AS we said good bye to 2014, we are indirectly ushering in 2015.
And 2015 is indeed 12 months or 365 days of uncertainty and unknown.A set of unknowns on their own.
No one except God knows what lies ahead. But He knows those who are His and will care for them.
So those who put their trust in Him have little to worry about. All they have to do is to trust Him and He will carry them through.
In our secular world where evil seems to be gaining grounds in every sphere and sector, no one can argue that they seem to be winning all the time. Their victory though is only but for a season.
Given that we have a new government, it is timely that we remind ourselves of the scale and scope of the task that lies ahead.
The task is huge. No one can fathom the extent of the systematic damage to our economy, political set up and our law enforcement agencies, particularly in the last four years.
On the surface it seems the integrity of our law enforcement agencies including our police, once the pride of the Hapi Isles, has been removed.
As a result, it appears their independence and indeed integrity have been seriously compromised.
Thank goodness all’s not lost.
But however way we wish to tackle the problem, the scale of the task at hand calls for “all hands to be on deck.”
That means that no resources must be sparedto achieve our objective in restoring and setting Solomon Islands on a new course towards prosperity for all, not only for some.
There’s no two ways about it. If we are serious about restoring and preserving the greater good for the good of all rather than allowing petty and self-serving interests to stand in the way, we all must work together.
A tight rein must be kept on those who have had a track record in jumping ships when the going gets tough.
Leadership and I mean decisive leadership is called for.
In any endeavours there must be a leader. In our situation, the Government must not only lead but be seen to provide leadership in the way forward.
In doing so, it must clearly set out priority areas of its priority development program.
The state of our economy calls for a cohesive and wholesome approach as no piecemeal efforts would bring about the impact we seek. So here is what I think should be given serious consideration.
Upper most in any program that will succeed is the urgent need to stabilise public finance through a recurrent budget based on realistic revenue collection projections.
Never again should the ego-driven 2014 recurrent budget which contained so much rubbery figures on the revenue collection be entertained again ever.
It was so bad that by 30 May this year, only less than 30 per cent of budget projection was realised.
Closely akin to this is the need to rein in unbridled spending, which had forced the then government to raid the Development Budget, a move that has angered many donors.
As a result some traditional donors have slashed their annual contributions to the Development Budget.
It is my belief that Papua New Guinea is actively reviewing the modus operandi of its K100 million five-year aid program.
The Port Moresby government has been forced to do this because it feels its Melanesian generosity has been seriously compromised. For example, during the last Melanesian Arts Festival hosted by PNG earlier this year, our political delegation reportedly raided funds from this aid package to pay for allowances and other costs the Honiara delegation had incurred.
As a result, many Solomon Islands students studying in PNG tertiary institutions were denied their fortnightly allowances.
The third urgent matter to deal with is the sectorisation of target areas. In the paper the other day, new Deputy Prime Minister and East Honiara MP, Douglas Ete said the government would review laws that need to be amended.
That’s a commendable effort, but any piecemeal effort does not take one very far.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare must never entertain petty and self-serving interests of politicians who are in the arena for themselves.
Politicians are in the “ring” to promote and protect the greater good.
