These stories are draft articles not sorted in chronological order.
Many have been published in a number of Solomon Islands newspapers including online. Some example online stories at the following links.
https://www.solomonstarnews.com/index.php/news/national/item/23403-makira-orders-logger-to-stop
https://www.solomonstarnews.com/index.php/news/national/item/22536-from-media-to-politics
https://www.solomonstarnews.com/index.php/news/national/item/23412-mup-gov-t-leads-kirakira-clean-up
https://www.solomonstarnews.com/index.php/news/national/item/22113-parade-to-open-festival
Strong Island Foundation Report (May 2020)
Although the Scope and Scale of damages caused by Tropical Cyclone Harold on Makira Ulawa Province in early April is widespread, fortunately it had not affected the Strong Island Foundation sanitation project at Star Harbor in East Makira.
Strong Island Foundation, an Australian Non-Governmental-Organization is involved in installing water supply and sanitation systems at Namuga and Torah in the Star Habour area of East Makira.
But on the whole, the Makira Ulawa Provincial Emergency Centre in Kirakira, the Provincial Capital, has reported Cyclone Harold caused heavy rains, flooding, salt water inundation from strong winds and high sea swells, which resulted in the destruction of people’s food gardens, cash crops, poultry and piggery farms.
The Emergency Centre says a number of houses and kitchens were either damaged or destroyed, as well as strong winds damaged a number of school properties.
The Centre says more than 44,603 plus people were exposed to the disaster while the total number of households exposed to the disaster was 8,922.
The Makira Ulawa Provincial Emergency Centre says on the priority needs, the 44,602 plus people who were exposed to the disaster would urgently need food relief supplies while shelter response to damaged households need non-food items to be distributed to them.
The Centre says the Impact Overview is estimated at 420 plus communities and villages have been affected, estimated household affected is 9,922 plus and estimated population affected stands at 44, 602 plus.
The Centre says on food security, an Initial Damage Assessment found that the 44, 602 plus people need urgent food supplies, adding all year long, the Province has experienced rain and sea vapor and swells on small islands resulting in damages to food gardens.
It says the impact of Tropical Cyclone Harold is an additional to the dilemma that had been experienced, adding the influx of people from the Province who had been forced out of the capital city by the COVID19 threat, has increased the population and has worsened the situation.
The Centre says currently villagers are surviving on the remains of cyclone damaged crops and food gardens, but these will last them only a month, and sooner or later they will start experiencing food shortages.
The Makira Ulawa Provincial Emergency Centre says the increase in population worries villagers, not only because the demand for food is rapidly increasing, but because it could also lead to criminal activities, social dispute, and health problems in communities.
And on Health and WASH, the Centre says flooding and fallen trees from strong winds had damaged dams and water sources, adding health centres are facing shortage of medical supplies (medicines).
It says people are experiencing diarrhea, influenza and red eye in some parts of the Province due to lack of clean water, good nutritional food, and other health issues.
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Makira Banana Festival had colorful opening
By George Atkin at Kokana Village
The Third Makira Banana Festival had a colorful opening October 11 at Kokana Village in West Bauro of Makira.
More than 500 people, who arrived from Kira Kira, the capital of Makira Ulawa Province and nearby villages, attended the opening which was officially declared by the visiting Minister of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification, Mr Bradley Tovosia, representing the Minister of Culture and Tourism.
At her opening address, the Chairlady of the Local Organizing Committee of the 2019 Makira Banana Festival, Aukeni Mamau, introduced Mr Tovosia as the festival’s official guest.
And she also introduced the Festival’s special guest, the Papua New Guinea High Commissioner to Solomon Islands, Doctor John Balavu.
Ms Mamau said she and her committee members appreciated their presence at the official opening of the Festival as official and special guests because it affirmed their support for the event.
She then thanked organizations and individuals who had supported the Makira Banana Festival through sponsorships and direct financial assistance, adding without their support, the event would not have taken place.
Ms Mamau said she was sure the participants would learn and earn something from the three-day festival, adding “you would not only make new friends but you would also find new business clients as you interact”.
The official and the special guests as well as other participants were entertained with a dinner and dances from Kokana Youths.
Earlier they visited the festival venue and were marveled at seeing a tower full of varieties of banana fruits.
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PNG High Com feels at home in Makira
By George Atkin at Kokana VillageThe Papua New Guinea High Commissioner to Solomon Islands, Doctor John Balavu who was the special guest of the 2019 Makira Banana Festival held at Kokana Village, West Bauro on Makira at the weekend said “I feel at home in Makira.
“And I find people of Makira to be no different from PNG people, adding I feel as though I am in a PNG village”.
Dr Balavu said the festival had exhibited the cultural values of the people of Makira Ulawa Province, which must be promoted overseas, adding tourism can be developed through the festival’s efforts.
He said the efforts can expose the province as a tourists’ destination, so it can get a share of the tourism dollar with other provinces that have already developed their tourism industries.
Dr Balavu said the idea is to develop the tourism industry with Government assistance so tourists can visit Makira Ulawa Province again and again.
He appealed to tourism developers to work together as sisters and brothers in a community, cooperation and coordination manner.
Ends///
Tourism development must be shared equally – Tovosia
By George Atkin at Kokana Village
The official guest of the Third Makira Banana Festival, the Minister of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification, Bradley Tovosia has told the people of Makira Ulawa Province that tourism development must be shared equally.
He made the remark at the opening of the 2019 Makira Banana Festival held at Kokana Village, West Bauro October 11.
He said he found Kokana to be a welcoming village and is a shining example of how to keep a village.
Mr Tovosia then said he agreed with the sentiment that tourism development in the country has concentrated on Western, Guadalcanal and Malaita Provinces, adding with a question why not Makira Ulawa Province?
He said banana is identified with Makira, therefore the National Government must help the Province with its tourism development.
China can help with the tourism development
Mr Tovosia assured the people of Makira Ulawa Province that China can help the province to develop its tourism industry and the development of other sectors.
He said the province must therefore support the diplomatic switch to China from the Republic of China on Taiwan because the new relationship will boost the festival and the tourism development in the Province, which has better roads and bridges than his Guadalcanal Province.
Mr Tovosia donated 10-thousand dollars towards the Makira Banana Festival.
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Thousand people attend closing ceremony of Banana Festival
The closing ceremony of the Third Makira Banana Festival held at Kokana Village October 13 attracted over one-thousand people.
They included people from Kira Kira, the provincial capital of Makira Ulawa Province, students from the National Secondary at Waimapuru and people from Arosi on West Makira and those from the local villages.
And while some children enjoyed playing on the sandy beach, others enjoyed running around the festival venue while others still posed for pictures in front of the banana tower.
Later, the people were entertained with music especially about banana and peace tourism on the province.
In the evening winners of talent show competitions in cloth designs and talent in speech and poetry exhibited the previous night received their prizes.
The prizes for the talent fashion on cloth designs were sponsored by Solomon Telekom which was the highest sponsor, and the prizes for the talent in speech and poetry were sponsored by Strong Island Foundation and Makira Gold of Australia.
These and the custom dances performed by various groups on the nights of the entire festival were obviously the overwhelming highlights.
At her closing remarks, the festival’s Chairlady, Aukeni Mamau said the 2019 Banana Festival was a huge success and she attributed this to the sponsors and financiers, dancers and weavers, providers of food and drinks, the participants and villagers of Kokana, and the hard work of members of the Local Organizing Committee.
She said without the concerted efforts, the festival wouldn’t have been a success. She wished everyone a safe return home.
The final announcement which excited the crowd was, the Kokana village elders and their villagers, and the LOC members have agreed that Kokana will again play host to the 2020 Makira Banana Festival.
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PRESS RELEASES
Makira Banana Festival set for Oct 11
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
The 2019 Makira Banana Festival has been set for October 11 and it will be held at Kokana Village, West Bauro on Makira.
The Kokana villagers who are mostly settlers from the Reef Islands of the Temotu Province have agreed to play host to the three-day festival which will end on October 13.
The 2019 Makira Banana Festival Committee, chaired by Miss Aukeni Mamau, the daughter of the founder of the Festival, Noel Mamau, agreed at its meeting on August 24 in Kira Kira that a number of committee members will visit Kokana Village Aug 31 to see the venue where the activities will take place.
The committee agreed that the program activities will include a Banana Fashion Show, Banana in Food and Drinks, Banana in Variety, Traditional dances, chants and songs, a Banana Talent Show, which will include dances, songs, speeches and all talents, Banana in Floral, 100-meter Beach Race and Fishing.
The committee agreed that fishermen and women will not be allowed to use motorized canoes, but they will use only paddles to move their canoes when fishing.
And the 100-metre beach race at Kokana Village will be open to all men and women of all ages. Kokana Village is situated along the Waimapuru Beach which stretches from Ago River to Maepua River.
The committee also agreed that prizes will be paid to winners, runner-up’s and third place getters of various events and shows, concessional prizes will also be given out.
And the committee also agreed to accept sponsors of the Festival, and prizes of the various events and shows.
Meanwhile, the 2019 Makira Banana Festival Media says the committee acknowledges the sponsors of previous festivals, events and shows namely Solomon Telekom, Sol- Rice, Origin Gas, Sol-Tuna, Island Enterprises, Solomon Host, Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau, Access Plus, National Provident Fund, Central Bank of Solomon Islands, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
These sponsors are all Honiara-based.
The Festival Media says financial contributions were also received from Bond University and Strong Island Foundation of Australia.
It says sponsorships and contributions will be acknowledged through the media.
The committee agreed in its recent meeting that how the sponsorships and contributions will be received will be discussed tomorrow (Aug 29).
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Ngorangora Airport to be re-surfaced/graveled
By George Atkin in Kira Kira
The Ngorangora Airport, near the Makira Ulawa Provincial capital, Kira Kira will soon be re-surfaced and graveled.
Provincial Premier Stanely Siapu says in Kira Kira that work on the airport’s runway, terminal and fence were to have been carried out under a previous national project funding, but work on the projects never eventuated.
He says however, rehabilitation work will soon take off as land matters are now finally sorted out.
Premier Siapu says a contractor has been identified and engaged and his immediate task now is to re-surface and gravel the airport’s runway.
He is now calling on landowners to support the important development, as it will be good for the travelling public, investors, the tourism sector, officials, institutions and everyone.
Meanwhile, Premier Siapu describes the Educator Sector as nearly collapsing, as classrooms, dormitories and ablution blocks in both primary and secondary schools around the Province are either non-existent or are on the verge of collapsing.
And he adds students’ abilities to study are being compounded by patched up desks and sleeping beds, and the direct result is, school push outs are generally on the rise.
But Mr Siapu says his Government is trying to improve the situation by pushing the idea of establishing an Eastern Region Polytech Institute in Makira.
He says his Government is continuing to engage in discussions with the sister province of Temotu so “our Education Authorities can together talk about the regional Polytech Institute”.
Premier Siapu says the discussions centre around the Eastern Regional Polytech Institute can be established at the jointly owned Government land at Waimapuru, the current venue of the state-owned National Secondary School.
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Strong Island Foundation Report
Strong Island Foundation sets up office in Kira Kira, Makira-Ulawa Province
A new Australian Non-Governmental Organization called Strong Island Foundation is setting up an Office in Kira Kira, the provincial headquarters of Makira-Ulawa Province.
The Strong Island Foundation is based in the Australian State of Queensland.
I have been given a six months contract to coordinate the Foundation’s activities in Kira Kira and in Makira.
The Kira Kira-based Strong Island Foundation priorities for 2019 are the Makira Banana Festival for 2019, the Nurses for Nurses Exchange, and the Public Toilets in Kira Kira.
As the local agent for Strong Island Foundation, I am responsible to provide regular reporting on the above priorities.
Other primary responsibilities include advocating for progression of SIF priorities, while at the same time, leading and supporting where required, providing local co-ordination and support role for SIF members and affiliated organizations as they transit through Kira Kira.
But Queensland is yet to release the names of SIF members and affiliated organizations.
