Parliament, the
respectability of Parliament, the honorability of Parliament and the
respectability of Parliament will be completely tarnished if we pass this kind
of motion. It has no meaning to me. You have nine months on your side to prepare
for this motion, and I can only blame yourself for not doing your work.
The Ministers, Mr Speaker, what have they been
doing? But I know that I should not
accuse them because the budget of all the ministries are already ready, and if
they are all ready why are you prolonging the budget. What sort of new money are you going to bring
in? Prolong for what?
Mr Speaker, if this motion is defeated I can assure
this House that in the next three or four weeks a budget should be ready. I have done my homework. I rang the ministries because I am the
spokesman for finance and treasury. I do
not want the mover of the motion to say when he responds that the ministries
are not ready. I have done my research
Mr Speaker. He can use other excuses but
not that excuse.
The Cabinet wants this budget this year, and the
Opposition wants this budget this year too, and the whole nation wants the
budget this year, and not next year.
Next year is time to move on, time to implement the bottom up approval. If you move it to next year we are going to
implement the bottom-up approach in 2008, and in 2008 you may not be sitting there. Who knows?
The politics of this country can change from one corner to the other
corner. It would be a great privilege,
Mr Speaker, to start implementing the bottom-up approach, which the Minister
himself and his Task Force Committee have written a big book. It is big like this, a thickest book I have
ever read. Why delay it? You have already done it two to three years
ago in your Task Force Committee. Is that
true? It is all in a big document. But when it came out of the Ministry of
Development Planning last time, the NR criticized it. It should be his thick book on the bottom-up
approach that should find its way to the floor of Parliament. There is nothing wrong with that book. You take it down and let us go ahead to
introduce it.
Mr Speaker, in conclusion, may I just remind my good
friend and the government that this motion is a blatant abuse of constitutional
provisions, which only is providing provisions for a government who has good
excuse, good reasons to request Parliament to approve funds at the same level
of expenditure this year for next year when they prepare for a budget.
Mr Speaker, I also wish to warn my Minister of Finance
that even if he introduces the new budget next year, with our current
confrontational policy with our bilateral partners, he may not find new funding
or new increases for his bottom-up approach.
And therefore, he will get more criticisms when he introduces it next
year, so this is the time to introduce the budget when these things have not yet
surfaced.
Mr Speaker, because of the statement of policy and the
program of action, the public has read it already. There is nothing wrong with the government’s
statement of policy and its program of action.
There is nothing wrong. Go ahead
and implement it. The problem is that
everyone knows about the issue of the fugitive lawyer who is now hiding in the
Solomon Islands Embassy in
With those few remarks, Mr Speaker, I oppose this
motion.
Sitting
suspended for lunch break
Parliament resumes at 1.30pm
Debate on the motion by the Minister for
Finance and Treasury continues
Mr FONO: Thank you Mr
Speaker for allowing me the floor to contribute very briefly to this very
important motion constitutionally relevant to the situation we are in which was
moved by the Minister for Finance this morning.
Mr Speaker, I thank the Minister or
Government for moving this motion in order for us not to experience any
constitutional crisis if such a motion is not passed because the budget will
not be tabled at this meeting.
Whilst I thank the Minister for
moving the motion and the constitutional requirement that allows such a motion
to come to this House, I do not accept the reasons for the delay of the Appropriation
Bill that we should meet again either next month or December to look into it.
Mr Speaker, before a budget comes to
Parliament the budget framework has to be produced by the Government of the day
outlining areas that Accounting Officers will be looking at in formulating the
budget, so that it is in line with the policy directives of the Government.
Sir, I do not see any justification for the period stated
by the Minister that the Government needs nine months before they can produce
the budget. Sir, I know that only human
beings are born after nine months but not the budget. I can see ample time since this government
took office in May this year and having produced its policy statement within
the first hundred days. I believe that
had there been political will accounting officers should have produced the
budget for the budget session to be held this year.
My understanding and also my
research, Mr Speaker, I found out that accounting officers have been directed
to send their submissions to Finance and Treasury by September last month. The period between September and December is
ample time for accounting officers, especially the Treasury Department to put
together the budget so that Parliament is convened in early December to debate
the 2007 appropriation bill.
Therefore I fail to accept the
excuse that the Government needs ample time, the Government needs about nine
months to prepare the budget. Mr
Speaker, there are quite a lot of qualified highly paid accounting officers,
and I believe if there had been proper directives, and the government with the
political will should have produced the budget so that Parliament reconvene in
early December to consider the budget for next year.
Mr Speaker, previous government’s budget framework was
normally given out in June and July and by September submissions should have
gone down to the Budget Unit within the Department of Finance to put together
the budget. Therefore, I fail to see the
justification for the delay.
As highlighted by the previous speaker, I think it is
important that the fiscal year 2007 starts off with the Grand Coalition for
Change Government’s budget. Otherwise the
so much talked about bottom up approach we are debating now will be seen as
irrelevant.
Mr Speaker, may be one of the
reasons for the delay the Minister has not highlighted was that there was no
consultative meeting with donor partners, a normal trend in previous years that
before the budget is produced there was supposed to be a donor consultative
meeting between the Solomon Islands Government and our development
partners. Why did the Government not hold
that consultative meeting over the past few months or even between now and
December? Because only then, Mr Speaker,
would the government be in a position to know the commitments of the donor
partners.
At the moment even the quarterly consultative meetings
between the government and donors is already a thing of the past. This is making it very difficult for us to
gage donor support. Our development
budget, as has been the case is 90% funded by donors whether we like it or
not. Donors continue to play a much
bigger role in providing financial support to the government.
At this state we cannot do away with aid as advocated
by certain groups or individuals. Why? Because the economic base of our nation is
narrow and we have a land tenure system where land is not available for
development no matter how much we tried.
