The Native Iowan

Was up before the birds this morn. Ready to fly back to the islands. Had to finish packing up and shutting the house down. The car coming to get me was a bit late. Traffic into the airport was a bit stiff. I rocked up with 45 minutes to boarding. Got through and to the gate with the sign flashing 15 minutes to boarding.

Then an announcement… we’re being delayed an hour.

So I kick my shoes off and have a good look around. It is a drizzly day. A damp chill fills the air. As I sat down a couple children were being rambunctious. The little girl came up and started talking to me. Her name is Sky. I joked with the parents and admired the two kids until the went to catch tehir flight to Fiji. Nice to get a 3 year-old fix, even if it was a short one. Mom and dad were nice, relaxed people.

This trip to Queensland was both fulfilling and  a waste. I got a lot of work done. Drove all over hell and creation to find things for the Alcol. Got some good work on the Ta Moko. Maybe started my acclimatization for the upcoming trip to the States. All in all good but the trip sucked from a bike-riding point of view.

It has been simply too cold to ride. There was a week of rain but, if it had been warm rain, I may have considered a ride. but it was too dern cold. Yesterday I took each bike for a ride. I took the 1200 up the highway a ways and drove back south by the sunshine highway. I took the 800 out later, right at dusk, and froze. I did not get far. Once the sun was gone it was simply too, too dern cold to ride.

So I am bummed by that but all else is great.

A couple planes just took off so the area here is pretty empty.

I have watched a younger gal have troubles with her day… She was urgently buying a ticket to Auckland when I was checking in. She was behind schedule and late and all frazzled. I told her it was all OK, or could be worse… I just saw her… she missed her flight. I think she has the worse now. She struck me as a disorganised person and thus is paying for such now. Hope it’s not too much of a drama for her.

The guy behind me is making business call as he sits and waits. His conversations are sadly mundane if not inane.

I am a bit mind boggled how public our lives have become. People are so calloused to the public display of personal life. I just watched a young fellow walk by giving his gal’s arse a good massaging. Call me old fashioned…

They just called my flight… Gotta fly…

PM under fire: Opposition hit back with fresh allegations

OPPOSITION Leader Dr Derek Sikua has called on Prime Minister Danny Philip to stop interfering in operations of the country’s state-owned enterprises.

The Opposition yesterday launched yet another attack with fresh allegations against the Prime Minister.

This followed allegations of corruption regarding the sale of a Government house to the Member of Parliament for West Honiara Namson Tran and the SIEA debt settlement arrangement by a local company.

Dr Sikua made the call after obtaining a copy of a letter by the Prime Minister himself directing the board of the Copra Export Marketing Authority to issue an immediate copra export license to ‘M.H. Cash and Carry Supermarket Limited’ a new foreign investor.

The Opposition Leader said the action by the Prime Minister is yet again another case of his abuse of his official position and also undermined the power vested in the CEMA board by the State-owned Enterprises Act for the issuance of commodities export licenses.

Dr Sikua said the Opposition believed Prime Minister Philip could have vested interests in the ‘M.H. Cash& Carry Limited’- a subsidiary of the W.R Carpenter Group – a Malaysian company – which has major investments in Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Tonga or else he would not have taken the time to write the letter.

He said the Opposition was considering to take the matter up with the Leadership Code Commission to add on to the Prime Minister’s other alleged corruptive deals.

“The Opposition is gravely concerned about the Prime Minister’s continuing abuse of his position and we will certainly consider reporting the matter to the LCC for investigation.”

Dr Sikua said Solomon Islands cannot afford to have a Prime Minister who spends his official time writing letters of directives to the state-owned enterprises for the benefit of himself and his cronies.

“He is supposed to serve the national interest, not the interests of a few people or companies,” Dr Sikua said.

Golly… talk about the pot calling the kettle black…

Lilo orders sacking of top officials

Lilo has ordered the sacking of three top government officials.

FINANCE Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo has ordered the sacking of three top government officials within the ministry.

Mr Lilo has directed his permanent secretary Shadrack Fanega to recommend to the Public Service Commission (PSC) to terminate the three officers.
However, it is still unclear who the officers are.

