NOW that the Honiara City Council (HCC) has a new littering ordinance in place, all residents of the city must adjust in complying with the new regulation, the HCC Clerk Justice Denni said.
The new HCC littering ordinance which sees in increase in the categories of fines for littering within the jurisdiction of Honiara City followed the 11th Parliament’s passage of the Honiara City (Amendment) (No.2) Act 2023.
The HCC Legal Officer Paul Inifiri had told Solomon Star earlier this month that the new ordinance would be enforced after the completion of a consultation with stakeholders.
Mr Inifiri said HCC was to employ new law enforcement officers to boost the council’s law enforcement capacity to enforce the ordinance and other HCC ordinances.
And yesterday, the HCC Clerk Mr Denni told Solomon Star in an interview that HCC has already conducted awareness on the new littering ordinance through talkback shows on the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC) and it is now the responsibility of Honiara residents to comply.
Mr Denni said the enforcement of the new littering ordinance is not an easy task for HCC to undertake because Honiara is ‘really’ big and the HCC Law Enforcement manpower is limited.
“Currently, we have less than 50 officers at hand to carry out this new Littering Ordinance and this number is really small in consideration of the heavy task they have to undertake.
“Our new recruits will be on the job after they complete their training. But despite the new recruits, our law enforcement manpower is not enough to tackle the issue of littering by Honiara’s high population.
“We also have logistic issues. We have a smaller number of vehicles available for work and this is a serious problem affecting our workforce.”
With HCC’s issue of limited enforcement manpower and the lack of logistics to enforce the littering ordinance, Mr Denni said the cooperation of every Honiara resident is crucial to ensure the success of the ordinance.
“Despite the issues with manpower and logistics faced by HCC, your cooperation is what we need.
“Everyone, churches, communities and stakeholders must work with us to ensure this littering ordinance is successful.”
“What we have been advocating for is that people obey the laws of HCC but it seems that people really have attitude problems,” the City Clerk added.
Mr Denni then underscored that cooperation is the only key to address Honiara’s littering problem, therefore called on everyone to be responsible for the cleanliness and beauty of the city.
By IAN LADDS
Solomon Star, Honiara