I am also responsible for collecting information about NGOs, volunteers and other projects that visit Kira Kira and will actively promote Strong Island Foundation to these visitors.
These organizations and volunteers will be asked to join SIF social media pages or subscribe to our website.
I will also support the coordination of items to affiliated SIF projects, such as the East Makira Dental Project, Torah Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Project, and Makira Sanitation Survey Project.
I am expected to provide local knowledge and expertise for SIF members and affiliated projects.
SIF contacts in Australia are PO Box 229 Mudgeeraba, QLD 4213: Email: info@strongislandfoundation.com.au
stongislandfoundation.com.au
In Kira Kira, Mr. George Atkin, Kira Kira Coordinator, Strong Island Foundation, C/- Kira Kira Post Office, Makira-Ulawa Province: Email: atkingeorge65@gmail.com: Mobile: 677-7495505.
Acknowledgements
Meanwhile, I want to take this opportunity to profoundly say thank you to a number of people and organizations who had helped me in the initial efforts to set up an office of the Strong Island Foundation in Kira Kira.
They are, the Anglican Diocesan Secretary of the Diocese of Hanuato’o, Mr Silas Hulanga for allowing me to lodge at the Diocese of Hanuato’o’s Guest House, even when he knew almost next to nothing about the Foundation; the Premier of Makira-Ulawa Province, Mr. Stanley Siapu for supporting me to sustain myself in the first three weeks after my arrival in Kira Kira without the necessary means in January, for also accepting to have an audience with visiting SIF Chair, Dr. James Fink, and myself about the Makira Banana Festival issue; Mrs. Annie Rafeasi, the team leader of the Rural Development Program in Makira-Ulawa Province, for lending me her laptop to put together my first report to SIF, part of the just finished report on the Makira Banana Festival, for also sending the first report to Australia via her email and lest I forget her financial support; Mr. Commins Ikioa, the Director of Provincial Constituency Development Fund for lending me his laptop because as he has put it, a laptop is important to your (my) work; Private Secretary to the Governor General, Mr. Nigel Maezama for meeting my mobile top-ups from time to time; the former team leader of World Vision (Makira-Ulawa Province), Mrs. Iris Oche Parisuri for providing financial support towards me and moral support towards SIF; Mr. Joe Au, the Director of Makira-Ulawa Provincial Investment Corporation (MUPIC) for providing moral support for the aims and objectives of SIF especially the Makira Banana Festival; Solomon Telekom staff for allowing me to use the counter telephone to call Honiara free of charge; and of course my new friends in the Rest House and relatives in Kira Kira for ensuring there was always food on the table.
The Kira Kira efforts to set up the Strong Island Foundation remind me of 1977 when I started Solomons Toktok, the country’s first independent weekly newspaper as a new journalist graduate from New Zealand but then with at least one manual typewriter.
Then I depended on friends and sympathizers to meet the printing costs of first three issues, food, transport and telephone calls. Other contributions came from politicians, business owners and my former wife’s parents in New Zealand who supported the idea of the country having an independent newspaper thus ensuring the freedom of expression.
Initially, we shared a room with a local shipping company and later a hotel owner allowed Solomons Toktok to use part of his laundry building for its newsroom and office without having to pay rent and electricity and water charges.
How many of such nice people can still be found 41 years later?
In Kira Kira, there is free water to almost all the houses, but there are no rent-free houses neither there is free electricity.
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Kira Kira HQs needs helping hands
Makira Ulawa Province needs helping hands to develop its Headquarters at Kira Kira.
Since Solomon Islands gained its independence from British rule 41 years ago, Kira Kira still does not have a wharf, does not have tar-sealed roads, does not have a tar-sealed airport runway, does not have public toilets and a proper Market House, so the list of does not haves goes on.
But a proper wharf for Kira Kira is an essential infrastructure as it will ensure the safe movement of people and cargoes from the national capital of Honiara on Guadalcanal Province and villages around the Province to Kira Kira, and vice versa.
Kira Kira, like the other provincial headquarters or capitals, is the centre ‘of administration, commerce and investment, agriculture and fisheries, health and education.
Because of the absence of a wharf at Kira Kira, loading and unloading of cargoes and passengers in Kira Kira can be a dangerous and risky task as time and time again, cargoes are damaged while others still, end up at the bottom of the sea.
Similarly, other times children’s lives and those of their mothers are at great risk as have been observed.
The provincial capital also urgently needs at least three public toilets near or at the market, one for women, the other for farmers, fishermen selling their root crops, vegetables, cooked food and fish and the third one for members of the public.
One can only guess where vendors, producers and fishermen go for convenience and whether or not, the Kira Kira Market is hygienic.
The need for public toilets is greater when Kira Kira hosts celebrative events because political leaders and officials from Honiara and people from around the province gather here.
The Kira Kira Government blames land disputes as the major reasons for not building a wharf and public toilets.
While possible sites for public toilets have been identified, the dispute remains unresolved and work could not start.
It is the same with the wharf. A team of Japanese Engineers reportedly had carried out a feasibility study on the Kira Kira seafront where it could be built.
The result of the study has not been sited to verify whether or not land dispute is indeed the problem or the difficulty in securing funds to finance the wharf project is the culprit.
Indeed, the Kira Kira Market does need a bigger permanent Market House where vendors can sell their food crops, vegetables and fish. Currently there is a permanent market house but it is not big enough to accommodate all the vendors.
This means the vendors place their produce either on stalls or on the ground, while the fishermen place their fish on the ground on an open space.
While the prices of fresh reef fish and tuna at the Kira Kira Market are quite high, the qualities of food crops like yam, taro, cassava, panna, banana and kumara, vegetables and fruits are exceptionally good.
Meanwhile, Kira Kira being the provincial headquarters needs an improved infrastructure like tar-sealing its roads and the main road leading to the provincial airport at Ngora Ngora.
Even the airport needs to be upgraded, expanded and its runway tar-sealed.
The Ngora Ngora Airport Terminal needs an urgent fix to its toilet facility and other facilities as they have been a disgrace for many years for both international and domestic visitors.
They have to use the seaside and the nearby bushes when nature calls, indeed a real novelty for many of them.
It may not be a disgrace for the people of the province because it is not a big deal to use the beaches and bushes when the nature calls.
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Makira Banana Festival 2019
Importance of Banana to Makira Islands’ people
Banana is important to the people of Makira Islands in the Makira Ulawa Province, one of the nine provinces of Solomon Islands because families depend on its fruits for food and earning incomes.
Banana Province and birth of festival
The Makira Banana Festival had been borne out of the notion that the Makira Ulawa Province is commonly known nationwide as the Banana Province.
The Festival, formed at the turn of the 21st Century, is held annually in Kira Kira, the Provincial Headquarters of the Makira Ulawa Province, as a tourism marketing tool to attract overseas tourists to visit the province.
But since the festival’s inception, only three festivals have been held at Star Harbour in East Makira, at Marou Bay in West Makira, and at Kira Kira, the provincial headquarters.
The festival was not held in 2017 and 2018, although efforts are now being pursued to hold the 2019 Banana Festival later this year.
It could not be held in June, the month the festival had been held before, as there are two important elections this year, the first being the National General Elections – April 3, and the Provincial Elections on June 12 which have been postponed to December.
The brain-child of the Banana Festival is Mr Noel Mamau who owns and manages the Fresh Wind Motel and is the leading accommodation provider in Kira Kira and the whole province.
Mr Mamau and his group have encouraged provincial authorities to see the annual event as a stimulant to foreign visitors to include Makira Ulawa Province in their itineraries.
He says the banana festival is an event when various shows such as cultural dancing and musical talents, basket weaving and of course various ways of preparing banana as foods, are displayed.
Mr Mamau says the Makira Banana Festival is not exclusively a banana show where varieties of banana species, what can be made out the banana fruits, and so forth can be displayed.
Mr Mamau however realises banana farmers and vendors want to earn some money from selling their ripe bananas, banana chips and the anxiety they have in getting other people to taste various foods Makira people prepare out of banana fruits.
He believes people from Makira Ulawa Province can derive more tangible financial benefits from the Makira Banana Festival by getting investors, development partners, business houses and government ministries to become stakeholders.
In this regard, he wants to know in what aspects of the festival the Bond University and Strong Island Foundation of Australia hold to become stakeholders.
And Mr Mamau asks what tangible contributions can they provide the Makira Banana Festival so they can become worthy stakeholders?
He would like to see the festival is broken up into three shows annually, one could highlight the cultures of the people of Makira Ulawa Province, the other could be on investment opportunities while the other on banana.
He says the shows will all be part and parcel of the Makira Banana Festival.
Counterparts Opportunity to showcase
Because of the importance banana holds for the people of the province, a second group, the Makira Banana Growers Association, has also been formed and has 80 members. It is the brainchild of Premier Stanley Siapu.
And it is ideal for both groups to have common concepts for the annual Festival because banana growers can show the varieties of bananas they grow, which are estimated to be around 200, and what they can do with the banana fruits.
The concepts could include attracting foreign tourists and investors to come and invest in the province, creating sources of income for banana growers and vendors, diversifying the uses of banana fruits, improving the methods of growing bananas and encouraging improved interactions between national and provincial political leaders and officials in Honiara and Kira Kira, and representatives from Honiara-based diplomatic offices.
Mr Siapu says the Association supports a wider cross section of participation in the Makira Banana Festival as it is an opportunity for banana farmers to showcase the varieties of bananas they grow, and what they can do with banana fruits for food and for generating incomes.
He adds it is also the opportunity for Honiara-based officials and representatives from Government Departments such as Agriculture, Commerce, Investment and Tourism and Donor Partners and Investors to see what Makira farmers can produce from their banana fruits and other agriculture products such as solar dried cocoa beans.
Premier Siapu says these visitors could in turn contribute ideas on how to improve banana farming, how to diversify the use of banana fruits and how to source both local and regional market outlets and funding.
But why the Banana Festival and not the Yam or Panna, Kumara or Taro Festival?
Bananas are important to the people of Makira Islands because their fruits are staple foods for them and are increasingly becoming sources of income.
For instance for meals and feasts, people boil banana fruits, bake them, roast them and make puddings out of them.
And for incomes, banana growers from nearby villages to the Kira Kira Market sell their green and ripe banana fruits there, while others sell them at village and roadside markets.
Diversification of banana fruits
And women from in and around Kira Kira town-ship are now able to sell banana chips, banana chocolates, muffins, cakes and banana floral after attending a training course organised by the Honiara-based Kastom Gaden.
The Kastom Gaden engaged a trainer from Vanuatu to run the course.
Chocolate producers hit a snag
But the women who have been producing banana chocolates have stopped after experiencing a snag, they do not have freezers to freeze chocolate coverings on their banana chocolates.
They will need financial support if they are to continue producing banana chocolates.
Dates for Banana Day and Makira Day
The Makira Banana Festival which previously was held in the month of June could be delayed until July 29, close to the date of the Makira Second Appointed Day on August 3.
Premier Siapu believes if the two annual events are organised properly, they could attract participants and attendants from around the province as well as business people and donors from Honiara.
Concept Note for Banana Festival
Meanwhile, the Provincial Secretary, James Taeburi is calling on the event organisers to give his office a concept paper on the Makira Banana Festival this year for budgetary purposes.
He says the Makira-Ulawa Provincial Executive is now in the process of putting together the budget estimates for 2019/2020.
Mr Taeburi says the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government would consider giving financial support towards the festival and the permission to the organisers to use its grounds at the Kira Kira Station to hold the festival activities.
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Banana Festival supports Tovosia’s call for support on tourism
The Local Organizing Committee of the 2019 Makira Banana Festival says it supports a call for support by the Minister of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification, Bradley Tovosia at the opening of the Third Banana Festival October 11.
Mr Tovosia called for support of the diplomatic switch to China from Taiwan while opening the three-day banana festival at Kokana Village, West Bauro saying China could help with the Province’s tourism development.
Members of the Banana Festival Local Organizing Committee in their meeting October 15 in Kira Kira agreed to support Mr Tovosia’s call for support because he is a strong advocator and believer of the diplomatic switch.