Take for example, bigger projects like the
Mr Speaker, as I have said perhaps one of the reasons
for the delay is that the Government does not have any commitment from donors
towards the 2007 budget. I would believe
that the strategy we take in creating enemies has severed our relationship with
donors. That may have been the
contributing factor to the reason why this motion comes in at this time.
Sir,
as far as I know even donors like Australia and New Zealand are providing funds
for the recurrent budget of the government.
For example, the
Mr Speaker, it is very important
that the government holds this consultative meeting prior to the budget coming
to the House, so that we know exactly the donors’ commitment to the 2007 budget
is. At the moment I am afraid there has
not been any consultative meeting arranged before the budget as has been the trend.
Otherwise may I ask, where will money
come from to support the 2007 budget?
Our domestic revenue is not enough given the recent pay increases, the
payroll cost of public officers and we politicians.
Mr Speaker, my advice to the
government is that it must hold the consultative meeting with donor partners in
order for the Government to gage donors’ commitment. This is very important so that donors have
confidence on the government and make commitments towards the 2007 budget.
As I have said the delay can also be seen as a step
the government is taking to save its face during this diplomatic standoff
between
Mr Speaker, the delay can only be acceptable if the
proposed vote of no-confidence goes through and a new government is formed. That new government should consider the
budget for next year. If the government
is confident that it will defeat the vote of no-confidence, my advice is for
the government to call for the budget session in December because it would have
ample time. We have at least two more
months. I have information that accounting
officers have already submitted their ministerial proposals to the Budget Unit
to put together the 2007 Budget. There
is no excuse whatsoever that it is because of time factor that the government
wants to delay the budget to next year.
Mr Speaker, I am surprised as well to hear the
government business that we will not debate the Millennium Development Fund Bill
highlighted by the Minister of Finance during the debate on the supplementary
appropriation bill that we have passed. Are we considering that bill so that it paves
the way on how to implement the millennium development funding? I fail to hear that in the statement of
government business read by the Prime Minister today.
Is it true to say that the Bill did not find its way to
the floor of this House because the Prime Minister is afraid of the vote of
no-confidence and so he wanted Parliament to sine die on Wednesday, may I ask
Mr Speaker? He has the number and so he
should be confident and allow this Meeting to stand sine die on Friday to allow
time for us to debate this Millennium Development Fund Bill. This is very important so that MPs can implement
the millennium funding according to regulations laid down in that Bill. This is very important otherwise in the absence
of considering that piece of legislation the millennium fund is likely going to
be paid like the micro projects.
In the last government even the micro that was used to
be paid under Planning is quite transparent and accountable. I am surprised the current government brings
this back to Parliament to be given out as lump sum creating room for misuse
and abuse. Therefore, it is important
that the millennium funding needs to be properly accounted for through a piece
of legislation the Minister of Finance is talking about. It needs to come during this meeting so that it
is implemented according to that piece of legislation.
Mr Speaker, if we want to gain the confidence and
trust of our donor partners in implementing such funding schemes, I think it is
not only appropriate but very timely for this piece of legislation to come
through.
Mr Speaker, as also highlighted by the previous
speaker, the timing of the Budget is very important. When it comes to the fiscal year 2007, we
want to implement the bottom up approach strategy that the current government is
talking so much about. Otherwise in the
first quarter of next year we will only restrict ourselves to this year’s
budget allocation. And this year’s
budget belongs to the previous government.
Further delay is not a move in the right direction so that the Grand
Coalition could implement its programs.
People in the rural areas have very high expectations on
this government because of the much talked about bottom up approach that it advocated
very much. May be some of them have not
been using it and that is why they think it is new. Some of us have been implementing our
constituency plan, which is the bottom up because it is the people who decide
where the priorities are. We have a
model of constituency development, if anyone wants to learn more about this we
welcome you to come to Malaita and come to my constituency.
It is very important that this current government as
of next year must start implementing its bottom up approach. That is the invitation I am giving either
come to Central Kwa’arae in Malaita or Central Makira in
Mr Speaker, I see the lame excuse of requesting Parliament
through this motion for the budget to come next year as not acceptable. I would like to call on the Prime Minister and
his good government to please reconsider your decision and bring in the appropriation
bill or the relevant legislation so that Parliament is convened in early
December to discuss the 2007 Appropriation Bill.
With these few remarks, Mr
Speaker, I oppose this motion.
Mr NIUASI: Mr Speaker,
thank you very much for allowing me to talk on this important constitutional
legislation brought before us by the good Minister of Finance.
Mr Speaker, one can see that since this
government came into power in May, it has been doing a lot of things in trying
to address financial discrepancies, which have been causing a lot of problems
within the ministries. There has been a
lot of work carried out, in which some of these reports are before us, if we
have not collected them from our pigeonholes as yet, so that the Parliament has
some information about what is going on in the financial system of the
government.
Mr Speaker, besides that, the Government
when it came into power, is quite busy with the supplementation so that it is
legal for the government to spend until December. Therefore, in trying to get accurate figures
- the figures which we will put to supplementary, a lot of work needs to be done
by putting together figures and seeing where they are fit for this Government
to put supplementation before this honorable House.
Mr Speaker, the bottom up approach
development or strategy that all of us are talking about, to me, is not an easy
thing to carry out. Mr Speaker, as I
have seen myself and understand myself, these policies to some of us have been
referring to and have been translated, it would take time to turn them into
monetary values, which in fact we must be careful about how we place money
against these policies in order to work and work better for Solomon Islands.
Mr Speaker, having seen all things
and having noted the work that must be done, the Government is not intending to
delay this budget but because we knew the work that will be undertaken, the
tasks towards we will be asking the ministries to take will not be just the
same as other budget provisions we used to produce over the past years.
