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Fanega sacked?
Permanent Secretary for Finance Shadrach Fanega was reportedly sacked over his delay to release the $50 million terminal grant to outgoing MPs.
Fanega and caretaker Finance minister Rick Hou are in Washington for a World Bank meeting and could not be reached for comments.
But reports claim the Office of the Prime Minister removed him and will be replaced by the Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs Fred Fakari’i.
Meanwhile, reports of popular facebook group Forum Solomon Islands International Fanega is aware of his removal and will comment on his return.
He and his minister will arrive back October 19.
Vehicle plate numbers
The Inland Revenue Division has been urged to relook at the new vehicle plate numbers it recently introduced.
This came following claims certain vehicle owners are using their privately-registered vehicles to operate them as taxies.
Because the plate numbers are the same for private and public vehicles, it was difficult to tell which is private and which is public.
Critics said the government is losing revenue because private vehicles running as public transport services are not paying the necessary licence.
Women arrested
Two women have been arrested and released on fraud-related charges – committed at two different times and incidents.
One suspect, a Guadalcanal woman from Vobvota Village, was arrested after she deposited a total of $133,829.17 to two different account holders at a bank in Point Cruz.
She was reported to the police by the bank. She will appear in Court on October 17.
In a separate incident, another suspect, a Malaita woman from Manakwai village, has been arrested in relation to a conversion.
She committed the conversion while working as an employee of the Save the Children Organization earlier this month.
Police allege she applied for a sum of 1-thousand and 5-hundred dollars from the NGO to conduct a child club activity at Visale in Guadalcanal, which did not happen. She is currently out on bail and will appear in Court on November 23.
The Police Media Unit says police investigation continues.
Suspect denies robbery charges
A man accused of robbing a total of $90,000 from two shops in Honiara last year and this year has denied the allegations made against him.
John Liliva also known as John Lilifa has entered not guilty pleas to two counts of robbery and another of unlawful wounding.
Prosecution alleged that on December 2, last year he and two other accused Allen Gaddie and Ega Maili robbed more than $40,000 from JQY Enterprise at Chinatown.
It was alleged to be around 7pm when the alleged victim closed up the shop and was leaving the shop in h is vehicle when the three men allegedly approached him and robbed him.
Maili and Gaddie have already entered their not guilty pleas to the charges.
April ridge tender opens
THE Ministry of Lands, Housing and Survey is calling for applications for land allocation at April Ridge in Honiara.
April Ridge is the name given to an area near Gilbert Camp Aekafo and Lau Valley in east Honiara, and the area is currently unallocated and owned by the Commissioner of Lands.
Permanent Secretary Stanley Waleanisia says that a total of 268 lots are to be offered as 50-year fixed-term estates, to be developed for residential purposes.
He said preference will be given to those people who lost their houses in the April floods in Honiara, but anyone else can also apply.
The Ministry has records of the names of all those people who lost their houses to flooding in Honiara, and these records will be used when the applications are assessed. The land is to be allocated by tender process, not by direct allocation.
Disaster management response
Disaster management officials are working to improve response to disasters after the experience of April’s devastating floods.
The floods killed 23 people, damaged roads and bridges and displaced thousands.
A two day workshop in Honiara has brought together those involved with disaster management operations.
They shared the experiences and challenges they’ve faced since the flooding with a view to improving the robustness of the National Disaster Response Management plan.
The Chair of the National Disaster Council, Melchior Mataki, says the country is at risk of natural disasters every year, and people should be flexible in applying lessons learned from past experiences to create new disaster plans.
We have the right to criticise
Constituents of Malaita Outer Islands say they have the right to question and criticise their outgoing member of parliament Martin Kealoa.
A constituent was responding to calls for the people to stop criticising the outgoing MP.
He said Kealoa was a public figure and leader who was tasked with the role to manage the constituency’s rural development fund.
“Since he has our money and was our leader, we have the right to criticise and question his handling of public funds,” the constituent said.
Pre-election operations start
Police have kicked started their pre-election operations ahead of the national general elections scheduled for November 19.
Police Commissioner Frank Prendergast revealed that already two operations have been in placed; one aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour and the other, dealing with alcohol related crimes.
Prendergast said that the operations will also be targeting the illegal manufacturing and selling of liquor and drugs.