The sacking comes as a result of an initiative by the minister to tackle and clean up corruption within his ministry.

Mr Lilo said the ministry is currently taking tough actions against dishonest officers who are trying to defraud the Government.

Meanwhile, the ministry’s permanent secretary Shadrack Fanega has advised ministries that incident of maladministration, fraud and corruption by government officers and suppliers will not be tolerated.

Therefore, all suspicious claims are to be referred immediately to the internal Audit Unit for investigation.

The ministry has recently uncovered a number of cases of misuse of public funds by officials in Government ministries due to fraudulent procurement practices.

Mr Fanega noted that MoFT Internal Audit has recently discovered several suspected cases of fraud and corruption by public officers and suppliers.

He said the cases have already been referred to the police for investigations.

These cases relate to the provision of information technology equipment and stationer.

Mr Fanega cited examples of:

· A public officer employed at one ministry undertaking private employment on behalf of his company in core public sector working hours, with the Government paying substantial amounts of money for goods and services to this suppler

· Quotes being falsely prepared and submitted with the supplier’s bid in relation to competitor companies, ensuring that the supplier was the ‘preferred’ supplier and judged least expensive; and

· In some ministries the amount of money spent on IT toners and cartridges was in excess of amounts that could be reasonably used.

Mr Fanega added that MoFT is also working with the ministry of Public Service on this issue and a number of public officials have been suspended from their posts pending the outcome of investigations.

Mr Fanega confirmed that MOFT would continue to send all suspected claims to the internal audit and to the police for investigation.

He affirmed that instances of maladministration, fraud and corruption divert scarce resources away from essential government services such as health, education and infrastructure development.

“In addition, fraud and corruption by government officials jeopardizes future funding support from donor countries,” he said.

“In future, the government will only be undertaking business with suppliers that are registered to undertake business and registered to meet their tax obligation.”

In the meantime, Mr Fanega called on those with specific information of suspected maladministration, fraud or corrupt practices being carried out by public officials to report it to the internal Audit Unit to the ministry.

George is a long time aparatchick and a close cousin to the PM… I wonder what is a foot when a long time crony like George gets the ax…

Foreign Affairs PS fired

FOREIGN Affairs and External Trade permanent secretary George Hiele has been reportedly terminated from office, sources within the ministry say.

However, the ministry has played down Mr Hiele’s removal stating that he was reshuffled to take up his new post in the Western Province as the provincial secretary.
Reasons behind his sacking are unknown but it is understood he vacated office Friday last week.

The Solomon Star understands Mr Hiele was replaced by trade expert and former Solomon Islands ambassador to Brussels Robert Sisilo.

Mr Sisilo was a former foreign affairs secretary in Nauru as well as the former Pacific Islands Forum permanent representative at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva.

It is understood the decision has not go down well with some top officials within the ministry as well as Mr Hiele.

The Solomon Star contacted Mr Hiele yesterday but he refused to comment.

“I have no comments,” Mr Hiele said in a harsh tone and hanged up before the Solomon Star could ask him questions.

The source said Mr Hiele’s removal has shocked a lot of officers within the ministry itself as Mr Hiele is one of the longest serving and well-respected officers in the public service.

“The choice of appointing or reshuffling permanent secretaries is the prerogative of the prime minister and his ministers but we understand this is not the case,” the source said.

According to the source, the move to eliminate Mr Hiele was orchestrated by some senior appointees within the ministry.

The Solomon Star could not get comments from the newly appointed Mr Sisilo or the Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Shanel because they left for Port Moresby to attend a ministerial meeting yesterday.

The Solomon Star understands in the past permanent secretaries are appointed by the Public Service Commission.

But in recent years, permanent secretaries have become the prerogative of the Prime Minister and his Cabinet ministers.

Therefore, with the country’s political system in which the ruling Government is not always stable, permanent secretaries posts are not always stable as well, although past Governments prefer not to make any changes when they come into power.

Last month two of the female permanent secretaries, Jane Waitara and Mylyn Kuve were also replaced.