Pakera copra buying centre in Kirakira closes its door due to diversion of funds from DCGA’s flagship policy
PAKERA Buying Centre in Kirakira – the country’s only facility buying copra and cocoa products from rural farmers – is closing down just 17 months after Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare officially launched it.
Rural farmers saw the launch in April last year as a breath of fresh air, encouraging them to do more.
But Solomon Star has been reliably informed that Pakera Copra Buying Centre – the only facility buying cocoa and copra produce since the launch – closed down more than two weeks ago.
CEMA Management are recalling three staff members – the Provincial Manager, Accounts/Admin Officer and Produce Examiner – who were posted there since Pakera opened for business shortly after its launch in April last year.
Prime Minister Sogavare launched the Pakera Centre as part of a seven-year $77 million revitalisation programme of the Copra Exporting Marketing Authority (CEMA). Malu’u in North Malaita is the second buying centre which was officially launched, again by the Prime Minister shortly the Pakera facility.
Funding the CEMA Revitalisation programme – dubbed the DCGA flagship policy – was spread over a seven-year period (2021-2027), according to a decision made by Cabinet in May 2021.
To date, however, only Pakera in Makira-Ulawa Province and Malu’u, Malaita Province were launched. The Malu’u Centre was intended to address security concerns along the Northern Corridor.
Lata in Temotu, Tarakukure on Choiseul, Manekalaku in Marau on Guadalcanal and Tigoa in Renbel Province were to follow. These are now on hold due to lack of funding.
With much of the funding being diverted to the 2023 Pacific Games, re-opening of additional copra buying centers are in grave doubt.
Diversion of funds from the CEMA Revitalisation Programme also has the potential to affect the operation of the Development Bank of Solomon Islands (DBSI), which was recently resurrected to address the plight of rural farmers.
An estimated 3,000 rural farmers are the first victims of the government’s move. Rural farmers now had nowhere to sell their produce, according to insiders.
Insiders told Solomon Star that the CEMA Management is also considering closing down the Buying Centre at the Point Cruz wharf.
“That decision is due at the end of the month. The closures of CEMA buying centers and reopening of new ones lie squarely on the Office of the Prime Minister and the Accountant General.
“They must answer to rural farmers of this country,” one insider said.
Cabinet approved the CEMA Revitalisation Programme in May 2021. Some $77 million was allocated for the seven-year (2021-2027) programme, which includes repairs and maintenance of Copra Buying Centers that have been identified across the country.
Signs of trouble began emerging last year when CEMA received only $3 million from the government. Its initial allocation was $12 million, an observer said.
The trend simply continued this year.
For example, CEMA received only $2 million out of $24.05 million it was allocated this year under the 2023 Development and Supplementary Budgets
“This is another example of a government bent on mismanaging the economy. It is the same trend and indeed argument it successfully used for passing the Economic Stimulus Package [ESP], which was a give-away to friends and cronies at the expense of the hard-working taxpayers. It was a total waste, because it ended up a total failure,” an observer said.
“What is so important about these 2023 Pacific Games? This is just a two-week event, whose real benefits would not be felt in the long term. The CEMA Revitalisation Programme is the answer to our economic ills and yet the government does not seem to see it that way.
“It is a sad indictment on the DCGA and its management of the economy. The DCGA government has lost the plot on this. It is sad day for this nation and its farmers.”
By Alfred Sasako