Mr Speaker, one should know that
over the last 28 years we were applying the standard budget to which we only
increase a provision which we think will cover the program or policies of the
government of day, and then present it to Parliament for debate. In my view, Mr Speaker, this is not the type
of budget we have been experienced. As it
is, the budget will be a program budget, which to me is individual expenditure
or its individual policies will have to be clearly identified and then valued
according to what it is supposed to be spent on.
Therefore, Mr Speaker, I can see
that unless we give enough ample time for this government to seriously draw up
a budget that would reflect the program which the government is thinking of
putting in place in 2007, we might not put the compass right, the ship might
wreck on the reef, which is what we don’t want in trying to apply our financial
needs which as leaders we want to carry out to our population as far as the
rural areas.
Mr Speaker, having listened to some
of our speakers, some have been saying, what can beggars do but accept. I must clarify this statement that my people
of West Are Are are not beggars. We have
resources which have not yet been touched.
This bottom up approach is a strategy my people are looking forward to
so that we too can decide on developments that will be conducive to our constituency
and thereafter go forward to develop our constituencies.
Mr Speaker, beggars are people who
do not have anything. I think MPs of
this honorable chamber should respect our country. We should be proud that our resources are
still intact hence we need to exploit them. Only when we have good policies and a good
budget that would address the conduciveness of the development of rural areas
financially, we cannot go in the right direction.
Therefore, Mr Speaker, this
constitutional requirement is a provision asking this honorable House to put in
place in case we collide with the legal requirement of legislation.
We are aware of what our commitments
are. As leaders ourselves we are
mandated by our voters to carry forward the developments, the programs and the
aspiration of our voters. Hence, we are
just as concern as anybody to do the right thing for this nation to be good
leaders to our constituencies and the country as a whole. Therefore, Mr Speaker, as I would illustrate
(this is a cup) four of my fingers can in but my hand cannot go in. That means not everything we want would go in
at once as all of us would like to do.
This means we got to have plans that would place them according to their
priorities so that when we put them in place they are carried out effectively and
maximum benefits should be enjoyed by our rural population to which we always
refer to as the 85% of
Having contributed to this important
constitutional legislation, all of us honorable MPs should appreciate the fact
that we are going into a new direction in which the government of the day would
like to show and prove to other nations that we are people who mean
business. We are serious and we want to
decide on what is supposed to happen in our country and then follow suit. Therefore, I do not think this piece of
constitutional legislation, which the Minister of Finance asked of us is not
timely. I think it is timely. Likewise Mr Speaker, we always refer to rural
areas and we always tell the Government what have you done so far? Mr Speaker, I think we have to be reasonable
to each other. Because we all have the
capability and we all have the qualities but we must know that we cannot do
them at once and therefore we need to expand them or to allocate them according
to their priorities as and when time comes.
Mr Speaker, I can assure the other side of the House
that the government is very much serious about the good contributions that all
of you have been putting across. We are
very much serious about the nation as a whole.
Therefore, with this brief contribution to this important constitutional
legislation, I see it as proper and should safeguard us should there be any
delays, we cannot confront ourselves with the legality of those
requirements.
Mr Speaker, I would only ask if time could be given to
us. I think patience is a good thing
because unless we are patient with each other, we cannot do anything good. But patience gives us time to think about
what we will do, what we are going to do, and how are we going to do it. Therefore, without going any further, Mr
Speaker, I support this piece of legislation.
Hon DARCY: Mr Speaker, I
would like to thank the Minister of Finance for moving this very important
motion.
Mr Speaker, this motion is very simple, simple in the
sense that it is provided for in our Constitution. Let me just remind us of that constitutional
provision that provides for this motion because it seems that we are going away
from the bounds of this motion.
Section 103(1) of the constitution states that “If the
Appropriation Act in respect of any financial year has not come into operation
by the beginning of that financial year, Parliament by resolution may empower
the Minister of Finance”. That is
basically what the Minister of Finance is seeking here. These are provisions or tools guiding the
Minister of Finance within a fiscal year to ensure that the financial resources
of the government are properly expended, the financial resources of the
government are expended in accordance to law.
I wanted to make sure that we all must understand this
aspect because quite often we think that when Ministers of Finance come in here
and make this kind of resolution, we think that Ministers of Finance are not
serious about preparing the budget. No,
Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, I want to assure this House that this Government
is absolutely serious with all the processes that we have put in place to
ensure the 2007 budget must be prepared, and well prepared before it is
presented to this House.
In fact, Mr Speaker, we have started and the work so far
has been going on very well. We will be
working very hard in the remaining months of this year to ensure the process of
budget preparation is completed. But as
you know, Mr Speaker, that task requires a lot of work because of the new
policy strategy this government is taking, and that is rural development
strategy.
We need time to talk to departments, we need time to
consult provincial governments so that we can come up with the right estimation,
with the kind of projects we need to undertake in the provinces so that we can carry
on the whole strategy of rural development.
Because of that we are saying that in spite of the
work that we are putting together right now we believe that in the remaining three
months of this year we should be able to complete the process of preparing the
budget that we may jump to the next fiscal year. We may jump into the next fiscal year.
If say, for instance, Mr Speaker, that in January next
year that we have to call for Parliament or whether it be within the first week
of January or the second week of January next year, you have to tell us what
provision are we going to use to expend government funds. What provision? It has to be this.
That is why I said these are tools provided to ensure
that the financial resources of the government are expended within the law. You must obtain that approval from this
Parliament to make sure that with all the hard work you are putting together to
prepare the budget, we must make sure that if we have to jump beyond this
fiscal year, we should expend government resources within what the law provides
for.
