THE Parliamentary Opposition Group has hit back at the Prime Minister’s response regarding the $387 million Kilufi’i hospital project.
The Prime Minister on Tuesday has described the $387 million figure as laughable, questioning where the Opposition got its figures from.
But in a statement, the Opposition Group said it is a pity that the Prime Minister must be suffering from amnesia.
“The Prime Minister should not be laughing but seriously concerned that the $387 million figure came out from his meeting with Nazar Group of Company executives in his office in April, which was published in both the Solomon Star and Island Sun on Tuesday April 14th 2015,” the statement said.
“Obviously the Prime Minister is suffering from short memory that he could not remember the meeting which was widely published locally and internationally in which an official statement was issued from the Office of the Prime Minister & Cabinet (OPMC) itself,” it added.
The Opposition Group says it would like to remind the Prime Minister that he uttered the following words in reply to the Turkish company during the meeting:
“I am very pleased with your investment plans. You have come at the right time when my government is faced with the challenge of fulfilling its policy intentions and meeting the high expectations of its citizens.
“Indeed your readiness to provide funding for a new Kiluufi Hospital could not have come at better time than now. This is very exciting development for this country.”
The Parliamentary Opposition says both print media carried the story which originated from OPMC on April 14th2015 with the headline on Solomon Star published as ‘Turkish firm to fund new Kilufi’I hospital’ and Island Sun carrying the headline ‘$387million hospital proposed for Malaita’.
“It is seriously a concern that the Prime Minister again chose to mislead the people when he and his Policy Secretary for Private Secretary were at the meeting when the million-dollar funding was announced and made public through the media,” it said.
The statement adds that the Prime Minister had been very irresponsible by misinforming this country on a number of issues of national interest.
The statement adds this only shows the serious disconnection between the Prime Minister and his advisors and that if the Prime Minister does not know what has been happening under his nose then obviously he doesn’t know what has been happening around this country.
“The Prime Minister must be honest with himself and the people of this country by just admitting this is all nothing but political rhetoric,” it said.