They also agreed with Mr Tovosia that the new relationship would boost the festival and tourism in the Makira Ulawa Province.
The committee members also agreed with the Minister’s sentiment that tourism development should be spread out amongst the provinces.
Mr Tovosia donated 10-thousand dollars towards the 2019 Makira Banana Festival.
Meanwhile, the festival organizing committee says the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau have pledged more than 40-thousand dollars towards the Makira Banana Festival.
The committee says it is happy with the offers of financial support by the Mother Ministry, and the government’s leading tourism organization to the Makira Banana Festival, so it can kick off preparations for the 2020 festival straight away.
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Makira Banana Festival had colorful opening
The Third Makira Banana Festival had a colorful opening October 11 at Kokana Village in West Bauro of Makira.
More than 500 people, who arrived from Kira Kira, the capital of Makira Ulawa Province and nearby villages, attended the opening which was officially declared by the visiting Minister of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification, Mr Bradley Tovosia, representing the Minister of Culture and Tourism.
At her opening address, the Chairlady of the Local Organizing Committee of the 2019 Makira Banana Festival, Aukeni Mamau, introduced Mr Tovosia as the festival’s official guest.
And she also introduced the Festival’s special guest, the Papua New Guinea High Commissioner to Solomon Islands, Doctor John Balavu.
Ms Mamau said she and her committee members appreciated their presence at the official opening of the Festival as official and special guests because it affirmed their support for the event.
She then thanked organizations and individuals who had supported the Makira Banana Festival through sponsorships and direct financial assistance, adding without their support, the event would not have taken place.
Ms Mamau said she was sure the participants would learn and earn something from the three-day festival, adding “you would not only make new friends but you would also find new business clients as you interact”.
The official and the special guests as well as other participants were entertained with a dinner and dances from Kokana Youths.
Earlier they visited the festival venue and were marveled at seeing a tower full of varieties of banana fruits.
Ends///
PNG High Com feels at home in Makira
The Papua New Guinea High Commissioner to Solomon Islands, Doctor John Balavu who was the special guest of the 2019 Makira Banana Festival held at Kokana Village, West Bauro on Makira at the weekend said “I feel at home in Makira.
“And I find people of Makira to be no different from PNG people, adding I feel as though I am in a PNG village”.
Dr Balavu said the festival had exhibited the cultural values of the people of Makira Ulawa Province, which must be promoted overseas, adding tourism can be developed through the festival’s efforts.
He said the efforts can expose the province as a tourists’ destination, so it can get a share of the tourism dollar with other provinces that have already developed their tourism industries.
Dr Balavu said the idea is to develop the tourism industry with Government assistance so tourists can visit Makira Ulawa Province again and again.
He appealed to tourism developers to work together as sisters and brothers in a community, cooperation and coordination manner.
Ends///
Tourism development must be shared equally – Tovosia
The official guest of the Third Makira Banana Festival, the Minister of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification, Bradley Tovosia has told the people of Makira Ulawa Province that tourism development must be shared equally.
He made the remark at the opening of the 2019 Makira Banana Festival held at Kokana Village, West Bauro October 11.
He said he found Kokana to be a welcoming village and is a shining example of how to keep a village.
Mr Tovosia then said he agreed with the sentiment that tourism development in the country has concentrated on Western, Guadalcanal and Malaita Provinces, adding with a question why not Makira Ulawa Province?
He said banana is identified with Makira, therefore the National Government must help the Province with its tourism development.
China can help with the tourism development
Mr Tovosia assured the people of Makira Ulawa Province that China can help the province to develop its tourism industry and the development of other sectors.
He said the province must therefore support the diplomatic switch to China from the Republic of China on Taiwan because the new relationship will boost the festival and the tourism development in the Province, which has better roads and bridges than his Guadalcanal Province.
Mr Tovosia donated 10-thousand dollars towards the Makira Banana Festival.
Ends///
Thousand people attend closing ceremony of Banana Festival
The closing ceremony of the Third Makira Banana Festival held at Kokana Village October 13 attracted over one-thousand people.
They included people from Kira Kira, the provincial capital of Makira Ulawa Province, students from the National Secondary at Waimapuru and people from Arosi on West Makira and those from the local villages.
And while some children enjoyed playing on the sandy beach, others enjoyed running around the festival venue while others still posed for pictures in front of the banana tower.
Later, the people were entertained with music especially about banana and peace tourism on the province.
In the evening winners of talent show competitions in cloth designs and talent in speech and poetry exhibited the previous night received their prizes.
The prizes for the talent fashion on cloth designs were sponsored by Solomon Telekom which was the highest sponsor, and the prizes for the talent in speech and poetry were sponsored by Strong Island Foundation and Makira Gold of Australia.
These and the custom dances performed by various groups on the nights of the entire festival were obviously the overwhelming highlights.
At her closing remarks, the festival’s Chairlady, Aukeni Mamau said the 2019 Banana Festival was a huge success and she attributed this to the sponsors and financiers, dancers and weavers, providers of food and drinks, the participants and villagers of Kokana, and the hard work of members of the Local Organizing Committee.
She said without the concerted efforts, the festival wouldn’t have been a success. She wished everyone a safe return home.
The final announcement which excited the crowd was, the Kokana village elders and their villagers, and the LOC members have agreed that Kokana will again play host to the 2020 Makira Banana Festival.
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Makira Banana Festival venue safe and spacious
Kokana Village in West Bauro of Makira, which has been selected to be the venue for the 2019 Makira Banana Festival is spacious and will be safe to hold the event there.
These are the views of the festival’s Chairlady, Aukeni Mamau who visited Kokana Village at the weekend to see for herself if it will be safe and big enough to hold the three-day Makira Banana Festival there from October 11 to 13.
She says Kokana Village has 25 households with a total population of 202, eighty-five of whom are adults, 72 are children, youths 34 and older people 11.
Ms Mamau says the villagers had told her they earn their incomes by selling their copra, cocoa, vegetables and fruits and root crops and operating canteens.
But she says the people are content with what they earn and are happy that their village has been chosen to be the venue for the Festival.
She told them their village must be plastic free, two rubbish pits must be dug, one for smokers and betel nut chewers to use, while the other for general rubbish, adding the pits will be buried at the close of the festival.
Meanwhile, in other Makira Banana Festival news, the 2019 Festival Committee is appealing for sponsors and supporters to support the Festival, its various talent competitions and other appropriate expenses.
The committee says the talent competitions are Banana in Food and Drinks, Banana in Variety, Banana in Talent Show, Banana in Floral, l00-metre Beach Race and Fishing.
Bit it says the activities are Banana Fashion Show, Traditional Dances, Chants and Songs.
Meanwhile, the Committee takes the opportunity to acknowledge the sponsors and supporters of previous festivals namely, Solomon Telekom, Sol-Rice, Sol-Tuna, Solomon Host, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Central Bank of Solomon Islands, the National Provident Fund, Island Enterprises, Origin Gas, Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau, Access Plus, Bond University and Strong Island Foundation of Australia, the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government through its Agriculture Division, and participants from the Province.
The Committee says while it calls for the same support to be provided by previous festival sponsors and supporters, the appeal letter for additional sponsors and supporters is being widely distributed in Kira Kira and in Honiara.
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Makira Banana Festival – Promoting Peace Tourism in Makira Ulawa Province.
C/- PO Box 30, Kira Kira Post Office, MAKIRA ULAWA PROVINCE
____________________________________________________________________
Date: August 30th, 2019.
Dear Sirs/Madams,
Re: Sponsors of the 2019 Makira Banana Festival
First the Makira Banana Festival would like to inform previous sponsors and supporters and potentially new ones that a new Makira Banana Festival Committee has been appointed to organize the above festival.
And the new Committee is now in the process of registering the Makira Banana Festival as well as opening a Bank Account with the Bank South Pacific.
Our Committee has agreed that the Festival’s name should be registered and a Bank Account should be opened to ascertain accountability and transparency to our sponsors, supporters, stakeholders like members of the Makira Banana Growers Association and participants.
Our Committee has also agreed on a Theme for the festival which is Makira Banana Festival – Promoting Peace Tourism in Makira Ulawa Province.
The Committee has agreed to take these bold steps to affirm the members’ commitment and seriousness to develop the festival into an organized and orderly annual event that will promote peace tourism in the Province.
All these said, the 2019 Makira Banana Festival will be held at KOKANA Village, West Bauro on Makira on October 11 and will conclude on October 13.
Now the Committee is looking at securing sponsors and supporters to support the 2019 Makira Banana Festival, its various talent competitions and other appropriate expenses.
The talent competitions are Banana in Food and Drinks, Banana in Variety, Banana in Talent Show, Banana in Floral, 100-metre Beach Race and Fishing.
But the activities are Banana Fashion Show, Traditional Dances, Chants and Songs.
Meanwhile, the Committee takes this opportunity to acknowledge the sponsors and supporters of previous festivals: Solomon Telekom, Sol Rice, Sol Tuna, Solomon Host, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Central Bank of Solomon Islands, National Provident Fund, Island Enterprises, Origin Gas, Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau, Access Plus, Bond University and Strong Island Foundation of Australia.
And the Committee will be more than happy if the same support can be provided towards the 2019 Makira Banana Festival although our appeal is also extended to new supporters and sponsors so we can turn the Festival into a big success.
Sponsors can be sent to Makira Banana Festival, Care of Postal Address Box 30, Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province.
Thank you very much for your support.
George Atkin (Vice President)
For
Aukeni Mamau
Chairlady
Makira Banana Festival 2019
Kira Kira, MAKIRA ULAWA PROVINCE
Solomon Telekom: sales@telekom.com.sb
Sol-Rice: solrice@solomon.com.sb
Sol-Tuna: Fax: 67723462/67761029
Ministry of Culture and Tourism: Fax: 67726786
Central Bank of Solomon Islands: info@cbsi.com.sb
National Provident Fund: mwate@sinpf.org.sb
Island Enterprises: sales@ielsi.com.sb
Origin Energy: beaver.biti@originenergy.com.sb
Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau: info@sivb.com.sb
Advanced Technologies: sales@advancedtech.com.sb
Anolpha Enterprises: anolphaenterprises@yahoo.com
ANZ Bank: Website:- anz.com/solomonislands
Australian High Commission: Fax: 67723691
Bank South Pacific: servicebspsi@bsp.com.sb
Bowmans: bowmans@solomon.com.sb
British High Commission: BHC@solomon.com.sb
Commodities Export Marketing Authority: cema@solomon.com.sb
Credit Corporation: creditcorp@solomon.com.sb
European Union Delegation: delegation-solomon-isles@eeas.europa.eu
Forum Fisheries Agency: info@ffa.int
Frangipani Ice Limited: sales@frangipaniice.com
Heritage Park Hotel: info@heritageparkhotel.co.sb
Kokonut Café: kokoknutcafe@solomon.com.sb
Kosol Corporation: kosol@kosol.biz
Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock: Fax: 67728365
Ministry of Commerce: Fax: 67725084
Ministry of Provincial Government: Fax: 67728708
National Fisheries Developments Ltd: iashley@trimarinegroup.com
PNG High Commission: Fax: 67720562
Solbrew: solbrews@solomon.com.sb
Solair: Fax: 67723992/67738092
Solomon Islands Tobacco: Fax: 67730463
Solomon Post: solpost@hotmail.com
Solomon Sheet Steel: sss@business.com.sb
South Pacific Oil: sales@spo.com.sb
Szetu Enterprises: solnoodle@solomon.com.sb
Travel Solomon: travelsol@solomon.com.sb
US Consular Agent: us_consular@usconsular.com.sb
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Makira Banana Festival set for Oct 11
The 2019 Makira Banana Festival has been set for October 11 and it will be held at Kokana Village, West Bauro on Makira.
The Kokana villagers who are mostly settlers from the Reef Islands of the Temotu Province have agreed to play host to the three-day festival which will end on October 13.
