AN Aoke-Langalanga constituent Gary Toba has condemned the outgoing Member of Parliament for Aoke-Langa Langa Constituency and former Opposition Leader Mathew Wale for bribing people in the constituency.
Mr Toba said he was sick and tired of Wale’s bribing tactics and wants them exposed.
He said Wale was not a true leader because he only supported his voters and not everyone in Aoke-Langalanga Constituency.
Mr Toba said Wale has been bribing voters not with his own money but public funds.
“I’m reaching out to explain a situation faced by many of my friends, relatives and myself which I believe is harmful to the development of our village and that is our MP is bribing voters using public funds.
“I have tried every means to solve this by myself but all my attempts failed.
“So, I decided to look for help from the media in the hope that the voices of people like me can be heard,” he said.
Mr Toba alleged that under the leadership of Wale since 2008, he never received any form of assistance from the constituency and many of his fellow constituents experienced the same.
“Only those who benefited from constituency funds and projects during Wale’s leadership were voters who showed their support to him and promised to vote for him again in the coming National General Election.
“I have sought assistance from Wale but the officers working in the Constituency Office couldn’t approve the project because of political reasons.
“I am poor and really need constituency assistance. However, nothing has happened after all my attempts to seek assistance from the office.”
Mr Toba said the constituency only supports the well to do supporters of the former MP and not the people who really need assistance in the villages within the constituency.
“One of the most recent examples is Robert from Laulasi who is known to be a civil servant with a successful career.
“He made an application to the Constituency Office last December for the purchase of house building material. Robert specifically mentioned his eight legal voter relatives and he himself is a faithful supporter of Wale in the last four elections. Within one week, the assistance he requested was delivered to him.
“Such incidents happen in our constituency every day and no one seems to care. I am unable to reason or counter the powerful MP so I am turning to the media to spread truth and justice. I hope some professional journalists could help me expose the actions of Wale and speak up for our villagers suffering under his corrupted leadership,” Toba told Solomon Star.
He stressed that his family is in a dire financial state.
“I have four young mouths to feed and my mother has a poor health condition and we all live in a wooden shelter built in the last century.
“When my father died in 2021, I filed an application to our Constituency Office in the hope that Wale could provide support for my father’s burial. The only response that I received from the Constituency Officer was “Mi putim priority lo housing projects dis taem if seleni kam. But no worry, we will consider.” I finally have to ask my relatives for help to give my father a decent burial.
“One year from then, our house was leaking everywhere but I had no means to raise money to repair the roof. So, I have to make another application to the Constituency Office for the purchase of iron roofing and attached an invoice with it. For months, I went to the office to check for updates on my application. The response I received was “We are dealing with many applications on housing projects these days, you should be more patient.
“And during the time of my patient waiting, I learned that many others in our village also never received assistance from the Constituency Office even though all their applications fulfilled the conditions to be funded. All these people have voted for Wale at least once.
“I was amazed and angered by these. So, after waiting for roofing material for seven months which was last May, I went to the Constituency Office and questioned an officer why I could not get any assistance though I was poor and in a needy state.
“At first the Constituency officer stated that Wale did not have time to run through all the applications. But I kept asking and he became annoyed asked me how many of my family members are eligible voters and how many of them are willing to vote for Wale. I was indignant but had nothing to say because my children are all underaged and it was only me who voted for Wale in the 2008 bye-election,” Mr Toba said.
The National General Election will be in April and voters in the 50 constituencies, including Aoke Langa Langa Constituency will cast their votes for the 12th Parliament.
By LACHLAN EDDIE HOE
Solomon Star, Honiara
