PRIME Minister Manasseh Sogavare challenges the Premiers of Malaita and Guadalcanal Provinces to bring their case to challenge the legality of the popular Constituency Development Fund (CDF) in the Court.
He made this call on the floor of the parliament when he expressed his concerns over the way the media and Transparency Solomon Islands (TSI) criticize his government-Democratic Coalition Government for Advancement (DCGA).
With regards to continuous critics on the way the government increases the RCDF component in the 2021 budget, Sogavare said this is just too much.
“The Premier of Malaita and Guadalcanal who suppose to be agents of the National Government also join forces to challenge the government,” Sogavare expressed.
Earlier this month Guadalcanal Premier Francis Sade said he has backed his Malaita colleague Daniel Suidani to challenge the legality of the CDF in court.
“Bring it on,” Sogavare clearly exclaimed on the floor of the parliament early this week.
Prior to challenging both premiers, Sogavare went at length to express his dissatisfaction with the way media and TSI criticize the government.
“They have asked the government to be transparent but we are transparent and they also put a daily column in their daily papers to pursue their work,” Sogavare expressed.
He said this is just too much.
“They have asked to show where these sources come from and we did not hide what we are doing,” he added.
But! Sogavare said the organization that was supposed to be transparent did not transparent about where did it get its funds from.
“Who funds them?
“They also criticize the government for increasing the Rural Constituency Development Fund (RCDF) in this year’s budget.
“They come up with very eye catchy titles in the daily papers.
“This is happening when journalists does their work you need to know what journalists are doing.
“Some important things that they do not see its importance will be tucked somewhere in the paper and some rubbish will be titled in bold headline in front of the paper to catch the attention.
”That’s journalists! Who they were!” Sogavare expressed.
He further expressed that people who criticize these programs cared very little to know the policies and rationale behind these programs.
“And they need to come and sit down and talk to ask or just go and see what is happening in our constituencies,” he added.
This paper understands that the current government is committed to delivering to the people their policies and programs despite the challenges the country is currently facing.
By ANDREW FANTASIA
Newsroom Honiara