The 2019 Makira Banana Festival Committee, chaired by Miss Aukeni Mamau, the daughter of the founder of the Festival, Noel Mamau, agreed at its meeting on August 24 in Kira Kira that a number of committee members will visit Kokana Village Aug 31 to see the venue where the activities will take place.
The committee agreed that the program activities will include a Banana Fashion Show, Banana in Food and Drinks, Banana in Variety, Traditional dances, chants and songs, a Banana Talent Show, which will include dances, songs, speeches and all talents, Banana in Floral, 100-meter Beach Race and Fishing.
The committee agreed that fishermen and women will not be allowed to use motorized canoes, but they will use only paddles to move their canoes when fishing.
And the 100-metre beach race at Kokana Village will be open to all men and women of all ages. Kokana Village is situated along the Waimapuru Beach which stretches from Ago River to Maepua River.
The committee also agreed that prizes will be paid to winners, runner-up’s and third place getters of various events and shows, concessional prizes will also be given out.
And the committee also agreed to accept sponsors of the Festival, and prizes of the various events and shows.
Meanwhile, the 2019 Makira Banana Festival Media says the committee acknowledges the sponsors of previous festivals, events and shows namely Solomon Telekom, Sol- Rice, Origin Gas, Sol-Tuna, Island Enterprises, Solomon Host, Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau, Access Plus, National Provident Fund, Central Bank of Solomon Islands, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
These sponsors are all Honiara-based.
The Festival Media says financial contributions were also received from Bond University and Strong Island Foundation of Australia.
It says sponsorships and contributions will be acknowledged through the media.
The committee agreed in its recent meeting that how the sponsorships and contributions will be received will be discussed tomorrow (Aug 29).
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Kira Kira Market cleaner urges vendors to keep market tidy
The cleaner of the Kira Kira Market in Makira Ulawa Province, Sarah Hoikeni has strongly urged vendors to keep the market clean.
And she has also strongly urged people who buy root crops, vegetables, fruits, fish, betel nuts and tobacco products to ensure the market is kept clean at all times.
Ms Hoikeni says both vendors and customers make it a habit just to throw their rubbish on the ground instead of throwing them onto rubbish containers provided by the Works Division.
She has been doing her best to ensure the market is clean but people don’t seem to give a hoot, adding the Kira Kira Market does not look like a place where people buy their food to eat at home.
Ms Hoikeni says she is sympathetic with fish vendors who place their catches on the ground because market authorities have not built stalls for them, nor the Fisheries Division, providing them with ice-skies.
She then relays her disgust to our reporter about the Kira Kira Market not having public toilets and the sad fact that people are using the nearby bushes as public conveniences.
Meanwhile, our reporter reflects on yester-years about a news report he put together for the then Solomon Islands Broadcasting Services (SIBS) now SIBC in 1976, regarding Kira Kira and Honiara not having public toilets.
The Chief Minister’s Office, which looked after the broadcasting services and the information services was not happy with the story because it was about a government district station and the national capital lacking such important facilities.
The CMO gave the reporter two options, to adjust or resign …. the reporter decided to leave.
But the story remains true today although attempts are being made in Honiara to build public toilets while Kira Kira, nil efforts.
While there is a public outcry especially by women for public toilets to be built, the common joke is, if nature calls, “run back home”.
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Kira Kira Hospital now cleaner, says Aussie doctor
An Australian doctor who has visited the Kira Kira Hospital, the Makira Ulawa Provincial main Health Centre, has described the hospital as now cleaner than five years ago when he first visited there.
Dr Dave Lawless, a member of the Australian Non-Governmental-Organization, Strong Island Foundation, who has led a team of trainee doctors from Bond University for a two-week attachment with the Kira Kira Hospital, says the hospital is now cleaner as it had been painted and had also been re-organized.
He says the hospital fence has also been painted adding on the new colours to the hospital’s facelift.
Dr Lawless says in the hospital’s re-organization, the Malaria Laboratory which was stuck at the back, has been moved to the front of the hospital next to the Pharmacy.
“This is good because malaria patients just take one or two steps to collect their medicines from the Pharmacy”, he says.
Asked about what his thoughts about Kira Kira and its market were, Dr Lawless who has since returned to the Gold Coast, said both need cleaning up, but the people in general are really friendly and kind.
The Bond University of Gold Coast of Australia and the Kira Kira Hospital have an on-going exchange program for more than 10 years now in which they exchange doctors and nurses to work in their respective Health Centres as part of their training.
The Kira Kira-based Strong Island Foundation, which has strong links with the medical institute of Bond University, coordinates From Nurses to Nurses Exchange Program between Kira Kira and Bond University.
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Kira Kira people welcome frequent media publicity
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
The people of Kira Kira, the Makira Ulawa Provincial capital welcome the frequent publicity of news from various newsmakers by the two national daily newspapers, Solomon Star and Island Sun, and the state broadcaster, Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation.
Many newspaper readers and SIBC listeners have told me that they welcome the frequent media publicity of news and views from both the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government and people.
They say many people are ignorant of many issues in the province, be they political or educational, and developmental in the areas of infrastructure and communications, economics, agriculture, climate change and health environment, law and justice, forestry, fisheries, culture, and tourism, to name some areas.
The say the province has been without a journalist since the 1980’s when the then Government Information Services posted Information Officers in Kira Kira and other provincial capitals.
The result, they believe, is the general ignorance.
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Makira Banana Festival 2019 is set to be held in Sept
The annual provincial tourism promotion event, the Makira Banana Festival for 2019 will be held in September.
The Chairperson of the Makira Banana Festival, Noel Mamau says a date has yet to be decided upon, but it will be held at Kokana Village, West Bauro and not in Kira Kira, the provincial capital.
Previously, the festival was held in June and twice before, it was held in two different villages.
Mr Mamau says it is appropriate to hold the festival in villages from time to time besides Kira Kira, because it is a community project to promote various potential visiting sites and features to tourists.
He says it is planned the festival will be held in four different villages annually, but in the fifth year, the major Makira Banana Festival will be held in Kira Kira.
He says the Kokana Village has been selected because it has a nice beach and the shows could be held even at night under the moon-light.
Mr Mamau says his committee will soon put together a program of events for the Kokana Makira Banana Festival 2019, adding, it will be announced to the public when it is finalized.
Meanwhile, Mr Mamau adds, the Committee also plans to utilize the event to promote the private sector and what people of the province can do, and of course, it must be an opportunity for the pubic to take part, and enjoy.
He says the overall objective of the Makira Banana Festival is turning it into a program that will make the province proud.
Makira Ulawa Province plans to go into tourism
The Rocky Island of Ulawa in the Makira Ulawa Province could be turned into a tourist destination in the not too distant future.
And the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government has already started looking at ways to ensure the idea gets off the ground.
It hosted an Awareness Tourism Program on the island, which was supervised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Tourism Solomon of Honiara and in collaboration with the provincial tourism office in Kira Kira.
Senior Tourism Officer of the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government, Miss Doris Raumae says 20 Ulawa participants took part in the program recently.
She says they have shown keen interest in the idea of developing tourism projects on their island, so one day in the not too distant future, it can become a tourist destination.
Miss Raumae says the program covered the Development of Tourism Products, the Legal part of tourism products for both national and provincial tourism projects, Minimum Standard requirements for accommodation facilities and the shared Responsibilities of the three stakeholders, namely the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Tourism Solomon and the Makira Ulawa Provincial Tourism Division.
And the awareness program, she says, informed the people that their island has the potential to attract tourists because it has natural land and sea resources.
She adds, the people were told about the main objectives of the tourism authorities which included developing Ulawa Island as a tourist destination, increasing the number of tourist arrivals, having the potentials in the tourism industry, and engaging people in sustainable development.
Meanwhile, Miss Raumae says the program led by Mrs Joan Sautehi of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Honiara had identified potential visiting sites.
They include caves and beaches, spear fishing of flying fish, traditional food gardening, monuments of the first Anglican Missionary on Ulawa Island and man-made historical attractions.
Miss Raumae says with the potential attractions, Ulawa Island can provide what she describes as, a very unique and tasty tourist destination, adding it is a complete tourism product on its own, because the rocky island is accessible by sea and air.
And while there, she says, tourists can either travel around the island on foot, or by road transport, adding Ulawa has its own marketable niche tourism products.
But Miss Raumae says there are of course challenges which must be considered.
These include societal problems associated with new developments, people’s mindset on how they see tourism, for instance, its benefits and disadvantages, rate packaging and price matching of services provided to ascertain customer satisfaction, and the lack of honesty and cooperation within Ulawa communities.
She says the first Tourism Awareness Program on the island was a concerted effort by the three stakeholders and the participants highly commended it.
Ulawa Tourism Development Committee formed
The Makira Ulawa Provincial Tourism Office in Kira Kira, the provincial capital, reports that following a recent tourism development awareness program held on Ulawa Island, a Tourism Development Committee has been formed.
Senior Tourism Officer, Doris Raumae says members of the Ulawa Tourism Development Committee are Joses Harauri (Chairman), Hellen Hiru (Vice Chairman), Dick Saohu (Secretary) and the Treasurer is Shem Teuto.
She says there are six office bearers who represent Village Tourism Committees around the island.
Miss Raumae says the first task for the Ulawa Tourism Development Committee is putting together important activities it will oversee as the initial steps towards the development of tourism businesses on the island.
Miss Raumae assures members of the Ulawa Tourism Development Committee that her Kira Kira Office will continue to work closely with them, adding she will raise any concerns they will have to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Honiara.
Meanwhile, leaders from Ugi Island have expressed concern that their people and those from Bio and Three Sisters Islands were excluded from the recent Tourism Awareness Development Program held on Ulawa.
Speaking in confidence, they express the belief that they should have been included in the awareness program because “we speak the same language, we have the same cultures and traditions, and we are from the same Constituency”.
They claim Ugi has a lagoon, white beaches and reefs ideal for snorkeling and skiing, Bio Island is a bird sanctuary, while one of the islands in the Three Sisters Group has crocodiles that can coil and uncoil their tails on instructions by tour instructors.
They believe these are credible enough attractions for tourists, adding tourists can get there by ship or by a ride on a motorized fiberglass canoe from Kira Kira or Ulawa.
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Japan’s Urawa and Solomon Islands’ Ulawa
The people from the Japanese city of Urawa have expressed an interest in forming a sister relationship with Solomon Islands’ Ulawa Island in the Makira Ulawa Province.
A visiting Japanese recently expressed this interest in Honiara after reading an article in Solomon Star on an Awareness Tourism Program carried out in Ulawa by a team from the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Tourism Solomon in Honiara and the Makira Ulawa Provincial Tourism Division in Kira Kira, the provincial capital.
Senior Provincial Tourism Officer in Kira Kira, Doris Raumae says the visiting Japanese had informed her that he would consult people of Urawa city about Ulawa Island in Makira Ulawa Province.
She says the indications are if a sister relationship is formed between the peoples of Urawa and Ulawa, Japanese tourists visiting Solomon Islands could include Ulawa region in their itineraries.
Miss Raumae says as Ulawa people are eyeing tourism as an income generating business, the sister relationship could bring tourism dollar to the island.
She says the visiting Japanese had informed her the people of Urawa city love football just as Solomon Islanders are soccer crazy.
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Marau to find out why SIG neglects Makira Ulawa
The Minister of Lands, Housing and Survey, William Bradford Marau has assured the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government and its people that he will find out why the National Government in Honiara has been neglecting the province.
He made the assurance while addressing a dinner function hosted by the Premier, Stanley Siapu, following celebrations that marked the 36th Anniversary of the Makira Ulawa Province’s Second Appointed Day on August 2, in Kira Kira, the provincial capital.
Mr Marau who represented the National Government said he will find out why Honiara pays more attention to other provinces than the Makira Ulawa Province.
He said the province is behind with its telecommunications and banking services, Kira Kira is the only provincial capital that does not have a wharf nor its roads sealed, it does not have public toilets, and the Ngora Ngora Airport is yet to be sealed since it was built in the mid-1960s.
