Lavukal House of Chiefs underscore importance of the state regaining ownership of LSL as they celebrate Chiefs’ Day
In a remarkable occasion of resilience and unity, the people of Russell Islands gathered at Loun Island to celebrate the 22nd Lavukal House of Chiefs’ Day.
The 2024 Lavukal House of Chiefs Day celebration was marked with the theme “Enhancing and empowering our Lavukal people.”
The occasion was officiated by the new Member of Parliament for Savo/Russells Constituency, Oliver Salopuka and Ms Susan Kabau, a lawyer from the AS Willy Law Firm.
The latter conducted the legal proceedings of the 2024 Lavukal House of Chiefs Day.
The Lavukal House of Chiefs is a body registered with the Company Hause and it holds 24.9 percent shares of the Levers Solomon’s Limited (LSL) assets.
According to the Lavukal Investment Company Chairman Mark Savi, the Lavukal House of Chiefs was created to govern and look after the rights and welfare of the people of Russell Islands and it governs through three arms – House of Chiefs, Lavukal Trust Board and Lavukal Investment Company.
The Lavukal House of Chiefs arm looks after the welfare of the people, Lavukal Trust Board arm is in charge of legal matters, while the Lavukal investment company is in charge of business and investment matters.
The two days celebration which was held from Friday 18 October and Saturday 19 of October and it saw eight new chiefs inducted into the Lavukal House of Chiefs.
The induction was ensued by a swearing-in ceremony during which the chiefs took their oath of allegiance before God and the people of Russell Islands to lead the people with dignity and to the best of their ability.
The swearing-in ceremony was conducted by Ms Kabau at the Catholic Church compound.
In an interview with Solomon Star, MP Oliver Salopuka, who is the Chairman of both the Lavukal House of Chiefs and the Lavukal Trust Board said as the new MP for the Savo/Russells Constituency and also a landowner of the LSL land in the Russells, looking after the interests of his people and LSL land issues are his main priorities.
MP Salopuka said these will not be easy tasks but vowed that he will work hard to mediate between his people and the national government and LSL on LSL land in the Russells and also Guadalcanal.
He said during the terms of previous Members of Parliament for the Savo/Russells Constituency, the tribes and clans of Russell Islands were not as united as they were in this year’s celebration.
MP Salopuka, who was also the last Director of LSL before it was shut down after the industrial strike in 2004, said the people of Russell Islands want the government to repurchase the Perpetual Estate (PE) title of LSL assets so that it will sort out the issue of settlers and laborers who overstayed in the LSL premises and have increased in population.
He said the government will sort out the landowning people of Guadalcanal and Russell Islands according to their own lands.
MP Salopuka said once the government regains the PE title and sorts out the issue of the LSL lands in Guadalcanal and Russell Islands, more investors will be interested to invest.
He said as the new MP for Savo/Russells, it will be easier for him to mediate between the Lavukal House of Chiefs and the LSL’s Patrick Wong because they are both shareholders – Lavukal House of Chiefs own 24.9 percent and Wong 75.1 percent.
MP Salopuka said the success of the Government for National Unity and Transformation’s (GNUT’s) SBD 140 million buyback scheme will make it easier for him to negotiate with the national government to also recognize the Lavukal House of Chiefs in terms of buying their shares.
He said sorting out LSL land issues is the major interest of his people of Russell Islands.
Chief Leonard Ngaham told Solomon Star that the people of Russell Islands do not want settlers and laborers to be forced to return to their place of origin but rather want the national government to repurchase LSL so that it will be operational again and hence those people can be re-employed.
Chief Ngaham said the issues that they as the indigenous people of the Russell Islands face with the laborers and settlers stemmed from the out-of-operation status of RIPEL and LSL and the success of the buy-back scheme will see RIPEL back in operation providing employment opportunities for the laborers and settlers once again.
“If LSL and RIPEL are operational again, our main underlying issue will be solved because the problem we have here is the increased of population of settlers and laborers, which are now the same as that of our indigenous people.
Chief Ngaham said the increased population of the labor overstayers and settlers have resulted in the overharvesting of marine resources because they are also reliant on these resources for their survival, resulting in scarcity.
He said before the Russell Islands has abundant sea resources but when the settlers and laborers join in to harvest them, they result in fast depletion.
“If the LSL and RIPEL is operational again, all the settlers and laborers will resume their work and they will no longer put extra pressure on the resources because they will spend most of their time working and earning money and they will only rely on the market for food and not directly harvest local resources as our indigenous people.”
The Lavukal Investment Company Limited Chairman Mark Savi will be travelling with a delegation from the national government sometimes this week to Sydney to meet with Mr Wong for discussions on the GNUT buyback scheme.
Mr Savi told Solomon Star that the proposed buy-back scheme value of SBD 140-Million for the repurchase of LSL has been reduced to SBD 90 million by the national government.
Solomon Star understands that GNUT wants to repurchase the LSL and RIPEL asserts and make them re-operational by 2025 to rejuvenate the national economy as these assets have made significant contributions to the national economy during their years of operation.
By IAN LADDS OSO
Solomon Star, Honiara
