The Native Iowan

EII regional director Lawrence Makili

THE dolphin saga is far from over as villagers in Walande and Fanalei, South Malaita expressed that they were still unhappy with how the funds had been disbursed to the two communities.

The Earth Island Institute (EII) regional director Lawrence Makili and EII director international Mark Berman this week made a high level visit to the two communities purposely to get feedback from them if they were happy or not after the first trend was released last month.

A total of $300,000 was released during the first trend in which the communities shared $150,000 each.

It was never going to be an easy task as both communities had their own differences during the heated debate.

These were some of the issues raised in both villages;

• Villagers want the money to be diverted straight to the community so that they can meet their needs.
• Villagers do not want existing Fanalei/Walande Honiara based communities to be involved in handling the money.
• Villagers complained money received was too small and some households got larger amounts than others.
• They questioned EII if they were still going to receive $200,000 per household as agreed during the signing of the MOU April last month.
• They questioned why the money was not released on time.

In response to their queries, Mr Makili explained that the fault was not theirs because the ongoing row between the different communities in Honiara and in the village had delayed the process.

“We should already be receiving the second trend but because you people can’t unite and work together things had to be delayed. Everything was done according to the MOU as agreed when we signed the MOU last year in Fanalei,” he told both communities.

Mr Makili also explained that they would stick to the MOU which stated that each household would receive $200,000 each.

However, he said it would not come as a whole package but as different trends.

It was understood that only families registered during the signing of the MOU would benefit from the save dolphin project.

This means that extended families that moved into both communities after the signing and their names were not on the list are likely to miss out.

Mr Makili explained that they would stick with the MOU and they would not make any changes until the MOU is reviewed April 2012.

“The most important thing is working together amongst yourselves and this includes communities both in Honiara and within the village. Because it seemed that some people have different motives. We are committed to helping you people but you must help yourselves first so that the project would be successful,” he said.

During the visit EII also discussed ways of improving the disbursement of the funds to both communities.
Both communities agreed and concluded that all affairs of the project would be looked after by their Honiara based communities where funds would be facilitated.