Mr Marau said Solomon Telekom needs to upgrade its mobile and internet services from 2G to 3G, as it has done to other provinces and Honiara, adding its slow services badly affect Bank South Pacific operations in Kira Kira, as it has gone digital.
He then called on Makira Ulawa provincial and national leaders to work together in the push to develop the Province, which has the potential to advance its economy to new heights, given the opportunity.
The Makira Ulawa Premier, Mr Siapu and community leaders then presented gifts which included a pig, mats, baskets, bananas and other locally grown vegetables and root crops to Mr Marau.
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Bond Uni-Makira Ulawa partnership praised
The Premier of Makira Ulawa Province, Stanley Siapu has praised a partnership between the Australian Bond University and his Province.
He says in Kira Kira, the provincial capital that his Government had endorsed the partnership and cooperation, so the Bond University can help the Province with its Urban Planning and Structural Design.
Premier Siapu adds the Urban Planning and Structural Design is on-top an existing Medical School arrangement between Bond University and Makira Ulawa Province.
He says currently Bond University students are helping the province to develop the Kira Kira and Huro Local Planning Schemes and the Pawa Provincial Secondary School on Ugi Island with its Master Plan.
Meanwhile, Mr Siapu says the Bond University Faculty of Society and Architecture had taken part in designing the Kira Kira Market.
The market is still to be fully developed, but it is understood the design includes public toilets, which are currently non-existent.
Mr Siapu says another component of the Bond University, the Law Faculty has also sent its law students to help the Public Solicitor’s Office in Kira Kira deal with legal issues, matters and interventions.
The law students reportedly have greatly helped dealing with a backlog of legal cases in the Kira Kira Magistrate’s Court.
Premier Siapu says on the National Front, his Executive Committee has since taken up office, been visiting appropriate Ministries in Honiara in attempts to set up relationships that could pave the way forward in areas of interests to both the National and Provincial Governments.
Mr Siapu said these while addressing the 36th Anniversary of the Makira Ulawa Province’s Second Appointed Day celebrations on August 2 in Kira Kira.
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Tourism in Makira Ulawa Province
For Makira Ulawa Province, better transport, telecommunications services and attractive tour sites are a must to develop if it is to attract tourists to visit the province.
Tourists will need to move around fast, visit sites with facilities and will need to communicate with their relatives and friends back in their countries.
But first, the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government in Kira Kira, the provincial capital, will need to set a tourism policy in place and identify visiting sites.
Better transport and telecommunications services are a must to ascertain, because the visiting sites will most likely be scattered in mainland Makira, then Ulawa, Three Sisters, Ugi, Santa Anna and Santa Catalina.
Presently, most travelers travel from the national capital, Honiara on Guadalcanal Province to Makira Ulawa Province and vice versa by air and sea.
Travelers returning to their villages choose ships so as villagers travelling to Honiara.
Makira Ulawa Province does have three functional airports at Kira Kira, Arona on Ulawa Island and at Santa Anna, the fourth airstrip at Nana in East Makira is however non-functional.
The state-owned Solomon Airlines serves the three airports four days a week from Honiara, while Honiara-based shipping companies serve travelers and cargo owners on a weekly basis.
The ships provide commendable weekly delivery services of cargoes and passengers between Honiara, Kira Kira and villages, and vice versa.
And now in Central and West Makira, road transport now complements shipping and outboard motor canoe transport services to ensure orderly movement of goods and people between Kira Kira and villages, while outboard motor canoes supplement shipping services to the province’s outer islands and the provincial capital.
Unfortunately, there are still no roads that connect Kira Kira with the rest of Makira Island, especially the Weather Coast including Arosi Two in West Makira, East Makira including East Wainoni and Star Harbour.
These are worth mentioning because foreign tourists and foreign investors will need to know how they will move around visiting various visiting sites and investing in different parts of the province.
All these said, better transport services, attractive and accessible visiting sites, are what the provincial government must need to be ensured.
Because they would be the ingredients for increases in foreign tourist arrivals and investors’ interests to invest in the province.
And of course, there would be increased earnings for those investing in the tourism industry in the province, the local people – thus the tourists’ and the investors’ comfort.
But first and foremost, the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government must have a tourism policy in place as tourism is one of four sectors, namely, agriculture, fisheries and mining which must be aggressively developed to replace export earnings by the logging industry.
The logging export earnings represent 50 percent of the State’s annual budget, but the industry’s operations will start declining in the not too distant future, therefore the new national income earners will need to be secured to avoid a nasty vacuum for Solomon Islands, inclusive of Makira Ulawa Province, which has been depending heavily on the national government to deliver its services to its people.
Makira and its islands of course have sites such as frigate bird sanctuaries, caves and lakes, beaches and reefs, and other attractions which include crocodiles, wild birds and pigs, traditional chants and dances including war and spear dancing, and banana trees, the most important edible tree crop in the province.
Once transport and telecommunications services and the tourist visiting sites are properly developed, the Province and its people, would be in a better position to improve their income earnings from the tourism dollar.
If neighboring Vanuatu is prospering from the tourism dollar, why not Makira Ulawa Province, one may ask?
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BSP Kira Kira moves to new bigger office
The Bank South Pacific Agency in Kira Kira, the Makira Ulawa Provincial capital has moved to a new bigger office in a newly built double-story complex.
And BSP Agency customers here are now happy with the new office because they can now wait under a roof while waiting to be served.
Until the move at the weekend, the BSP Agency customers had to wait for up to four hours a day in the sun for services as it operated its banking services from a shed that was just as big as a master-bed-room of a residential house.
BSP Makira customers had accused the agency of being slow in providing services and had called for improvements.
Late last week, customers who were mostly teachers from rural schools around the province shouted insults at the bank workers in a rowdy protest.
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Makira Ulawa teachers absent from teaching will be given marching orders
Solomon Islands teachers from Makira Ulawa Province who have been absent from teaching in their schools will be given marching orders at a date to be announced next week.
Sources from the Provincial Education Office in Kira Kira, the provincial capital say the teachers will be sacked because they have not been teaching in their schools since the beginning of the 2019 academic year.
The sources have not revealed the number of teachers to be terminated, but those being sacked include primary and secondary teachers.
They say some of the teachers have not gone to the schools they had been allocated to teach this year, but they have continued to receive their pay.
But the sources say the staff of the Makira Ulawa Education Office have decided in a meeting that the teachers involved must be terminated from the National Teaching Service.
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Vendors renew calls for public toilets to be built for Kira Kira Market
Vendors and market goers are again calling on the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government to build at least four public toilets, two for women, and two for men, at the Kira Kira Market.
Strong Island Foundation, the Kira Kira-based Australian Non-Governmental Organization that strongly supports the idea, has interviewed about 30 people to get their views on the call and how they see the Kira Kira Market.
The Foundation also advocates the need to build toilets in areas where people congregate when important events are held in Kira Kira.
Those interviewed agreed and added that they cannot understand why various provincial administrations had over many years turned a blind eye on the issue.
Sarah Hoikeni who cleans the market six days a week says it always saddens her to see women and children heading for the bushes behind the market when nature calls.
“Surely the people who serve the Provincial Government and the Health and Medical Services are not blind because they understand the pressing need for public toilets for the market”, Hoikeni says.
Two visiting Saleswomen from Honiara who are here to sell religious books and Bibles described the Kira Kira Market as having improved from the days when one had to get to the market at day break in order to buy vegetables, fruits and root crops.
They say Kira Kira Market now has a market house with stalls, there are stalls all round where vegetables, fruits and cooked foods are sold, and it is open all day and six days a week, adding this wasn’t the case before.
But they said the continuing absence of public toilets all these years they have been visiting Kira Kira remains a damning worry, adding the market needs a clean environment.
Meanwhile, Provincial Lands Officer, John Ouou earlier this year said a land dispute over the ideal sites to build the toilets remains the big obstacle.
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Makira health promotion team to study Auki Market
A 10-member health team from the Makira Ulawa Province’s Health and Medical Services will travel to Malaita Province at the weekend to study how the Market at Auki is managed.
The Director of Health and Nursing Services in Makira Ulawa Province, John Harara who will lead the team says they will thoroughly study how the Auki Market is managed, how its environment is kept, how it’s waste management is dealt with, and what are the standards of root crops, vegetables, fruits and fish and other sea foods that are sold there.
He says his team consists of officers from Health Education and Promotion, Non-Communicable Disease, R-WASH and Sanitation.
Mr Harara says the information collected from their study of the Auki Market should pave the way to developing a setting for the Kira Kira Market.
He says it is the team’s hope the one-week study of the Auki Market will lead the pathway to ensuring the Kira Kira Market will have a healthy environment setting.
The Japanese International Aid Agency, JICA is financing the return trip to study the Auki Market.
Mr Harara says the Health Division would like to see the Kira Kira Market will have a clean environment, a proper sanitation system, root crops, vegetables and fruits, fish and other sea-foods and other produce sold there contain nutrition, and are good for people’s health.
But Mr Harara says, while the Makira Ulawa Provincial Health and Medical Services shares the same concern about the absence of public toilets in Kira Kira, it is not responsible for building them as it does not have the finances to do it.
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Pacific Islands Monthly was a great regional newsmagazine
By George Atkin – former contributor of PIM, Solomon Islands
Pacific Islands Monthly was a great regional monthly newsmagazine because it covered in great depth mostly happenings and events in the then South Pacific Region.
South Pacific Region then included the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Tahiti, New Caledonia, New Hebrides, now Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, now Kiribati and Tuvalu, Guam, Hawaii, Nauru, and the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, now Solomon Islands.
PIM as it was regionally known, published feature stories on developments of Pacific Islands politics, economies, aviation and shipping and on leadership well before they gained independence from their colonizers/administrators/protectors, Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand.
The Pacific Islands Monthly observed and reported on the islands’ people’s desires to become independent in the 60s, 70s and 80s.
I can still remember sitting next to PIM’s Publisher, Inder Stewart, at the first Press Conference held by the country’s first Prime Minister, Mr Peter Kenilorea, (later became Sir Peter Kenilorea and now late) on Independence Day on July 7, 1978 at the Honiara Hotel.
At the end of the Press Conference, he turned around to me and said “I wish Solomon Mamaloni was the Prime Minister, adding he is among the best political leaders in the South Pacific”.
He was of course referring to such new Pacific Leaders as Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara of Fiji, Sir Michael Somare of PNG, Father Walter Lini, then of New Hebrides and became Vanuatu after independence, Mr Eremia Tebai of the Gilberts, now Kiribati, and De-Roberts of Nauru.
Late Mamaloni was Solomon Islands’ first Chief Minister, but was defeated in the effort to keep the position by Kenilorea after National General Elections in 1976.
He was also outwitted by newly university graduate, Mr Bartholomew Ulufa’alu (late) in the race for the Opposition Leader’s position.
The late PIM’s Publisher was a hard hitting journalist who would not stop pursuing news leads until he was satisfied he had all the details he wanted to complete news reports.
He was both hated and loved by Pacific Island leaders and readers, although he always regarded himself a Pacific Islander.
If I can remember rightly, the last I saw of PIM’s Publisher was in Tomberua Island Resort outside Suva, Fiji in 1979, when all Pacific Island newspaper publishers, editors and senior journalists met to form the Pacific Islands News Association – PINA.
I was then editor/publisher of now defunct Solomon Toktok, Solomon Islands’ first independent weekly tabloid launched in 1977.
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Makira Banana Festival
Importance of Banana to Makira Islands’ people is turned into a tourists’ attraction
By George Atkin in Kira Kira
Banana is important to the people of Makira Ulawa Province because families depend on its fruits for food and earning incomes.
The Makira Banana Festival has been borne out of the fact that the Makira Ulawa Province is known as the Banana Province, therefore it is used as the catalyst to promote tourism.
The Festival, formed at the turn of the 21st Century, is meant to be held annually in Kira Kira, the provincial capital, but since then, only three have been held so far.