This is very important, because as I have said this Government
has announced that the main thrust of its policy is on rural development. In ensuring that it puts together a best
program that reflects that kind of rural development strategy, we have to work
to ensure that departments and provincial governments understand the whole
policy thrust of this government, and that we are getting the right input from
departments, the right inputs from provincial governments to ensure that it has
the best budget that will reflect the kind of rural development strategy the Government
is trying to deliver to the people.
Sir, I can understand what a lot of Members have said that
this is not a new concept, this rural development strategy. Of course, yes but we would like to avoid the
kind of rural development strategy that we have been embarking on previously where
we ended up with some problems we are facing. For instance, Mr Speaker, there
were some very well intended programs made in the past, and you know these very
well, Mr Speaker, under your regime schemes like assistance to small business, eco-tourism
funding scheme, agricultural funding scheme are put in place but do these
assistances reach the rural areas.
Mr Speaker, today this government has received reports
that have actually pointed differently. Funds have not actually reached the people
right down there in the rural areas. The
small business assistance scheme in the Ministry of Commerce, instead of going
down right down to the rural people, only people in town are using this
fund.
The eco-tourism funding is intended for our people in
the rural areas, but we have been receiving a lot of false projects in the name
of tourism but instead of going down to the people in the rural areas to really
start a tourism project, people are only using it in town. That is the kind of thing we are trying to
avoid here. So give us a little bit of
time so that we can ensure we understand where we have gone wrong with some of
these schemes in the past and make improvements.
We are not saying the budget will be delayed right up
to the end of the third quarter of next year.
No, we are doing what we can to ensure that within the remaining months
of this year we will ensure the budget is prepared.
But
in the event that we jump a little bit in the early part of next year maybe
first week of January or second week of January, surely the court of this
country has already ruled that if you come by the end of the fiscal year you
must make sure that you require the approval of Parliament before that
resources are spent.
That is basically what we are saying. If we have to call Parliament in the first
week of January, which I believe is the kind of schedule we are looking at here
or the second week of January, we will require some kind of authority from
Parliament to ensure we spend resources from the government consolidated fund
for purposes of delivering services to our people in the rural areas.
Mr Speaker, the Member of Parliament for East Are Are quite
rightly point out that over the last 28 years the budgetary system in this
country is based on what is called incremental budgeting. This is, every year we come and say let us
increase the budget by say 5% or 10%. Mr Speaker, do you know that that is exactly
why every year we have supplementary in this House.
With that incremental we are not designing programs
and projects and making the best decision on how we are spending the resources
because it is determined by that increment. We put in 5% increment and say that is enough
for that particular program. When the time
comes for us to implement the expenditure we either have a shortfall in the expenditure
or that those whom we intend to carry on those projects basically find
themselves in a very bad and awkward situation not being able to implement
those projects? Why, because it wasn’t
properly designed by them. It wasn’t them. We basically impose that expenditure to them.
We have to change that and that is what
we are trying to say here.
We are not saying that we are going to come up with a
perfect system here. What we are trying
to say here is let us try to change the way we have been doing budgeting in this
country. So that instead only us giving the
monetary ceiling to them, we ask people to come up with a submission and say
what is it that you in Temotu with an advantage in terms of economic
development or social development you will be able to carry it out and then
carried it out quite successfully, please come up with a choice, put it to the
government and the government will provide you with appropriate resources.
We are giving the choice to the people. That is the bottom up approach, and not the bottom
up referred to by the MP for East Are Are that in English it is called, bottom
up the bottle and go up, all at once, we throw it all inside. No, may be that is what we have been doing and
that is why we have gone wrong.
Now we have to make the change and we have to make a
difference. That is why it is important not
to disturb the whole process that is going on right now in planning and
designing the kind of program that will eventually be established in the budget
for 2007.
Obviously as what I’ve said we have the risk of
running over this current fiscal year into next year. If we have to run over into next year, that is
why this provision is here. I must say
that it is one provision that we to thank our founding fathers, and the
architects of our constitution to see it fit to be included in our constitution
so that we do not go in the wrong direction the way we manage the financial
resources of our people and of the government of this country.
Sir, if time allows us and I know that all our people,
the skillful human resource in our departments and also our provincial
governments are working very hard right now, if time is right and that we are
able to get the best input and efforts from our people, we should be able to
have a budget that next year, if we come in here, we will be able to debate it
properly, and in the context that the government has sets its agenda for this
country to move on from here on, and that is growing the economy through
encouraging our rural economy so that they can become part of tax payers of
this country.
Right now we are talking about economic growth in
Sir, if we our rural people included and actively
participating in contributing towards our tax system, Mr Speaker, we can all
say this country has grown. The grown in
the economy of
Mr Speaker, just a recap on this motion, it is a very
simple motion, a motion that is provided for in our constitution. It is a motion that allows the Minister of
Finance an additional tool to ensure that he spends the resources of the people
and government of this country according to law and to ensure that we give time
to properly undertake the preparation of the budget in accordance with the
policy direction of the government.
With those few remarks, Mr Speaker, I would like to
ask you all to support this motion.
Mr
The motion reads that “the National Parliament of
Solomon Islands, in accordance with section 103(1) of the constitution, hereby
resolves to empower the Minister of Finance to authorize the issue of monies
from the consolidated fund”. And this is where I have some difficulties, “until
the expiration of four months from the beginning of the financial year 2007 or
the coming into operation of the Appropriation Act 2007. But I gain some consolation whichever is the end.
Mr Speaker, I will briefly deliberate on this motion and
will be coming in from three angles.
Firstly, Mr Speaker, as an independent elected Member of Parliament for
South New Georgia Rendova and Tetepari constituency, secondly as the Chairman,
of the Public Accounts Committee, and thirdly as a government backbencher.
