Dear Editor – We would like to respond to two articles that appeared in our local newspapers; one in the Island Sun on 18th August 2015 and the other in the Solomon Star on 20th August 2015, both complaining about the inactiveness of the Trade Disputes Panel (TDP).
The TDP is one of the divisions under the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Labour & Immigration.
The Ministry is pleased to inform the public and clarify that the TDP office has never been closed at any time of the year but remained open throughout.
The matter affecting the office is that the office has been without a chairman or deputy chairman since September 2014 and 2013 respectively.
The recruitment process to replace the two executive positions of the division (TDP) has been and is in progress but with a slow pace.
Interview and submission for the recruitment of the chairman position is finally with the Public Service Commission(PSC).
In the meantime, however, an acting chairman was appointed and he is at post, sharing the work of the TDP Chairman and his busy work activities in the magistrates office.
We wish to apologize to those who may have been annoyed because of the delay on their cases going before the TDP for hearing.
However, we are hopeful that their concerns will be addressed once we have a TDP Chairman, and later a deputy, at post.
Trade Disputes Office
Honiara