The festival was not held in 2016, 2017 and 2018, but the 2019 Makira Banana Festival is now being held at Kokana Village, West Bauro this weekend beginning on Friday, October 11, and will end on Sunday October 13.
It could not have been held last June, the month the festival was held before, because there were two important elections this year, the National General Elections on April 3, and the Makira Ulawa Provincial Elections on June 12, which were postponed and will now be held on December 11.
The brain-child of the Banana Festival is Mr Noel Mamau who owns and manages the Fresh Wind Motel in the heart of Kira Kira, he is also the leading accommodation provider here.
Mr Mamau and his group have encouraged provincial authorities to see the annual event as a stimulant to foreign visitors to include Makira Ulawa Province in their itineraries.
He says the banana festival is an event when various shows such as cultural dancing and musical talents, basket weaving and of course various ways of preparing banana as foods are displayed.
But in the 2019 Makira Banana Festival, banana growers will display the varieties of bananas they grow and what they can make out of banana fruits.
Men and women, but especially women around Kira Kira sell their ripe bananas, banana chips at the Kira Kira Market and they are anxious about getting other people to taste various foods they can prepare out of banana fruits at the 2019 banana festival.
Andbecause of the importance banana holds for the people of the province, a second group, the Makira Banana Growers Association, has also been formed and has 80 members. It is the brainchild of Premier Stanley Siapu.
Some members who will take part in the festival will display the varieties of bananas they grow… the general estimate is there are around 200.
Mr Siapu earlier this year said the Association supports a wider cross section of participation in the Makira Banana Festival as it sees it is an opportunity for banana farmers to showcase the varieties of bananas they grow, and what they can do with banana fruits for food and for generating incomes.
He added it is also the opportunity for Honiara-based officials and representatives from Government Departments such as Agriculture, Commerce, Investment and Tourism, Donor Partners and Investors to see what Makira farmers can produce from their banana fruits and other agriculture products such as solar dried cocoa beans.
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Third Makira Banana Festival will start with a float
By George Atkin in Kira Kira
The Third Makira Banana Festival will start with a float from Kira Kira, the provincial capital of Makira Ulawa Province to the festival venue at Kokana Village, West Bauro tomorrow (on October 11).
The Kokana Village Chief and his elders will welcome guests and participants as they arrive at the venue, taking them on a tour of the Festival Village and will be followed by a traditional challenge and presentation of gifts to the Official Guest of Honour and the Special Guest.
Some of the highlights of the Festival include Banana in Floral, Banana in Foods and Drinks, Banana in Variety, Custom Dances and Chants and Banana in Talent Show.
The Festival’s Local Organizing Committee has agreed that all the foods for the three- day festival will be prepared out of banana fruits and all the activities, events and wear will depict banana.
Meanwhile, a tower to store banana fruits has been built, so as two toilets, one for women and the other for men.
A pick-up has been used to drop the first load of banana fruits while some more are to be dropped today.
And stalls for participants to display their products have been put up, a generator to light up the venue and a sound system have been provided.
LOC members are happy with the way Kokana villagers are preparing the venue for the 2019 Makira Banana Festival, so much so, they have started negotiations with the village chief and elders to play host to the Fourth Banana Festival in 2020.
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Aussie groups to sponsor winners of Festival competitions
By George Atkin in Kira Kira
Two Australian groups have confirmed they will sponsor the winners of talent competitions in the 3rd Makira Banana Festival which will kick off tomorrow (Oct 11) at Kokana Village, West Bauro on Makira.
They are the Makira-based Australian NGO, Strong Island Foundation and Brisbane-based Makira Gold.
The Strong Island Foundation, which is engaged in helping to organise the 2019 Makira Banana Festival, from Nurses to Nurses Exchange program between Kira Kira Hospital and Australia, the construction of public toilets for Kira Kira and Health and Sanitation program in Star Harbour, East Makira says it will provide 2-thousand-500 dollars towards the prizes of the talent competitions.
And the Brisbane-based Makira Gold, which buys solar-dried cocoa beans from Makira and Guadalcanal Provinces, says it will provide 2-thousand dollars towards the talent competitions, especially written speech and poetry competitions.
Both the Foundation and Makira Gold say they support talent competitions in speech and poetry writing because they believe education is very important to young people of the province, adding they are its future leaders.
And while the Strong Island Foundation is the initiative of Bond University of Queensland, the Makira Gold is owned and managed by Brisbane-based part Makiran and part Australian, Brian One Atkin.
Bond University and the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government have a program which involves university trainee doctors, lawyers and architectural designers taking up short stints with the Kira Kira Hospital, the Kira Kira Public Solicitor’s Office and the Infrastructure Division of the Provincial Government.
And from time to time, Kira Kira Hospital nurses take up short courses at the Bond University Medical Faculty.
Meanwhile, Strong Island Foundation complements the program by coordinating items to affiliated projects such as the East Makira Dental Project, the Toraa Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Project, also of East Makira, and the Makira Sanitation Survey Project.
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Strong Island Foundation
As has been requested, below are copies of news stories and reports that I have put together since the last reports I sent to SIFF during the first three months of my posting to Kira Kira on January 21st, 2019.
Not having an office remains a problem because I cannot be connected to the internet for email purposes, but it is also an advantage because SIFF does not have a budget for electricity nor one for telephone calls etc.
Although there is a noted cleanliness of the Kira Kira Hospital with divisions being shifted to appropriate areas and the hospital’s fence having been repainted, hospital workers, patients and members of the pubic continue to spit betel-nut immediately outside the Public Outpatient.
Stray dogs freely enter and leave the hospital without being chased away. The presence of Bond University Trainee Doctors does not make any impact in as far as turning the hospital into having a clean environment and into a place where the sick gets healed.
The general comment is the Kira Kira Hospital is where sick people are admitted only to die because it is sickening inside.
But then, Kira Kira is generally a dirty town with such rubbish as beer, soft drink bottles and tins, plastic bags, betel nut skins and spit are everywhere including the Kira Kira Market and the Commercial Area, where residents buy their food.
Again, Health and Bond University personnel fail to create positive impacts on the general hygiene of Kira Kira. In fact since arriving in Kira Kira seven months ago, I have yet to realize if they have exerted pressure on the provincial government to ensure the town’s cleanliness.
Nor have they exerted pressure on the authorities to build public toilets at the Kira Kira Market or in areas where people gather when celebrating important events.
My honest opinion is health and Bond University personnel should/must take the lead role in carrying out community health education especially in Kira Kira and then the rural communities.
And from the Nurses to Nurses Exchange Program, Makira Ulawa Provincial nurses must be given the opportunity to spend up to three months in Australian community health education settings to enable them to teach people about the importance of health and hygiene.
On the issue of public toilets, a group of us Kira Kira residents will soon be working on securing sites, toilet designs and funding, so construction work could start before the end of the year.
Still on health issues, reports on a study of the Auki Market in Malaita Province by a 10-member health team from Makira Ulawa Province and a WHO-led survey team that had carried out a study on Tuberculosis (TB) returning to the province after it was eradicated in the 1990s are still to be put together.
I want to reiterate that community health education is a MUST in the province especially in the provincial capital which is the gateway to Makira and if the province will develop tourism to become one of its income earners.
SIF can definitely make a good name for itself if it can engage in community health education, same as if it can be engaged in empowering villagers in economic undertakings in Makira Ulawa Province.
Villagers can improve both their living standards and livelihoods if empowered to enter into economic activities. SIF can play a major part in ascertaining this.
George Atkin (SIF Coordinator) Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
Retirement of police officers an ongoing process
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
Retirement of police officers is an ongoing process and applies to all officers reaching the retiring age of 55 years.
The retirement process applies to all police officers in the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force Headquarters at Rove in Honiara, and the provincial police stations who reach the retiring age.
The RSIPF Media Office in Honiara makes the clarifications following requests by some Makira Ulawa Provincial Police officers in Kira Kira who want to know the process the RSIPF uses when considering who can retire and those who can be re-engaged on Fixed Term contracts even when they are reaching the retiring age.
The RSIPF Media Office says all Human Resources Officers in all the Police Stations should collaborate with Police Commanders about the retirement issue.
It adds these officers will recommend to the Solomon Islands Police and Correctional Services Commission who should retire, and who should be re-engaged on Fixed-Term Appointments.
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Many Kira Kira residents without water
By George Atkin in Kira Kira
Many residents in the Makira Ulawa provincial capital of Kira Kira have been without water.
Some of the residential houses that have been without water include guest houses and lodges that have visiting guests from abroad and Honiara.
The Kira Kira town-ship depends mostly on water supplied from the nearby Risu River for bathing, cooking and drinking, but there are other wealthy residents who use rain water from water tanks.
But the Risu River has become muddy because of flooding as a result of continuous daily downpours during the past three weeks.
Many residents have been seen using containers to catch rain water or asking their neighbors with water tanks if they could feel their containers.
Meanwhile, a sympathetic man from Risu Village on the outskirts of the Kira Kira town-ship who wants to remain unidentified says he feels sorry for the town residents who have been facing the water problem.
He says water is supplied to Kira Kira from a dam built on higher grounds inland, but it too has become muddy.
The villager believes the dam catches mud caused by nearby logging operations, adding he has urged legal authorities to warn the logging operators not to get too close to the dam because of the fear being experienced.
But he claims the legal authorities had taken no notice of the fear he had expressed to them.
He suggests the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government should invite the State-Owned-Enterprise group, Solomon Islands Water Authority (SIWA) to set up an office in Kira Kira to ensure residents have proper and clean water supplied from a sustainable water supply.
The villager says there are water sources in and around Kira Kira where SIWA could build a dam and reservoirs to supply the town-ship and nearby villages with clean and bacteria-free water.
Otherwise he asks, what foreign visitors and investors would want to visit and invest in Kira Kira when there is no proper water supply system?
Meanwhile, it is understood people living at both banks of Risu River use it as a latrine although children swim at its river mouth.
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Makira Ulawa Gov’t saddened by PCDF disqualification
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
The Deputy Premier of Makira Ulawa Province, Kingsley Taro has described as saddening the National Government’s action to disqualify the Province from getting its share of the Provincial Capacity Development Fund for 2019 and 2020.
Mr Taro revealed this while he handed over a Community Resource Centre at Ago, near the Waimapuru National Secondary School, West Bauro, Makira Ulawa Province June 27.
The Makira Ulawa Provincial Government has provided 200-thousand-dollars from the Provincial Capacity Development Fund to complete the Ago Community Resource Centre, which had remained un-finished for 15 years.
Mr Taro said the province will miss out on receiving funds from the Provincial Capacity Development Fund under its 2019/2020 Financial Year.
He said the reasons for disqualification are the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government has a technical issue with what is called the Minimum Condition 5, and its bank reconciliation has failed to comply with the Provincial Government’s Strengthening Program requirement.
The Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening Program which is tasked to develop the provinces administers the Provincial Capacity Development Fund.
Deputy Premier Taro said the disqualification of the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government from receiving PCDF funding is the first in 11 years, while other provinces have had their turns in the past.
“While all of us are saddened by the disqualification, the Makira Ulawa Province must keep moving forward with positive thinking and determination, and bounce back to qualify next year.
“My government assures the people of Makira Ulawa Province that their provincial administration is working hard on a strategic plan to ensure we will again qualify to access the PCDF funds next year and beyond”, Deputy Premier Taro said.
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Makira Ulawa Government welcomes Head Office initiative
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
The Makira Ulawa Provincial Government welcomes a Reform Program for all the nine provinces at Ward Levels by the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening.
The Deputy Premier of Makira Ulawa Province, Kingsley Taro revealed this at a handover ceremony of a Two-hundred-thousand-dollar Community Resource Centre at Ago, West Bauro on Makira, June 27.
He said under the Reform Program, Ward Development Authorities in the provinces will become the legal entities at ward levels, while Ward Council of Chiefs will become silent.
Mr Taro said as a result of the Reform Program, “I now call on Chairpersons of Ward Development Authorities to call on the Makira Ulawa Provincial Planning Office in Kira Kira to get more information on the new compositions of the Ward Development Authorities under the Reform Program”.
