A STATEMENT by the prime minister while concluding the debate on the Anti-Corruption Strategy is interesting.
Thumbs up to Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare when he uttered something like this; “it is not wrong to assume that members who got into parliament through corrupt means will continue to practice corruption as a parliamentarian”.
Although these were not the exact words he used, I am wondering how the MP for Gela took these all in.
As I said in my article in the Solomon Star issue of 25th February, my MP knows very well how he got into parliament.
Sad to say, MP Parapolo still continues to entertain questional practices in his handling of constituency affairs.
Is he fit to assume the position of minister of the crown?
I recently assured him through this same public forum that I will engage with him on matters that negatively impacted on our people.
As a willing voice for my people, I must live up to my words.
Hence, in this article, I am happy to again engage with Parapolo on his 3-columns policy that is currently having a very serious negative impact on the Gela people, the majority of whom are placed in his column C category.
I do not know with other constituencies but in Gela, Parapolo has categorised our people into three categories.
Those placed in Column A are his voters, in Column B are his non-voter supporters and those in Column C, are supporters of all losing candidates.
Guess what?
Only those in Column A are receiving top priority for assistance as individuals, family units and communities.
Although those in Column B may be considered for assistance, they are told to wait until those in column A have all been assisted.
This could mean next year, or never.
The saddest thing is that those in column B will be held at ransom to vote for Parapolo in the coming election, or be prepared to face the fate of those in column C, who will never be considered for any form of assistance.
You vote for Parapolo in the next election, or you risk losing out altogether.
This was revealed to me by many of our people who had approached Parapolo and his officers for assistance.
And more recently, Parapolo’s own herdsmen who encouraged me to reply to Parapolo’s press statement on the Gela ship saga, have confirmed the same in more detail.
In the initial stages during and after his election, Parapolo used these people as his advisors, but has now neglected them in the process.
What a betrayal of loyalty!
More than twenty thousand of our people who live in our villages have no access to all these information, or find it very difficult to get to MP Parapolo to find out more on this policy.
If it is true that Parapolo is only assisting those in column A, then I am certain he is failing the majority of our people and is holding back from them what legally is theirs too.
Therefore, since the print media is a very effective public forum for the dissemination of information, I am calling on MP Parapolo to educate the people of Gela about his 3-columns policy through the same public forum.
He is given $5,000 annually to tour his constituency, so I am asking him to tour Gela to explain his 3-columns policy to our people.
By MARTIN MATA
Honiara
