OUTSPOKEN community leader, Charles Karaori, said the Government and the Opposition are to be equally blamed for the destructive uprising which occurred in Honiara last week.
“It is good to know about the issues which Opposition Leader Matthew Wale raised in his no confidence motion in the Prime Minister. It is also good to hear the Prime Minister defended his government in the face of growing corruption allegations.
“But the fact of the matter is that nothing is new in what they said. Both leaders knew that one day these issues would come to a head. It did so in Honiara last week,” Mr. Karaori told Solomon Star yesterday.
“The two leaders are to be equally blamed for what had happened, because they knew about what was going on but they simply kept quiet. They knew about the need to accommodate the voices of resource owners but they never did anything about it.
“The two of them failed the people of this country.”
Mr. Karaori gave the forestry sector as an example where the concerns of resource owners were never taken aboard.
“We have a registered body but no one has given us an opportunity to be part of the process, while those privileges are being provided to foreign interests. This is wrong.
He said public servants who work in the Ministry of Forests and Research never serve resource owners who seek their help.
“They never do. Instead, they now have the habit of serving foreigners by taking papers into vehicles parked outside to conduct official business
“And so what happened in Honiara last week is a manifestation of the anger and resentment that has been building up in people. They could no longer take it in.”
Destruction from the uprising last week has robbed the domestic economy more than half a billion dollar, according to an Impact Assessment undertaken by the Central Bank of Solomon Islands.
“It is now time for the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader to sit down and take a good look into the causes of civil unrest. We are tired of leaders pointing a finger at each other,” Mr. Karaori said.
