Dear Editor – I write in reply to Mr John Aonima’s letter to the editor published in the Solomon Star on 22nd November, 2017 regarding the above subject.
The fact of the matter regarding these accusations by Mr Aonima is that in its entirety, he has swayed from the facts and has not even done a well thought out and proper assessment on his own part on this issue.
He should have first gather the relevant facts to know the recipients of these building materials under the East Are’Are Housing scheme for Honiara based supporters rather than rushing to the media and make accusations on a baseless standpoint in the media.
The recipients of these building materials; roofing iron sheets, and canteen supplies are supporters of the East Are’Are honourable minister who resided on various communities here in Honiara and not just Cana Hill alone as was stated in your article.
Mr Aonima, you ought to get your facts right first before accusing your people of Cana Hill, Manawai where you are from.
For your information, in Honiara Cana Hill community holds the largest number of register voters and supporters for the honourable Minister in Honiara apart from other communities here in Honiara who are registered under the East Are’Are constituency that are genuine supporters of the Honourable Minister with more than five hundred(500) voters in Cana Hill alone.
These are the very same people whom you have laid your accusations on and for your information; have been true supporters of the Honourable minister; the very same people who voted him into parliament to represent them in both the 2010 and 2014 general elections.
This number will also be likely to increase and double up in the coming elections just so you know.
Mr Aonima, to clear your mind and doubts, based on the arrangements and decisions made by my committee with the Honourable Minister and the constituency office, this round of building materials we have just distributed is entirely for the voters and supporters who resided here in Honiara, in Cana Hill and other communities in the city.
We are not doing things for our own, but based on decisions and arrangements made between us; the constituency office and the Honourable minister.
Furthermore, arrangements have been made for next year 2018 and 2019’s trans or supply of building materials to go to the people of East Are’Are in wards 19 and 20 to complete 500 houses earmarked for East Are’Are constituency under the East Are’Are Constituency housing scheme that we are currently working on and to clear your confusion and lack of information on this programme, the housing project for East Are’Are constituency is an on-going programme and we hope that by 2023 and 2024, all houses within East Are’Are constituency will be completed, and we hope that will be the first of its kind for East Are’Are and also be the new face for Ease Are’Are and overall, fulfil part of the Millennium Goals that are set by the government to achieve and it is imperative that our plans and goals be achieved within this time frame as has planned.
Also voters and supporters of the Honourable Minster, as well as non-supporters have already received building materials here in Honiara and it is up to them if they have registered land here in Honiara then they can build their houses on here in Honiara or better still they can always send their building materials back home to build their houses in their respective villages back in East Are’ Are.
Overall, it will depend on them and what decisions they may come up with, but at least we hope to give them something to benefit them and their families.
In addition, the recipients of these building materials are not only the people residing at Cana Hill and surrounding communities in town, but also people in our constituency as well who came over to Honiara in the last couple of weeks and the previous month, it is impassive that you have so accused the people of Cana Hill alone instead of looking at the situation on a subjective stand point.
The families that you have referred to have each had families of their own and under the housing project policy that we are working on, if your children whether male or female are married and has a family, they are qualified to be given assistance with building materials. This policy governs the housing scheme we are working on, because we do not work to discriminate anybody but hope to give assistance on circumstances that are deemed necessary for the betterment of everyone.
Your conjectural accusations have also failed to take into consideration that the assistance given by the Honourable Minister, Mr Andrew Manepora‘a has reached both supporters and non-supporters alike for the people in our constituency whether or not they are our voters and supporters or not.
You must know that this is constituency funds and it belongs to these people; whether they are supporters or non-supporters. So, as you can see, the Honourable Minister and his constituency office treats everybody fairly and the same.
For the disabled, the widows and the ‘poor’ people whom you have so impecuniously referred to as well as the vulnerable that you have mentioned in your article, they have already given assistance and support back in 2011 and 2015.
Most of these people received support in forms of gifts in recognition of their inability to fully support themselves and thus been given monetary support in case you are not aware about this.
The Honourable Minister and the constituency office vows to continue supporting this particular group of people that you have referred to in your article. It is so biased on your part to make accusations on matters that have already been dealt with. Why are you focusing on matters that already have been in our working programme? We encourage you that perhaps next time you should first do proper assessments on what we are doing or to clear your doubts please seek relevant facts before seeking publicity or it would be better that get to the gist of the matter before bloating in the media and making conjectural accusations based on here say and biased observations. We will fulfil our mandate and it is our great priority that no person is left out in our endeavour to assist the people of East Are’Are.
In addition, with regard to water supplies, good sanitation, schools and clinics, it is also in our working programme and we will deal with these bigger projects as soon as funds are available.
I hope these explanations may suffice to clarify any doubts that you may have and in doing so also appeal to you to come and work with us instead of isolating yourself, this is for all of us to work together towards achieving our goals and working together for the betterment of our people and our constituency.
On the outset, on behalf of my committee members I would like to thank and congratulate the Honourable Minister for East Are’Are and the staff of the constituency office for the great work and effort so far for the great work and effort that you have taken us through until now despite the challenges we have been going through at times, the Honourable Minster and your staff in the constituency office still take us through and we are almost reaching the fulfilment of our goals and plans.
This to me shows your humble leadership qualities through your actions and appropriate decisions in the past and now has spoken so well of you and the officers working in our constituency office.
Having said that I would like to say that this is the kind of leadership the people in our constituency and communities in East Are’Are as well as in Honiara appreciate and looking forward to, to drive us forward and achieving our millennium goals and constituency goals.
Henry B Kahui
Chairman
Honiara, Canahill
Zone Committee
