A MONTH-LONG trip for police officers to undertake advance training in China last month appears to have been hijacked by the Executive of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF).
The officers arrived back on Sunday and began questioning why four members of the Police Executive had to go on the trip, when they were not even involved in the initial training on crowd and riot control.
The training in Honiara was provided by the China Police Team, which the government had requested after last November’s riot and burning of properties in Chinatown, Kukum and Ranadi areas.
Executive Members who travelled on the trip were Ian Vaevaso, the Deputy Commissioner, Evelyn Tugea, Assistant Commissioner (Corporate), Francis Ramoni who is the Director of the National Response Department and Inspector Harry Vanosi who is acting Director for National Emergency Management and Special Events Planning (NEMSEP), according to sources familiar with the training program in China.
“The upshot of the Executive hijacking the program was that no advance training was provided. Instead, the police officers had to go through the same training which they had already undertaken in Honiara,” the sources said.
“To undertake the advance training would make the executive members look lost because after all, they never took part in the preliminary training in Honiara,” the sources said.
The trip to China was fully funded by the Chinese Government in terms of per diems and daily living allowances.
But according to the sources, the team that travelled to China also received allowances paid by the Solomon Islands government. They also took a large Imprest.
“We want to know who the Imprest Holder was and what he had spent the money on,” the sources said.
The police officers also raised question about Assistant Commissioner (Corporate), Evelyn Tugea participating in the program.
“She arrived just days after attending some training in the United Kingdom. And why did she jump on the plane to China when she had nothing to contribute to the advance training in China?
The police officers are preparing a report for the Commissioner to explain why the Executive hijacked the training by sending executive members.
It is unclear whether the Office of the Prime Minister was aware of the executive members taking up training spaces allocated to police officers who passed the initial training in Honiara.
By Alfred Sasako
