ITS good to hear the Member of Parliament (MP) and Deputy Prime Minister Manasseh Maelanga coming out to explain his side of the story last week.
This came after the Opposition Leader claimed that the road contractor, Eastern Esteem Construction Ltd, is partly owned by the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and the Minister of Infrastructure Development (MID).
The revelation brought so much debate last week.
The Opposition Office had revealed that Manasseh Maelanga is one of the directors of the company.
The company was alleged to have received funds for the construction of roads in the constituency.
Lately, the company has sought further funding support from the government to carry out further urgent work on the road.
But Hon. Maelanga said, the company is owned by the Constituency and not him.
He also explained that he had stepped aside as a director following advice from the Leadership Code Commission (LCC).
Maelanga must be acknowledged for taking the move to step aside and allow others to handle the operations of the company.
However, it should be a lesson for all leaders, especially MPs, not to engage in business activities that may lead to conflict of interest.
Next year we will have new MPs and its good to be aware of what is expected of you as a leader.
Its also important to get our information right before blowing it out to the public.
Infrastructure such as roads, wharves, airports, telecommunication towers and others are an important part of any development in the country to drive economic growth in our rural communities.
For a province like Malaita, road infrastructure is very vital in moving goods and services between the urban centres and the rural communities.
Rural farmers, timber millers, market producers, fishermen and others need road links to transport and move their goods to the market.
So the work done to construct new roads and maintain the current ones is good.
Lets also acknowledge LCC for taking a close watch on our MPs to ensure they comply with our laws.
MPs are leaders and must show a good example in this country.
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