Mr Speaker, quite frankly I have some difficulties in absorbing
this motion. When I first read it on
Friday, I was honestly of the view that I think government has to be serious in
its approach in terms of the 2007 appropriation bill. But that said, as I have said I am coming
from three dimensions.
Mr Speaker, the Government was elected into office for
almost six months and I think and believe it has came up with some drastic
policies that would wish to really address the issues this country has gone
through over the last 28 years.
On that note, Mr Speaker, I am a little bit saddened
by the comments made by the Member of Parliament for East Are Are when he labeled
our people as beggars or this country as beggars. Mr Speaker, I think that is a sad comment to
make, especially from a leader who has been in Parliament for almost four terms
or almost 16 years.
The people of this country are people represented by their
Members of Parliament and if they are being seen as beggars, it is very
unfortunate. Very unfortunate in the
sense that those people are in positions they are in today not because of
choice or not because of their own making, but because of the actions and
because of the policies that governments, past governments have failed to
address situations this country has gone through. And so it will be unfair to call our people
or this country is begging country or people or beggars.
Mr Speaker, giving an opened envelop or open approval
to the government to allow it deliberate on the 2007 appropriation bill, whilst
it would be convenient for the purposes providence of satisfying that
requirement of the constitution, it would be very unfair for the government to
see that as a buffer for it be complacent in terms of the preparation of the
2007 appropriation bill.
I would therefore, Mr Speaker, call on the government,
the department of Finance, the department of National Planning and Aid
Coordination and the officials to use this opportunity to work out on the
framework.
However, having said that, Mr Speaker, I am coming in
from another angle as a government backbencher.
This government has obviously come up with policies that are
constituency focused, people centered and growth oriented which have been
lacking for the last 27 years.
In order for any government for that matter to be able
to realize these goals or these policies into workable programs, the
appropriate budget framework must be worked out to be able to address the
appropriate sectors.
Like the Minister of Planning has rightly stated, Mr
Speaker, there have been some very good policy intentions by the last
government. Unfortunately those policies
have not reached the people in which they are intended to address or serve. That is why it is important that this
government, the Grand Coalition for Change Government came up with must be
truly reflected in the new budget approach that it intends to present to
Parliament.
Mr Speaker, for the last 27 years, this Parliament has
approved budgets based on incremental basis. For that matter unless we have crystal ball to
be able to realistically focus how much we will earn and how much spending we
intend to incur, we will continue to raise in this Parliament supplementary
appropriation bills. And maybe for that
matter too, Mr Speaker, the government sees it fit to seek this provision under
the Constitution.
The other approach, Mr Speaker, in terms of budget
preparation is a zero based budget. I
think this is where the government intends to really focus its attention in
terms of the new framework that endeavors to address the bottom up
approach.
Mr Speaker, I have been given by the government over
the last weekend a small task to come up with a new framework to address the
bottom up rural centre approach.
Mr Speaker, I am pleased to report to Parliament that
I will be presenting to Government Caucus tomorrow this proposed new framework
based on the conventional approach to combine the recurrent budget and the
development budget and endeavoring to address the issues that have arisen over
the last years. I think this is the very
reason why this government has seen it fit to seek Parliament’s approval to
extend the timing which the appropriation bill 2007 is to be presented to
Parliament. But that said, Mr Speaker,
coming back to the point where I am coming from, as an independent member, the
government must not be complacent in terms of budget preparation and not in the
full four months of 2007.
But I would be standing behind the government to
support it in terms of its budget preparation and to ensure that our
constituencies are properly focused on because it has been the intention of
this government to make sure our constituencies would be the central focus of
economic growth centres. This has been
lacking in the last twenty seven years.
Mr Speaker, budgets are very easy
tools to prepare. But whilst it is going
to be a daunting task to try and truly focus on the bottom-up approach, Mr
Speaker, the central focus is that all budgets are revenue driven. But in this new approach, it intends to draw
up the budget on a demand driven basis. This
is where we are going to strike the best balance between the two approaches - a
revenue driven approach and a demand driven approach.
I think and believe there are capable members on the
government bench and also on my committee who would be prepared to assist the
government to try and get this focus to fruition.
Mr Speaker, with those very few
comments, I would want to sincerely ask my government, the Minister of Finance,
Minister of Planning, the Minister of Mines, Foreign Affairs and all my very
good hard working Ministers to work together to be able to bring this new
approach so that Parliament would be given the opportunity to properly
scrutinize the 2007 Appropriation Bill so that we do not come to repeat the
same approaches where we have continuously put supplementary appropriation
bills.
Mr Speaker, with those comments,
when I came in here I half-heartedly support it but now I support the motion by
the Honorable Minister for Finance, and I will continue to seek him and his
officials. I have used one word over the
week where I have labeled them as incompetent, but if that is harsh, this
preparation of the officials Mr Speaker, then it can be seen from a positive
point. It is to really encourage them to
prove their worth in the department. But
that said Mr Speaker, Ministers and government, please let us get this budget
framework together over the next few days, and try and put numbers that truly
reflect the policies of the government to try and address the bottom-up concept
which is going to be a new thing for this Parliament and for this country.
With those remarks, Mr Speaker, I
support the motion.
Mr TOZAKA: Mr Speaker, thank
you for allowing me to contribute to this motion.
Mr Speaker, I rise to contribute to the motion moved
by the Honorable Minister for Finance and Treasury to consider approval in
Parliament of the respective Minister for authorization of monies in the
consolidated fund in the time frame according to the motion. Mr Speaker, I would also like to thank him
for moving this motion.
Mr Speaker, at the outset I would
like to register my disappointment on the government’s failure to produce this
fundamental public policy tool to implement the development and operational
program of the government to address the real issues facing our people and
country at this point of time.