He said that under the Reform Program, the Ward Development Authorities must discuss and approve all community projects that request capital funding under the Provincial Capacity Development Fund before they can be submitted to the Planning Division.
Meanwhile, Mr Taro informed communities that the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government has increased the Ward Development Grant from 15-thousand-dollars per ward to $54,180.00 per ward this year.
But he said, under the Reform Program, the Ward Development Grants will be used exclusively on development projects.
And he added, the provincial administration can facilitate transfers of Ward Development Grants to Ward Development Authority bank accounts, only after the Planning Division has completed training of people, who will serve the new Ward Development Authorities.
Mr Taro wanted the people of the 20 Wards in the Makira Ulawa Province to understand the Ward Development Authorities Reform Program and its pre-requisites.
Meanwhile, Deputy Premier Taro commended the provincial planning team, for monitoring and evaluating PCDF projects, on a monthly basis, including the Ago Community Resource Centre.
He added monthly visits by the planning officers to the project sites are tough, challenging and risky, as many times, they travel in stormy weather and heavy down-pours, but “I commend them for their commitment and work well done”.
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Makira Ulawa construction firms told to be competitive
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
The Deputy Premier of Makira Ulawa Province, Kingsley Taro has called on construction firms from his province to be competitive.
He made the call when he handed over a Community Resource Centre to the people of Ago, West Bauro June 27.
Mr Taro said the construction firms from the province must be competitive in the building industry, adding they must not just sit back and complain that they are not getting Provincial Capacity Development Fund projects through public tender.
He added, construction firms from the province must stand up and be counted upon amongst construction companies from other provinces, as most PCDF projects are awarded to Honiara-based companies and contractors.
Deputy Premier Mr Taro said the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government is calling for strong collaboration and partnership between the private sector and the provincial government in moving the province forward in infrastructure development.
He said at this juncture, he would like to thank AR Construction Company on behalf of the provincial government for completing the Ago Community Resource Centre.
Mr Taro commented it had been a worthwhile partnership between AR Construction Company and the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government, adding building firms from the province must live up to the challenge.
He said the newly built PCDF funded Ago Community Resource Centre is amongst 92 PCDF projects the provincial government has handed over to various communities since 2008.
They are West Bauro Ward 9, which has received three projects since 2008, the Risiwa Primary School in the Bauro highlands received a classroom in 2013 and the Pamua College’s Girl dormitory, also in West Bauro, should be handed over to the school in August.
In other PCDF news, Mr Taro said the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government has built two new provincial staff houses in Kira Kira, the Marogu Rural Health Centre on Ward 20 on the Makira Weather-coast and a coconut crushing mill at Wanione Ward 12.
Meanwhile, Deputy Premier Taro advised the Ago community to look after their Community Resource Centre, adding take good care of the important investment so the future generations can also benefit from it.
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Kira Kira Hospital now cleaner, says Aussie doctor
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
An Australian doctor who has visited the Kira Kira Hospital, the Makira Ulawa Provincial main Health Centre, has described the hospital as now cleaner than five years ago when he first visited there.
Dr Dave Lawless, a member of the Australian Non-Governmental-Organization, Strong Island Foundation, who has led a team of trainee doctors from Bond University for a two week attachment with the Kira Kira Hospital, says the hospital is now cleaner as it had been painted and had also been re-organized.
He says the hospital fence has also been painted adding on the new colours to the hospital’s facelift.
Dr Lawless says in the hospital’s re-organization, the Malaria Laboratory which was stuck at the back, has been moved to the front of the hospital next to the Pharmacy.
“This is good because malaria patients just take one or two steps to collect their medicines from the Pharmacy”, he says.
Asked about what his thoughts about Kira Kira and its market were, Dr Lawless who has since returned to the Gold Coast, said both need cleaning up, but the people in general are really friendly and kind.
The Bond University of Gold Coast of Australia and the Kira Kira Hospital have an on-going exchange program for more than 10 years now in which they exchange doctors and nurses to work in their respective Health Centres as part of their training.
The Kira Kira-based Strong Island Foundation, which has strong links with the medical institute of Bond University, coordinates From Nurses to Nurses Exchange Program between Kira Kira and Bond University.
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Kira Kira people welcome frequent media publicity
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
The people of Kira Kira, the Makira Ulawa Provincial capital welcome the frequent publicity of news from various newsmakers by the two national daily newspapers, Solomon Star and Island Sun, and the state broadcaster, Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation.
Many newspaper readers and SIBC listeners have told me that they welcome the frequent media publicity of news and views from both the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government and people.
They say many people are ignorant of many issues in the province, be they political or educational, and developmental in the areas of infrastructure and communications, economics, agriculture, climate change and health environment, law and justice, forestry, fisheries, culture, and tourism, to name some areas.
The say the province has been without a journalist since the 1980’s when the then Government Information Services posted Information Officers in Kira Kira and other provincial capitals.
The result, they believe, is the general ignorance.
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Makira Ulawa Provincial elections Dec 11
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
The people of Makira Ulawa Province will now hold the provincial elections on December 11.
The Makira Ulawa Province was set amongst six provinces and the Honiara City Council to hold their elections on June 12.
The provinces were Malaita, Guadalcanal, Central Islands, Isabel, Temotu and Renbel, with most of them have elected their new Premiers and have set up their provincial executives (governments).
Western and Choiseul Provinces held their provincial elections last year.
The newly appointed Minister of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening, Anthony Kamutulaka Veke set December 11 as the election date for Makira Ulawa Province.
In a Government Gazette, Mr Veke said he had revoked the instrument dated 31st January 2019 which put Makira Ulawa Province to elect a new provincial assembly with the other six provinces and the Honiara City Council on June 12.
But Mr Veke did not give any reasons for the deferment of the Makira Ulawa Provincial elections to December 11.
And the eligible voters and the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government are anxiously waiting to hear from Honiara when election officials are going to be appointed and announced.
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Makira Banana Festival 2019 is set to be held in Sept
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
The annual provincial tourism promotion event, the Makira Banana Festival for 2019 will be held in September.
The Chairperson of the Makira Banana Festival, Noel Mamau says a date has yet to be decided upon, but it will be held at Kokana Village, West Bauro and not in Kira Kira, the provincial capital.
Previously, the festival was held in June and twice before, it was held in two different villages.
Mr Mamau says it is appropriate to hold the festival in villages from time to time besides Kira Kira, because it is a community project to promote various potential visiting sites and features to tourists.
He says it is planned the festival will be held in four different villages annually, but in the fifth year, the major Makira Banana Festival will be held in Kira Kira.
He says the Kokana Village has been selected because it has a nice beach and the show could be held even at night under the moonlight.
Mr Mamau says his committee will soon put together a program of events for the Kokana Makira Banana Festival 2019, adding, it will be announced to the public when it is finalized.
Meanwhile, Mr Mamau adds, the Committee also plans to utilize the event to promote the private sector and what people of the province can do, and of course, it must be an opportunity for the pubic to take part, and enjoy.
He says the overall objective of the Makira Banana Festival is turning it into a program that will make the province proud.
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Makira Ulawa Province plans to go into tourism
By George Atkin in Kira Kira
The Rocky Island of Ulawa in the Makira Ulawa Province could be turned into a tourist destination in the not too distant future.
And the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government has already started looking at ways to ensure the idea gets off the ground.
It hosted an Awareness Tourism Program on the island, which was supervised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Tourism Solomon of Honiara and in collaboration with the provincial tourism office in Kira Kira.
Senior Tourism Officer of the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government, Miss Doris Raumae says 20 Ulawa participants took part in the program recently.
She says they have shown keen interest in the idea of developing tourism projects on their island, so one day in the not too distant future, it can become a tourist destination.
Miss Raumae says the program covered the Development of Tourism Products, the Legal part of tourism products for both national and provincial tourism projects, Minimum Standard requirements for accommodation facilities and the shared Responsibilities of the three stakeholders, namely the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Tourism Solomon and the Makira Ulawa Provincial Tourism Division.
And the awareness program, she says, informed the people that their island has the potential to attract tourists because it has natural land and sea resources.
She adds, the people were told about the main objectives of the tourism authorities which included developing Ulawa Island as a tourist destination, increasing the number of tourist arrivals, having the potentials in the tourism industry, and engaging people in sustainable development.
Meanwhile, Miss Raumae says the program led by Mrs Joan Sautehi of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Honiara had identified potential visiting sites.
They include caves and beaches, spear fishing of flying fish, traditional food gardening, monuments of the first Anglican Missionary on Ulawa Island and man-made historical attractions.
Miss Raumae says with the potential attractions, Ulawa Island can provide what she describes as, a very unique and tasty tourist destination, adding it is a complete tourism product on its own, because the rocky island is accessible by sea and air.
And while there, she says, tourists can either travel around the island on foot, or by road transport, adding Ulawa has its own marketable niche tourism products.
But Miss Raumae says there are of course challenges which must be considered.
These include societal problems associated with new developments, people’s mindset on how they see tourism, for instance, its benefits and disadvantages, rate packaging and price matching of services provided to ascertain customer satisfaction, and the lack of honesty and cooperation within Ulawa communities.
She says the first Tourism Awareness Program on the island was a concerted effort by the three stakeholders and the participants highly commended it. Ends///
Ulawa Tourism Development Committee formed
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
The Makira Ulawa Provincial Tourism Office in Kira Kira, the provincial capital, reports that following a recent tourism development awareness program held on Ulawa Island, a Tourism Development Committee has been formed.
Senior Tourism Officer, Doris Raumae says members of the Ulawa Tourism Development Committee are Joses Harauri (Chairman), Hellen Hiru (Vice Chairman), Dick Saohu (Secretary) and the Treasurer is Shem Teuto.
She says there are six office bearers who represent Village Tourism Committees around the island.
Miss Raumae says the first task for the Ulawa Tourism Development Committee is putting together important activities it will oversee as the initial steps towards the development of tourism businesses on the island.
Miss Raumae assures members of the Ulawa Tourism Development Committee that her Kira Kira Office will continue to work closely with them, adding she will raise any concerns they will have to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Honiara.
Meanwhile, leaders from Ugi Island have expressed concern that their people and those from Bio and Three Sisters Islands were excluded from the recent Tourism Awareness Development Program held on Ulawa.
Speaking in confidence, they express the belief that they should have been included in the awareness program because “we speak the same language, we have the same cultures and traditions, and we are from the same Constituency”.
They claim Ugi has a lagoon, white beaches and reefs ideal for snorkeling and skiing, Bio Island is a bird sanctuary, while one of the islands in the Three Sisters Group has crocodiles that can coil and uncoil their tails on instructions by tour instructors.
They believe these are credible enough attractions for tourists, adding tourists can get there by ships or a ride on motorized fiberglass canoes from Kira Kira or Ulawa.
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Premier Siapu wants churches’ cooperation in advancing Makira Ulawa
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
The Makira Ulawa Premier, Stanley Siapu says he wants churches in the province to cooperate with his government to advance development here.
He made the call while closing the recent SSE Church Regional Women’s Fellowship Convention in Kira Kira.
In the same call, Premier Siapu thanked the SSE Church for being instrumental in the education sector especially in the 60s and early 70s when it ran junior and primary schools in Makira.
He said it is pleasing to note the Catholic Church in Makira Ulawa Province is now developing the Wanione School, east of Kira Kira.
History show up until 1969, the Anglican Church of Melanesia ran both primary and secondary schools in Makira Ulawa, while the Seventh Day Adventist Church continued to run Ngoniharu primary school in Arosi One, West Makira, until it became a double stream school in the early 90s, running both primary and secondary classes.
He reminded the four major churches that education is crucial in producing new leaders in the province, adding, it is equally crucial in the efforts to develop the Makira Ulawa Province.
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Roads can open up development in Makira
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
A villager from the remote Rawo area on the Weather Coast of Makira in Makira Ulawa Province, EDON RONGO says roads can open up not only development on the island, but it can also ease the difficulty of travelling to Kira Kira, the provincial center of administration.
