Dear Editor – I must give credit to the Parliamentary Opposition Group for their statement on the current scholarship scheme as reported in your paper on 12 March 2016. It was a rational statement on a difficult and sensitive subject which I thought they handled well.
My understanding of their statement is that while the intention from the DCC government maybe be noble, it is a system that is open to abuse due to the weak management at the Ministry of Education and Training. Therefore the call from the Parliamentary Opposition Group to reform the current system by removing the involvement of the MPs and the Caucus from the management of scholarships awards is timely and must be seriously considered by the government.
Once you start involving the MPs in the management of scholarships the probability of the system being abused is very high because of the perceived power that is associated with the position they hold against a poor management system.
In light of this I must therefore congratulate the Leader of Opposition and Member of Parliament for Hograno-Kia-Havulei, Honourable Jeremiah Manele for his leadership in recognizing the flaws in the current system and rallying his Opposition Group to do the right thing by expressing their bold stand on this issue.
It takes a leader to recognize the iniquities of a system and to condemn it, especially a scheme, which if left unreformed, may benefit them directly or indirectly. I can see that the does the Honourable MP has great concern for the bigger picture; that is what is better for Solomon Islands and its people.
Charlie Kieu
Honiara