Mr Speaker, having listened
carefully to the mover of the motion, I am not convinced of the reasons given
why the budget has to be delayed and not tabled this time to this honorable
House for consideration and approval.
Sir, six months is a lot of time to
produce this work especially with the luxurious and magnitude of skillful
manpower the government has through the partnership arrangement with
RAMSI. We have a lot of time. Six months is a lot of time. And most of us including myself have been
confronted in the past in times like this when government was requested to come
up with a budget, and we had to sit down, we have to produce the job in time as
directed by the government.
Time here is of essence Mr Speaker. It is very important in our relationship with
the other two pillars of organization that are here with us to rebuild this
nation. I will come back to that later.
Mr Speaker, what is the real delay of
this budget? Sir, work is important,
work and producing, work hard and producing results. We have to sweat. We have to be committed, we have to be
dedicated, we have to have allegiance, we have to be allegiance to our
government.
If the government wants us to
produce this work we have to do it with respect. We have to learn how to humble
ourselves. We have to learn how to
appreciate the fact that true I failed in governing the country. I have failed in these areas for not
governing this country properly.
Therefore, I have requested friends to come and help me give me back the
sovereignty that I lost, Mr Speaker.
Another key here is the question of
how do we sustain? How are we going to
hold this sovereignty so that we do not derail back to the pre ethnic tension?
When I look at the situation under
the microscope of the principle for good governance, transparency,
accountability, this motion failed in three accounts of the principle, Mr
Speaker.
If some of us, Solomon Islanders are
questioning the credibility of this motion, how do we expect others outside coming
to help us rebuild this nation will not question us whether we are true or not.
Mr Speaker, the honorable mover of
the motion, the honorable Minister talked about three pillars. I endorse that. There are three pillars in our institution
building here right now. One is
government, the second is the donors, and the third is the mission that we ask
to come and help us. Those are the three
pillars.
These three pillars have their own
diversities and they have their own characteristics in carrying out their
business. It is not an easy task to
coordinate and communicate with these three pillars and who they are. But the upper hand that we have in our
country is that we own this nation. We
are the government or in fact you are the government. Therefore, Mr Speaker, I can see the
difficulties here. The problem of
sitting down together and addressing this issue collectively. Appreciating each other that one has the
skill the other does not, some of the incapacities that we do not have. This is the time when the countries
representing the
Mr Speaker, having said that the arrival
of this
This initiative, Mr Speaker, by the
outgoing government has encouraged confidence and trust on the part of donors
and investors to resume working together with us and our people. Therefore, Mr
Speaker, in the context of this motion, it reflects badly on our capacity and
on our capability to govern ourselves properly.
It sends a message of the old familiar characteristic, symptoms and
patterns that questions our credibility and dignity.
Mr Speaker, this is not a forward
movement. This is a repetitive forward
and backward movement leading things to speculation. We do not know which way we are going. We are going forward and going
backwards.
I am one hundred percent will put my hands up in
support of the Government’s policy on rural development and the nature and
mechanisms it proposed to put in place to move this development. I am one hundred percent supportive of that,
and I am also in support of the government’s message of change. I subscribe to that.
This motion is bringing us back to
where we were before and does not reflect the forward movement, Mr
Speaker. It is putting us back.
Those of us on this side of the House would like to
work together with you, and that is what is called ‘unity in diversity’, which
our country depends upon in returning this country back to normalcy. We have to work together, but that is not
shown by this motion.
Mr Speaker, having said that Solomon
Islands is no longer a cocoon. We are no
longer lonely people anymore. We are
part and parcel of the family of nations.
We are part of the globalization program whether we like it or not but
we are part of it. What that means, Mr
Speaker, is that we have to play our part to able to participate in the world
economy.
We have signed conventions and
protocols with international organizations.
And those international organizations and those countries that we have
signed these protocols with have their own timings. They have their own time too. They have their own budgets too like us.
The question here is, are they going to wait for us Mr
Speaker, while we attend to our budget like this? They know that our budget is operational from
January to the end of the year, and normally at this time of the year we meet
to talk about our national budget ready for next year. Everybody knows
that. This year when we are not doing
that they are asking what is wrong with us.
Sir, we have to pay up our debts
too. We say we are all right but we have
millions of dollars indebted to other organizations. Now we are going to pay these debts according
to their timing. How does this motion
help us to address these debts? Since we
are representing our people, how do our people see this motion today?
Mr Speaker, the message that we are
telling our people now in this motion is a ‘waiting’ message, hiding out
mentality. That is where it comes from –
hiding out mentality. We are saying ‘wait,
wait, wait, it is okay, tomorrow, it will come tomorrow’. We are telling our people not to worry sit
back and relax, everything is all right.
Does this message sound familiar to
us? Yes, it sounds familiar to us. That is why we want to make a change. We have to make a change and I am glad that
the Government has called itself the Grand Coalition of Change. I was looking for that change to take effect
in this budget and not waiting but move on.
Let us move the nation forward as our people want it so.
Mr Speaker, the working together of
the three key organizations I have already stated is the key to sustainability
and reconstruction of this country. Our
hope is in unity in diversity. We must
unite together. We must work together.
The initiative to bring about improved
leadership management and coordination on this partnership is an essence of
what we need in nation building.
Mr Speaker, if the government of the
day has not taken control of this very important role of coordinating the three
arms, the three institutions that I referred to, then I urge the government that
it does so because I see that the way forward is based on our working together
with these three arms.
I know, Mr Speaker, that human as we
are we have our own diversities, we have our pride. We have pride on where we come from. But in this situation, Mr Speaker, as leaders
we have to forget our strong feelings.
We have to put aside our strong feelings and we have to work in the best
interest of our people and country.
