Wealth built on corruption is deceit

Dear Editor,

IT is God’s plan for the human race to prosper and progress in life. Seeing that human beings were created in the image and the likeness of God our Creator, our connection to other human beings is of paramount importance and hence, we must cherish and share the love and kindness that our Creator demonstrated on the Cross of Calvary.

Lest we forget, we are only stewards and caretakers of the resources of God. The Bible states very plainly that gold and silver belong to God. But in today’s world, the creature is tempted to claim and own everything that belongs to God.

As mentioned earlier, it is God’s intention from the very beginning that his created beings – humans- should be rich and prosperous in life to constantly to support the work of God in our churches. The Creator entrusted to us wisdom, strength and power to properly utilise the things he gave us to meet our needs and that of our fellow brethren. If we can look back at our first parents in the Garden of Eden, the same incident happened to them. Adam and Eve enjoyed the abundance of God’s blessing but were not content with what they were given and because of that God pronounced to them that out of their sweat, they shall eat bread. So, my friends, lest we forget the story of our first parents, let us be reminded that if we are not content with what we have, we can be easily overcome by the insatiable greed for more. Please my friends, we cannot alter or change this motto. All human beings under the sun, no exception, must provide bread for their families out of their own sweat or pocket. Just imagine when you feed your wife, your children and may be relatives and wantoks with corrupt money. What is this to you? Please think twice to avoid falling into this nasty trap of Satan. If we want our nation to be positively transformed, self is the first and foremost being to make positive changes. To do so, we must first see ourselves as sinners who fall short of God’s Grace. Often times, we are tempted to point fingers at others and forget about ourselves. Our next National General Election (NGE) will be in 2024 and people in our 50 constituencies will vote people whom they trust and have the confidence in to represent them in Parliament. Our people who are mandated to power usually do not pragmatically live up to our national motto ‘To Lead is to Serve.’ But our Members of Parliament must be reminded of our National Motto that leaders are servants and should seek to ensure their four years in Parliament reflect the behaviour and the quality of good leaders who have the very concern of their people.

The coming election will be really tough as millions and millions of dollars will be used to bribe and lure our people to get their right and ballot paper. Mind you my friends, people who are in this system are driven by hidden powers and forces. Only few millions of dollars are spent in this period of time from the many more millions of dollars they receive during their four years in Parliament in the name of their constituencies. The Bible states very clearly that the Devil or Satan knows that his time is very short and is trembling. In comparison my friends, those involved in the same system know that their time is short and really want to bribe and lure Solomon Islanders to mandate them to Parliament for yet another term. Please my good friends, our motto for the coming NGE should be ‘Change or more of the same.’ I ask for forgiveness if these sentiments cause inconvenience and disturbance to candidates intending to contest in the coming NGE.

Stated below are some of my intentions for winning candidates in the coming NGE to consider seriously and to take on board, more especially the VATUD Constituency.

1. Totally put a stop the voters’ priority to access CDF by the winning candidates and their Constituency Development Officers.
2. Ensure the CDF touches the very lives and hearts of people residing in the constituency, regardless of what happened in the election period.
3. Liaise with VATUD school leaders to address issues affecting VATUD schools in terms of infrastructure development as school grants only cater for children’s classroom learning.
4. Ensure tangible development boost up in VATUD rather than in different parts in Solomon Islands as they also get theirs from the National Government. Please let us be responsible and be mindful because this is too much.
5. Create avenues to boost income-generating in VATUD. People in VATUD already have the means to boost income-generating but lack financial assistance. For instance, our people in the Duff islands can produce abundant supplies of copra if only they are given the chance for someone to purchase their copra.
6. The main focus is to ensure that our people develop self-reliance  and forget about the system of running  after Members of Parliament for assistance and continue to get the usual negative  feedback of ‘Come baek tumoro’ or ‘Iu votim me tu o nomoa.’
7. To ensure that VATUD students in tertiary institutions successfully complete their studies, it is the sole responsibility of the Constituency to fully support them so that their education is not disturbed by the lack of school fees. To be frank, I really sympathise with the students from Utupua who were forced out of the Solomon Islands National University (SINU) because of no school fees. This is a denial of the right of our students to education as enshrined in our Constitution.
8. Ensure to address communication problems faced by VATUD people by setting up two-way radio (wireless) in every village on our five islands to connect our people through communication whilst waiting for the National Government’s proposed nationwide telecommunication towers to be built.
9. To improve and continue the Constituency Housing Scheme that started some years back but came to a grinding halt. To date, only government officers are progressing with their personal housing projects in villages because they have the means of finance. Imagine providing our people with house-building material and then expect them to get on with the building task. This is impracticable because labour cost is one major obstacle.
10. To cordially work hand-in-hand with different stakeholders in the constituency to address their issues in their own setting.
11. To strengthen and support Houses of Chiefs in the five islands of VATUD (Vanikoro, Anuta, Tikopia, Utupua and Duffs) and to empower them with capacity to govern and rule their people with these financial assistance.
12. To ensure that VATUD people hospitalised in Lata Hospital become the sole responsibility of the Constituency to take care of them till they are discharged.
13. To provide high-powered OBM canoes to our VATUD Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) for emergency cases that may arise and also provide high-powered OBM canoes to address the issue of transport difficulties. These canoes should be well-equipped with marine safety equipment. The high-powered OBM canoes for our RHCs in VATUD should be channeled through the Temotu Medical Authourity at the Lata Hospital. On this juncture, let me salute Fenua Transport Services, Munawatu Transport and others that are serving VATUD.
14. To introduce inter-island shipping services to ensure regular shipping is available in our province so our people can have regular access to Lata Township to sell their garden produces.
15. The Member of Parliament should at all times liaise with our provincial members and work cordially with them as leaders in addressing issues affecting our entire VATUD people. The linkage between our leaders at the provincial level and national level is the very thing that needs to be addressed. Please, let us put away our indifferences and selfish attitude and unite to develop our VATUD region into a place where unity, love and peace prevail.
16. Lastly, lest we forget, let us be inclusive and leave no one behind as we are all human beings whom God created in his very own image.
17. To stop nepotism and biasness as these are obviously common in our constituency. Diversion of projects to another person or group or people is also the very thing that really needs to be stopped. Our motto is ‘Change or more of the same.’ I really do believe in the Proverb ‘Slowly but surely.’

A concerned VATUD man