TRANSPARENCY Solomon Islands (TSI) calls for the immediate disbandment/termination and reconstituting of the COVID Oversight Committee membership or the total doing away with it and replacing it with a more effective, responsive, listening, responsible and accountable committee setup.
The composition and the conduct of Oversight Committee has been highly politicized, and it being so has highly politicized the response to the Covid-19 serving mostly to amass huge power on certain individual of the
committee and the Committee instead of protecting and preparing for community transmission of Covid-19.
The talk-back show responses clearly shows where the power lies, but with that power nothing much achieved in preparing us for the situation that we are in now.
There is really no excuse given the fact that developed countries have shared transparently information, and strategies that they have put in place for dealing with the pandemic.
It is there for use and what work is left is contextualize it to our situation and resource the relevant Ministry and authorities to carry out their work.
Until you have a family member infected or who has passed away from this pandemic you will never know how heart breaking it is because this Committee, this set up has not performed and failed them miserably.
It has failed big time on many fronts and now that community transmission has occurred and people are dying of the corona virus, this committee must go.
Transparency Solomon Islands urges the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, Hon. Sogavare, to disband it and look into a setup, where the responsible Ministry for health matters and those for economy, who know what they are doing, lead the response and recovery than it being led by the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet lot.
The country needs a committee that is responsible, transparent and has a heart for the health and the economy of Solomon Islands and its people.
The people living in remote provincial station Taro [Choiseul Province], people of Ontong Java need information on who has the virus so that they can do all they can to help them with traditional remedies whilst looking after themselves, for there is not sanitizer, no mask, no running water, no Panadol, etc. making it difficult for them to comply with what those living in Honiara are struggling with.
Who will bury their dead, five to six people are needed in close contact to dig the grave and bury the dead? Had this committee done its work it would have had this in standby in the provinces.
Furthermore, if this Committee must continue to exist then certain members must be terminated from that committee, toping the list, the Secretary to the Prime Minister, Dr Jimmy Rogers.
He is a political appointee who has weaseled his way into enormous power in the name of the Emergency Powers Regulation, undermining, hijacking, and interfering with the roles and responsibilities of colleagues and
institutions/authorities that should be taking the lead role in our preparation for this day and responses to the current community transmission of corona virus.
The country watched as the Secretary to Prime Minister maneuvered himself into many positions of power not only in this Oversight Committee but many more.
Through his political allegiance [People First Political Party]he has influenced the Executive Power to move a number of Institutions previously under the Secretary to Cabinet to be directly under his responsibility such as the Solomon Islands Independent Commission Against Corruption and other Institutions of Integrity, the most under-resourced institutions of the government because he does nothing with regard to negotiating for their adequate resourcing, convincingly and with credible justification in terms of their importance in a democracy.
Most recently it is alleged that he has recalled an officer recruited for Solomon Islands Independent Commission Against Corruption back to the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, leaving that Commission with just one staff, cite a few examples.
Now of course he is the Chairman of the Oversight Committee as carried in the papers. When this Committee was set up the Secretary to Cabinet was the Chairman. Transparency Solomon Islands sees sense in the
appointment of the Secretary to Cabinet as Chair of this Oversight Committee.
That position being the head of the Public Service responsible for the performance of the Public Service implementing, delivering, and providing policy guidelines for legislative reforms, and service delivery means he has authority and power to direct and instruct the management of the Machinery of Government to do the biddings of the Prime Minister or the Executive Government as the country faces enormous challenges brought upon the country by the pandemic.
In the last two years failure in adequately resourcing these institutions, failure of fundamental reforms that these are tasked with go through the Cabinet and parliamentary processes, failure of coming up with policies, including standing orders for reports they table before the parliament to be debated, rests squarely with the Secretary to Prime Minister.
Having moved these portfolios under his responsibility he failed to work with them ensuring the Prime Minister is adequately updated and informed clearing these through the Cabinet processes upwards to the parliament process.
Last year the Executive Government passed only one legislation. Despite lack of performance in these amassed responsibilities he continues to add more positions of power under himself.
As we go into our third year of the pandemic he is now the Chairman of the Oversight Committee and has become more powerful, even more than the Prime Minister.
He makes contradictory announcement to that of the Prime Minister and gets away with it. In any other democracies for that alone he would be either asked to resign or terminated for undermining the Prime Minister.
Power being amassed in him would not have mattered had he performed and delivered the goods. Since the Community Transmission of Covid-19 the non-performance of this Committee is exposed for all to see for ourselves.
All that has now been exposed since the community transmission of Covid-19 calls for the termination of the leadership of this Committee and reconstituting it or replacing it with a new one under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services.
All in all, whilst the committee has failed in protecting, preventing entry and preparing for community transmission, it has succeeded in amassing power and now being very protective about it and doing all to hold on to that power.