Sir, with these few comments, I
resume my seat.
Mr HAOMAE: Mr Speaker, I
am duty bound to thank the honorable Minister of Finance for moving this motion
on the floor of this Parliament. I shall,
in debating the motion, offer some observations. Some based on experience pertaining to the
operation of Parliament.
In my view, I submit that all constitutional
provisions are there for something. They
are included in the constitution to provide for something. Hence, section 103 of the Constitution can
only be utilized if certain preconditions are met. When those situations or circumstances are
not there, I submit to you that this provision should not apply.
As I have said at the outset, Mr Speaker, all
constitutional provisions are there for their own respective purposes. If the circumstances at that point in time affecting
In my view, Mr Speaker, this
particular provision of the constitution can only be utilized if three preconditions
are met. The first precondition is when a
budget is defeated then that constitutional provision applies. The second precondition is if the government is
formed in the latter part of the year, say, October, November or December
whether through political situations or because a general election happens
during that particular time.
The honorable Leader of Opposition was correct in
observing that if this motion of no-confidence goes through then that condition
applies because the government is formed at a latter part of the year, it shall
use that particular provision, then it is not abuse.
The third precondition is when a general election is held
at the latter part of the year and the new government has no time to put its
policies and programs together, budget guidelines together then that particular
provision can be utilized.
The question therefore arises whether the government
has ample time to put the budget together.
I wish to offer you some observations on the history of this motion in Parliament.
The first of such a motion was moved in 1979 when the
honourable Minister of Finance now was the Leader of Opposition and the budget
was defeated. So the honourable Minister
then moved this constitutional provision so that the government can utilize the
funds on the same level of that particular year until a new budget is
prepared. That situation, Mr Speaker, I
submit to you meets the criteria and conditions to make this constitutional
provision utilized.
In 1980, the general election was
held and the government then submitted its budget just in time. Just an observation on that.
There
was a change of government in 1981 but the Government, and I think the present
Minister of Finance was Minister of Finance at that time, and he prepared the
budget. The budget went through as usual
just like his time now, and that is why I am debating this motion with a bit of
disappointment.
The 1984 General Election was
okay. The 1989 general election was also
straightforward. In 1993 general
election, the National Coalition Partnership Government came into office in
June that year. (I am speaking from
experience because I was a Member of Parliament at that time too).
The Government at that time came up with very brand
new ideas. The development of rural land
and the Land Recording Act was also their idea.
That was a really new thing like the bottom up approach we are now
talking about. I was in Parliament at that time on this same seat when it was
introduced. It was a new one and the
budget was to follow the programs at that time.
They came into power in June and with all the new programs, with all of
their new thinking to change the framework of the budget to make it compatible
and palatable with their new ideas to address land as a front to advance the economic
development of this country. They were
performing. They also said their budget
is also a program budget and not an incremental budget. I really disagree with the MP for West Are
Are on that point.
The program of the government then
and their budget is a program budget.
The MP for West Are Are at that time was in Finance and they put
everything right. It was a program
budget but they were able to do it within the time provided for by Parliament
and the budget was brought to Parliament in November.
In 1997, Mr Speaker, the budget at
that time also came in at the right time.
The Government at that time led by the honorable Finance Minister had their
reform programs very good ones, and I supported them that time. New thinking, very new. It sort of intermixed with old thinking but
it is also a new thinking like the present government is advancing now. It is a new thinking. They did not call it bottom up approach but it
was also a new thinking. But they did
produce a budget during that time.
The argument that previous budgets
were incremental budgets, I totally disagree with that. In 1993 I was there at the creation of the
budget and so was in 1997.
This idea of previous budgets as incremental budgets as
was mentioned by the Minister of Planning, I totally disagree with him because
the evidence shows otherwise. The
government at that time came up with brand new ideas like what we have now but
they managed. They put together their
programs and manage to bring the budget to Parliament.
I want to submit that to you, Mr Speaker, just to
underlie a bit of my disappointment. My
observations are not meant to belittle anyone nor to be critical. I am offering my observations and comments for
purposes of making improvements.
Therefore, it all boils down in my
view to what is called ‘performance’, whether the government is performing or
the interest of half million, 500,000 people of this nation.
I am asking a question, Mr Speaker, I am not passing
any judgment. I am asking a question
whether the government is performing, in view of the fact that the budget is still
to come. Because in leadership, in
governing the affairs of the state or province or whatever, there is also such
a thing as paralysis of analysis where you analyze every time and nothing
happens. I would like to impress this on
the Minister for National Planning so that he does not go into this disease
called paralysis of analysis. Because in
the event that he goes in, nothing will happen and I am worrying about the
performance of the government.
I want to join my Leader of Opposition in asking why is
the bill promised by the Minister of Finance last week still not brought to
Parliament. If money is given it must go
by structure so that the money can flow.
That was what the Minister of Planning was saying today about certain
programs in certain Ministries that were abused whether by politicians or
Ministers, I do not know because I am a new MP or whether by Public Servants who
were responsible for those funds. But
they must go by structure, and that is why this bill is important because we in
Small Malaita are ready.
When you talk about the bottom up approach - the
approach from right down and going up and simultaneously it goes up and down as
consultation process. I believe other
constituencies in the country are also ready.
So why do we delay the budget?
This then leads me to the question of performance. Otherwise we are just playing around with
ourselves. Some of us are serious
because we are leaders of our nation. We
are put here to ensure we provide that particular leadership.
I researched
the whole thing so that I could debate the millennium bill but it did not
come. I am not too sure whether it is
due to other concentrations. That will
be explained by the Minister of Finance but certain constituencies in the
country are already in gear for purposes of the bottom up approach and it looks
as though next year there will be nothing.
