FLOOD victims say they cannot move out from the FOPA village evacuation centre until the government resettles them on land it promised to them.
The government plans to close down the FOPA village centre as well as Rove centre by June 15.
But spokesman for the victims Charles Ketea said they will not vacate the FOPA village centre on June 15.
“We want to let the government, the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), and other relevant bodies that we will not move out from FOPA village,” Mr Kete said.
“The reason is we have heard from our own ears the promise minister of lands Joseph Onika made on the 17th of May in the presence of central Honiara MP Moffat Fugui that the government will allocate land to resettle us,” Mr Ketea said.
“This is the promise we are waiting for and to say that we should move out and find some place to live is not acceptable to us.”
He said they have high hopes and look forward to the day the minister’s promise will fulfil because only that will solve their problem since they have nowhere else to go.
Mr Ketea said they have been patient all these time due to this promise and they will continue to wait.
But he said when this news to close down the centres came, it created confusion and ill feelings amongst themselves towards the government and its relevant bodies.
He added that since the government promised to re-settle them to this new location, they have very high spirits and don’t want to hear any more negative comments or decisions that will only cause anger and frustration.
On Tuesday this week, the NDMO said that the evacuation centres should be closed by 15 June because there is limited government budget to continue to keep these centres going in terms of feeding the victims and support them with other relief supplies.
By DANIEL NAMOSUAIA
