The Vice President of United Democratic Party of Solomon Islands says the move to rearm the certain unit in Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) is untimely.
Danny Philip told local reporters at a press conference in Honiara hotel on Monday.
He explained the public no longer have the confidence and trust towards the local police officers because of the situation at the ethnic upraising some directly involved.
Despite Parliament has passed a law last year that stipulate certain units in the Force will be armed, its still untimely because confidence and trust to the force is what matters most.
The former Prime Minister said caution should be taken over the re-armament issue given the experiences leading up to and during the ethnic tensions.
“Our past experiences have shown that when we have arms, we use it against our own nationals and therefore, I’m not certain whether this is the time to re-arm Solomon Islands police,” he said
There remains a public perception in Solomon Islands that it is still too difficult to find a suitable local to be the Police Commissioner.
“This is because of the experiences with the police and alleged involvement by some high ranking police officers not all of them in the conflict that we had in late 1999/2000 up until the deployment of RAMSI in 2003”
Residents of North Guadalcanal recently told this paper reconciliation between the people and Police before continuing talks and plans to rearming of the police force.
They called on the police commissioner and the national government must organize this reconciliation.
North Guadalcanal Chief, Benedict Garimane said the way forward for Police can regain back trust and confidence of the people of this nation.
By ELLIOT DAWEA