If the structure is not there I would like to caution the Minister of
Finance not to give us money. The
structure must be n place for purposes of ensuring the developments take place
because they must be coordinated and it must be top tail within the provincial
government system that is in place at the moment. That is my short contribution.
Sir, I am beginning to question the
performance of the government, in view, of the fact that the budget has been
deferred for next year. There is no
Parliament that I have been in that deferred its budget. The governments before have their programs
too, like the one you have this time.
They also did new things in 1993 and 1997, and is not an incremental
budgets but budgets carried out by programs.
In fact, Mr Speaker, a program
budget is very easy. As long as you have
the right information it is only a matter of moving heads and subheads. The development budget is much more easier if
you know what you are doing. If the
policies are already there, the policy statements - the framework, which guides
the budget guidelines and it is the budget guidelines that guide the Ministers
and its officials on the budgets of their respective ministries.
I was a public servant at one time,
Mr Speaker, and a Minister also at one time, and so that would be very easy for
me. I can do it in about one day rather
than six months. That is why I think
being in power for six months and asking to delay the budget to next year, to
me is not in the best thinking. I think I
have to take this motion with a lot of disappointment but I will give the
government the benefit of doubt at this particular point in time.
As I said at the outset, Mr Speaker,
if my contribution in one way or another appears to be critical then it is not
my intention, and also it is not meant to belittle anyone. I am merely offering observations from the
perspective, and I want the government to perform for the people of this
nation.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I resume
my seat.
(applause)
Hon Ulufa’alu: Mr Speaker, I
rise to wind up the debate on this motion.
Mr Speaker, all those who have spoken spoke well of
the motion and all agree that it is a motion provided for by the
constitution. Its timing is where
everyone has different opinions.
Mr Speaker, the change of the budget from the usual increment
to demand full budgetary strategy are different things. The one which the government of the day hopes
to pursue is demanding creation so that when you make something you make something
that is on demand where people will buy it.
You do not make something that just sits down there that people do not
buy. That is what has been happening in
the past where our strategy has been supply strategy, and because it is supply strategy
we are left at the mercy of our importers.
Hence whatever they give to us is all we get whereas here we are trying
to look at what this country needs amongst ourselves so that it is demand
oriented so that we produce things that there are people to buy. This is making the economy growing internally
rather than externally all the time.
That is the change in the strategy to this budget. ]
To be able to bring about that change we need to
reorient our thinking process, our talking process, our deeds process, we need
to rethink these things, and we need to look at them and study them.
Our officials, Mr Speaker, our expertise do not
necessarily have the relevant training on this kind of budget strategy. Hence they will need time to study matters,
and that is what we are merely asking for here.
I am surprised that Members who have spoken continue to place the
emphasis on incremental budget which is supply - an induced type of
budgeting. That is not a surprise because
that is what the colonial masters led us to believe that that is the way to go
forward to produce things to supply them and they decide at what price whether
it is one dollar for one metric ton or two dollar per metric that does not
matter. Is that not what we have been
having in the past, Mr Speaker?
Our budget strategy is supply induced whereas what we
are trying to design here is a demand driven budget strategy so that it is
driven by what we need. In fact it will
be based on our needs and not somebody else’s need.
That itself is a major shift from one type of strategy
to another. It is a major shift, and
that shift needs to be studied closely and to be taught. Even honorable Members of this chamber do not
know this, and yet we pride ourselves as knowing it.
No, Mr Speaker, we do not know but that does not mean
we cannot learn from it. We can because
everything is within the reach of man believing that we are all made in God’s
image. So it is within our reach but we
have to be dedicated towards that objective.
Our lifestyle must be geared towards achieving that kind of objective.
If we
are making a lip service of it Mr Speaker, it will be just another lip service
which has happened in the past where people talk about people centred
development, people talk doing things for the people and yet it was not for the
people but for some living ghosts from Anagoa that we have been saving.
That is what this budget strategy is all about Mr
Speaker, and it is a pity that honorable colleagues in this Chamber did not seem
to understand this. They still think that
we should go the old way, the incremental way the supply way because that is
the way we should be doing things. .
We tried that for more than a hundred years but it did
not work. Do we still have to continue
another hundred years doing the same thing that did not work? It is logical therefore to try something else
so that might work, Mr Speaker? There
are regions in the world today who changed their budget strategy to demand
driven that are growing faster in the world today than this country. So that is what we should be doing.
Mr Speaker, I fail to see the argument that honorable
colleagues in this chamber have been fostering.
But that does not surprise me, Mr Speaker, because most of the time we
do not know what we are talking about.
We claimed to know when in fact we do not know.
Mr Speaker, the time is now come for us to open
ourselves up, and start to learn some new things because the old ones did not
seem to work, and the old ones seem to take us nowhere.
Mr Speaker, our bureaucracy has to be reoriented in their
thinking process, in their talking process and in their action process. It is what you think that you say, and it is
what you say that you do, then you are right.
But if you think differently, you talk differently and you do it
differently, what a world this will be. There
will be no one living with you in that world.
Is that not what we have been doing in this country for all these years?
Mr Speaker, give this government an opportunity to do
what it advocates to do, and help it through unity to do it so that all of us can
build this nation, not only for ourselves but more so for our children who are
going to be our judge as to whether we have done a good job or not. Some of us, Mr Speaker, may pass away from
the face of the earth in shame.
Sir, that is what this motion is all about. It is trying to argue the case to give the
government time to do a good job of what it proposes to do. There is wisdom in having time. There is wisdom in giving yourself time to do
things properly, and there is brutality in doing things quickly.
With those few comments, Mr Speaker, I beg to move.
The motion is carried
Hon Sogavare: Mr Speaker, I beg to move that this House do
now adjourn.
The House adjourned at 3:45 p.m.