This is not what Solomon Islands needs. It does not need such leadership sitting in position of power to take any lead role in our response to community transmission of the corona virus. Someone who has forgotten his place in the power structure.
Transparency Solomon Islands recognizes and appreciates the voices of other committee members of the Oversight Committee, but slowly they are disappearing, and slowly being drowned out, have become silent as the Secretary to Prime Minister lords overall.
They are doing great work in their respective set ups doing the best that they can under the circumstances, networking with external partners for assistance needed under their own steam, but rumours abound that some of their initiatives are being hijacked.
The Oversight Committee given these difficult times should credit them with their initiatives and allow them to own it and share with public. All need moral support and motivation.
The failures of this committee have now cost lives and it cannot be allowed to continue. Had the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, with assistance from our development partners, not taken the challenge and working as a team with the meagre resources given to them, it would have been worse than what we currently see.
Transparency Solomon Islands calls for the disbandment of the Oversight Committee and re-constituting it for this committee has failed miserably to keep the country and its people safe from the arrival and community transmission of the Coronavirus.
Under the leadership of the SPM, the committee failed to protect our borders, it failed to resource the Ministry of Health and Medical Services with the medical supplies, and logistics support they needed to vaccinate people throughout the country [increasing % vaccinated numbers].
This country has in past occasions witnessed just how efficient and effective the health workforce is when rolling out vaccinations, sadly in most cases resourced by our development partners, Inter-governmental Agencies and others, with nothing much from the successive government.
People have called for resourcing and enabling our health workforce to vaccinate people, this being the most important option in looking after ourselves given the delipidated state of our health infrastructure and limited health workforce, medical supplies, geographical spread of the country etc.
These pleas and calls fell on deaf ears of the Chairman of the Oversight Committee. As witnessed, observed, and watched week in and week out in the last two years, the Secretary to the Prime Minister lords over the Oversight Committee, the very committee that is set up supposedly to bring sensible advice to the Executive Government on what is needed, be it plans, strategies, resources or otherwise for the country to keep the virus out for as long as possible and to get our vaccination coverage to at least 90%.
This did not happen. Instead, in response to the Covid-19 State of Emergency, funds went to Economic Stimulus Package, repatriation, the increase of the Constituency Development Fund, the exorbitant Parliamentary Entitlements of Members of Parliament, Members of Parliament million-dollar plus/annum private health scheme through Mustard Seed, a Scheme from reliable sources is the brainchild of the Secretary to the Prime Minister.
They have failed to instruct the Auditor General to audit all funding released for Covid-19 SOE responses, failed to audit the emergency powers for practicality, and they let the alleged selling of Vaccination Card by a few corrupt health workers happen.
Whilst this is the case, being in position of power in the SPG23, taxpayers money is diverted to this at the cost of resourcing Ministry of Health and Medical Services to increase spread, and reach of vaccination, purchase Rapid Antigen Test Kits, train people on how to use them, provide communities of the borders with sanitizers, mask etc.
A clear example of the failure of the Oversight Committee, and how more powerful than the Prime Minister it has become is the Ontong Java saga.
It was announced that the Covid-19 entered the country through Ontong Java, but the behaviour of the Oversight Committee and all apparatus in its command is saying something else.
To date the people of Luaniu, Pelau and other small communities in Ontong Java are still waiting for the team promised to them by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister’s directives and promise has been left unimplemented by the Chairman of the Committee for no good reason.
The Oversight Committee under the Chairmanship of the Secretary to Prime Minister has totally condemned them to death, either from the coronavirus or from starvation, or are they are hiding something and that Ontong Java is not where corona entered the country.
Is Ontong Java just only a “smoke screen”? It is so unacceptable that whilst the SIG has delivered food to Western Province, and Choiseul Province using the patrol boat Taro, nothing has been sent to the Ontong Java people who have been under lockdown for a long period [since January].
The question is why. Is it because Ontong Java is not where the transmission started? Is it because the Chairman of the Oversight Committee has not been transparent about other information that would point to how the virus came in?
His spouse Dr. Elizabeth Rogers said they have recovered; did they get it wrong? Why the lockdown and evacuation of the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet? Is it for something more than there being a very high % of infected people in that office?
If so where did they get it from and why its quick spread and high percentage of people infected in that office compared to other premises?
Are officers working in OPMC in close contact with Ontong Java settlements, or are there buyers of bechedemer who visited MOI during those times?
What is the explanation, or is it the OPMC premises where the community transmission started from? Transparency Solomon Islands suggest with epidemiologists now in country they could do some modeling using our data as a way of throwing some light on this issue.
Whilst it might not tell us where the transmission started, it could throw some light on how long the virus has been in Honiara undetected.
Many people in Honiara, especially those from Ontong Java are rather surprised and do not understand why the Oversight Committee has totally sidelined sending the team promised by the Prime Minister. Having smeared their communities, it has left them sidelined, neglected and unattended.
The Prime Minister has promised, but the Oversight Committee has not acted, because the Chairman [SPM] is now more powerful than the Prime Minister? From a concerned Ontong Java person TSI quotes “I am quite surprised the government has not sent any team to MOI yet, although we heard that MV Prestige would travel to MOI with the team on Friday or Saturday last week but since then, we didn’t hear whether the ship has left or not yet, and already those in Pelau are heading towards food shortage, I spoke with my younger sister on Monday evening, she told me that most families are travelling to live in the islands away from the main island, this is so that they can manage their food themselves.
In the main island itself, families that have run out of rice, sugar or flour, are going from house to house to ask for at least a cup of rice, sugar or flour to feed their little ones.
She also told me they are expecting a patrol boat from Gizo to drop off some police officers. The medical doctor is out of quarantine and staying in an island called Avaha, probably waiting for further instructions regarding his case, must be why the Patrol Boat is heading there with the police officers” end of quote.
Transparency Solomon Islands visited Ontong Java in 2018 and food shortage is a real issue for them and government locking them out and not providing them with food since January 2022 is simply inhuman and a big failure of the Chairman of the Oversight Committee.
TSI says so because this is the committee set up by the Executive Government specifically for the Covid-19 pandemic.
How can such a powerful committee with a very powerful chairman, a chairman that delivers instruction contrary to the Prime Minister ignore the needs and voices of these people? He can do so because he has not used that power and position and public funds to serve the needs of the people of this country in these difficult times but to amass more power to himself for his own agenda.
Transparency Solomon Islands urges that now that the virus is in the country the Ministry of Health and Medical Services should now take the lead in the country’s responses to the community transmission of COVID and the future of our health system.
It is a health issue and like many other countries, it is urged that they take the lead assisted by the Attorney General and other relevant Institutions, but this Oversight Committee be quickly disbanded and terminated, and the SPM relegated to looking after his SPG23 where despite our economic situation is where our public funds is going rather than the importance of looking after our people during this time.
Transparency Solomon Islands fully supports the stand taken by the Minister and his Permanent Secretary for the health and medical team of the Ministry to drive this work or for our own professional officials to sit in the driving seat.
TSI is completely grateful for all the assistance coming from Australia, New Zealand, China, ADB, World Bank etc. but please remind your technical officers to build real capacity, and capability in our health workers, administrators and first responders.
Lessons learned from the RAMSI experience is very important for the sustainability of our health system. Solomon Islanders must be in the driving seat, for purposes of building real capacity and capability.
The Ministry of Health and Medical has a professional workforce, so be there for them to call upon, to share with, to brainstorm, strategize with, help them to stand, if they fall, help them to build trust in people but do not try to take over their job.
Let them know you are there for them when called upon but help them to arrive at their own decisions and own that decision and to be accountable and transparent to the people of Solomon Islands.
Based on what is revealed by the Executive Government carried by the papers and in media including social media, it is clear that the Oversight Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary to Prime Minister in the last two years has failed big time in preparing this country for this very day.
The Premier of Western Province has called on the national government to make addressing Covid-19 the priority and to exhaust all efforts on current outbreak.
He has also said that the strategy of one NRH is a big-time failure besides. Transparency Solomon Islands agrees with this, and the situation is unlikely to change with the continued existence of the Oversight Committee.
It is a committee that pays very little attention to people’s voices let alone provincial premiers or Executive Assembly suggestions and calls for action. It is a committee whose chairman based on the observations of the last two years, and what is currently going on wants to have his finger in every pot [achieving little], undermining and hijacking the excellent efforts of public officials carrying out their functions serving the country.
Now that the Covid-19 is here we need to move into a more sustainable health system, and services planning. For that to happen and for the country to be more effective in looking after the health of the citizens and those residing in Solomon Islands, this Oversight Committee must go and a new Committee be established under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services.
Transparency Solomon Islands acknowledges that there are excellent members in the current oversight committee, but more and more TSI observes that they have gone silent, while SPM, and now his spouse, occupy the whole space, both being in the Oversight Committee, it seems from the talk-back show.
Transparency Solomon Islands therefore calls for the termination of the Oversight Committee and the termination of SPM as the Chair of the Committee. Trust in this committee is at its lowest, it has not performed nor prepared the country for the last two years and has failed the citizens of this country big time.
Yes the Emergency Powers Regulation is there but that is the work of the AG’s Chamber. The Mock Lockdowns have been a failure [no lessons learned] the livelihoods program, the quarantine facilities, repatriation etc. and the implementation of the activities related to these activities under the responsibility of committee are mired with corruption and corrupt conduct.
Terminate the COVID-19 Oversight Committee for it has failed the country.
By TSI