MR RONGO says, therefore, for the people on the Weather Coast of Makira, a road across the island is a must to build.
He says the road would cross from Rawo on the Weather Coast and connect with the West Makira Road, either at Wairaha or Kaonasugu, which are close enough to Kira Kira.
MR RONGO says he will negotiate with logging companies that operate in his area to build a logging road along the path.
He says as logging roads are not always smooth, it will be up to either the national government or the provincial government to improve the road.
But, he says his people who own lands along the proposed road site are keen on the idea because it would enable them to develop their cocoa and coffee farms there.
And Mr Rongo adds the road would boost the number of overseas visitors visiting Rawo which is rich of custom sites, marine resources and long winding bays.
Rawo and Haununu people on the Weather Coast either walk across the island or travel by ships and motorized canoes to get to Kira Kira for medical attention, to buy cargoes for their trading stores, and for banking services.
Mr Rongo says Rawo students attending FM Campbell Community High School in Kira Kira cross the island on foot when they go on holidays and return to school.
He says the belief that roads can open up development in rural Solomon Islands has been proved in Malaita and Guadalcanal Provinces where proper roads have been built and agriculture projects have sprang up on both sides of their roads.
Mr RONGO adds villagers on the two provinces have also built permanent houses along the roads.
And in Makira, he says people living in villages along both the West and East Makira roads have developed cocoa farms while others grow root crops and vegetables to sell at the Kira Kira Market.
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SSE Church’s work in education in Makira Ulawa acknowledged
By George Atkin, Strong Island Foundation, Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
The Premier of Makira Ulawa Province, Stanley Siapu has acknowledged the contributions of the South Seas Evangelical Church (SSEC) in education in the province.
He echoed the acknowledgment at the closing of the 10th SSEC Regional Women’s Fellowship Convention in Kira Kira, the provincial capital of the Makira Ulawa Province June 20.
Mr Siapu said the SSE Church has been instrumental in the province’s education sector and other areas of development.
He said he would like to see the SSE Church continues with the responsibility, so that it, and the Provincial Government, can together develop the lives of Makira Ulawa people.
Mr Siapu said education is crucial in producing new leaders and in developing the province, adding it is even more so in developing a spiritually balanced education system that molds children in Christian principles and faith in primary and secondary schools.
He said while this would be difficult without available finances, the church must empower its members to engage in the economic sector, and vice versa, the SSE Church must take part in business activities and ventures.
Premier Siapu said the SSE Church cannot continue to ask for contributions from its members – thus it and other churches of today must approach church work and activities in a different mode and direction.
“Therefore, we must look at church empowerment not only spiritually and academically, but also economically”, he said.
He said if members are engaged in economic activities, they would earn incomes and would therefore be in a better position to help their church.
In conclusion, Premier Siapu said he hoped what the women had learned during the convention would help them in improving their personal lives.
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Premier Siapu praises women for wonderful work for SSE Church
By George Atkin, Strong Island Foundation, Kira Kra, Makira Ulawa Province
The Premier of Makira Ulawa Province, Stanley Siapu has praised women members of the South Seas Evangelical Church for carrying out wonderful work and services for their church in the province.
He said women work as church leaders, family caretakers and community developers in different parts of Makira Ulawa Province.
Premier Siapu made the praises June 20 in Kira Kira, the Makira Ulawa Provincial capital when he closed a one-week Regional Women’s Fellowship Convention of the South Seas Evangelical Church.
He said “I salute the women’s fellowship association for its hard work and contributions to the church, the Province and Solomon Islands as a whole”.
He said the convention the people of Makira Ulawa Province had just witnessed signified the growth of the South Seas Evangelical Church, adding more so, the importance of women and the crucial roles they play in advancing the SSEC, the Province and the nation during the past 20 years.
The Premier also thanked the WAIBA Association for hosting and bringing members from different women’s fellowship associations to take part in the convention.
He said the convention ensured the members learnt new things, shared valuable experiences and made new friends while interacting.
“What you had learnt hopefully may encourage you to know more of what is God’s Purpose and Destiny for you, as your convention’s theme stipulated”, Mr Siapu said.
He then suggested that participating women should pass on what they had learnt from the convention to other women in their communities.
Mr Siapu added and concluded that his government was happy to see the women interacted in the fellowship convention, and that the church was helping their women leaders to take part in church work and development.
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Women knowing God’s purpose and their destiny
SSEC women’s fellowship convention theme in Makira
By George Atkin, Strong Island Foundation, Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
Member of Parliament for Central Makira, Nestor Ghiro has told a South Seas Evangelical Church Women’s Fellowship Convention in Kira Kira, the provincial capital of Makira Ulawa Province that the convention’s theme should enable participating women to know their purpose and destiny in their lives.
Mr Ghiro then quoted a statement made by renowned Bible teacher, Dr Myles Munro that the women’s biggest and the most difficult challenge of the post-modern age is trying to be a woman in a world designed for men.
“Women are pressed from all sides to be everything to everyone all the time, and no wonder, the average women are confused and insecure about their purposes and roles in life”. End of quote.
Mr Ghiro believes the convention will help women participants discover and understand the nature and assignment of their purpose and destiny as women, adding perhaps it will also help “you to understand the potentials you have in life.
“The convention will also help you to better understand your roles, purposes and the power women have”.
He said Makira women now live in a society where they have importantly become part of daily existence because families, communities and Solomon Islands as a whole will not exist without them.
Mr Ghiro added when families don’t have decent meals, clean homes and environment, clean clothes and dishes, it means they’re without women (grandmothers, mothers and sisters) in Makira context.
What it means, he said, women do have important roles to play in the home and the nation as a whole.
Meanwhile, Mr Ghiro took the opportunity to thank the SSEC community especially WAIBA Association for their unwavering support in his re-election as their MP.
The one-week convention attended by SSEC women groups from around Makira and Honiara ended today.
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Healthy settings workshop set for Auki next week
By George Atkin, Strong Island Foundation, Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
The Healthy settings workshop will be held at Auki, the Malaita Provincial capital, from June 23 to 29 for participants from Makira Ulawa, Guadalcanal and Malaita Provinces.
Acting Director of Health Promotion Services of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services in Honiara, Adrian Leamana says the workshop is part of a Health Promotion Village Project jointly run by the Ministry and the Japanese International Corporation Agency, JICA.
Mr Leamana says the objectives of the workshop are exchanging experiences on healthy settings and healthy village activities between the participants from the three provinces.
He says they will also be revising drafts of national policies and implementation guidelines for healthy settings, villages, markets, schools and workplaces.
Mr Leamana says the health offices of the three provinces will each have 15 minutes of presentations of their experiences, challenges and lessons in the settings.
Meanwhile, the Makira Ulawa Provincial Health and Medical Services says it will send 10 of its health, and education and provincial government officials to take part in the Malaita Healthy Settings workshop.
Makira Ulawa Province’s Director of Health and Nursing Services, John Harara, who will lead the team, says the delegation will include Community Nursing Officer, Eddie Gapu, Health Promotion Supervisor, Dickson Mae, Healthy Settings Coordinator, Joel Miriki, WASH Coordinator, Dudley Hirohavi Nixon, Non-Communicable Disease Coordinator, Mark Roy, Nutrition Coordinator, Esme Harara, Provincial Governance Officer, Faith Pwea, Chief Commerce Officer (Market Setting), James Namalige and the FM Campbell Primary School Deputy Principal, Thomas Waro.
Mr Harara says while taking part in the workshop, his team members will study how the Auki Market is managed. Ends///
BSP Kira Kira moves to new bigger office
By George Atkin, Strong Island Foundation, Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
The Bank South Pacific Agency in Kira Kira, the Makira Ulawa Provincial capital has moved to a new bigger office in a newly built double-story complex.
And BSP Agency customers here are now happy with the new office because they can now wait under a roof while waiting to be served.
Until the move at the weekend, the BSP Agency customers had to wait for up to four hours a day in the sun for services as it operated its banking services from a shed that was just as big as a master-bed-room of a residential house.
BSP Makira customers had accused the agency of being slow in providing services and had called for improvements.
Late last week, customers who were mostly teachers from rural schools around the province shouted insults at the bank workers in a rowdy protest.
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Makira Ulawa teachers absent from teaching will be given marching orders
By George Atkin, Strong Island Foundation, Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
Solomon Islands teachers from Makira Ulawa Province who have been absent from teaching in their schools will be given marching orders at a date to be announced next week.
Sources from the Provincial Education Office in Kira Kira, the provincial capital say the teachers will be sacked because they have not been teaching in their schools since the beginning of the 2019 academic year.
The sources have not revealed the number of teachers to be terminated, but those being sacked include primary and secondary teachers.
They say some of the teachers have not gone to the schools they had been allocated to teach this year, but they have continued to receive their pay.
But the sources say the staff of the Makira Ulawa Education Office have decided in a meeting that the teachers involved must be terminated from the National Teaching Service.
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Vendors renew calls for public toilets to be built for Kira Kira Market
By George Atkin, Strong Island Foundation, Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
Vendors and market goers are again calling on the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government to build at least four public toilets, two for women, and two for men, at the Kira Kira Market.
Strong Island Foundation, the Kira Kira-based Australian Non-Governmental Organization that strongly supports the idea, has interviewed about 30 people to get their views on the call and how they see the Kira Kira Market.
The Foundation also advocates the need to build toilets in areas where people congregate when important events are held in Kira Kira.
Those interviewed agreed and added that they cannot understand why various provincial administrations had over many years turned a blind eye on the issue.
Sarah Hoikeni who cleans the market six days a week says it always saddens her to see women and children heading for the bushes behind the market when nature calls.
“Surely the people who serve the Provincial Government and the Health and Medical Services are not blind because they understand the pressing need for public toilets for the market”, Hoikeni says.
Two visiting Saleswomen from Honiara who are here to sell religious books and Bibles described the Kira Kira Market as having improved from the days when one had to get to the market at day break in order to buy vegetables, fruits and root crops.
They say Kira Kira Market now has a market house with stalls, there are stalls all round where vegetables, fruits and cooked foods are sold, and it is open all day and six days a week, adding this wasn’t the case before.
But they said the continuing absence of public toilets all these years they have been visiting Kira Kira remains a damning worry, adding the market needs a clean environment.
Meanwhile, Provincial Lands Officer, John Ouou earlier this year said a land dispute over the ideal sites to build the toilets remains the big obstacle.
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Makira health promotion team to study Auki Market
By George Atkin, Strong Island Foundation, Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
A 10-member health team from the Makira Ulawa Province’s Health and Medical Services will travel to Malaita Province at the weekend to study how the Market at Auki is managed.
The Director of Health and Nursing Services in Makira Ulawa Province, John Harara who will lead the team says they will thoroughly study how the Auki Market is managed, how its environment is kept, how it’s waste management is dealt with, and what are the standards of root crops, vegetables, fruits and fish and other sea foods that are sold there.
He says his team consists of officers from Health Education and Promotion, Non-Communicable Disease, R-WASH and Sanitation.
Mr Harara says the information collected from their study of the Auki Market should pave the way to developing a setting for the Kira Kira Market.
He says it is the team’s hope the one-week study of the Auki Market will lead the pathway to ensuring the Kira Kira Market will have a healthy environment setting.
The Japanese International Aid Agency, JICA is financing the return trip to study the Auki Market.
Mr Harara says the Health Division would like to see the Kira Kira Market will have a clean environment, a proper sanitation system, root crops, vegetables and fruits, fish and other sea-foods and other produce sold there contain nutrition, and are good for people’s health.
But Mr Harara says, while the Makira Ulawa Provincial Health and Medical Services shares the same concern about the absence of public toilets in Kira Kira, it is not responsible for building them as it does not have the finances to do it.
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Solomon villagers told to stay away from oil spill area in East Makira
By George Atkin, Strong Island Foundation, Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
People of East Makira in Makira Ulawa Province are advised to stay away from the area where an inter-island cargo/passenger ship, the MV Takana has sunk because of oil spills.
The advice has been given by the Health Authorities of the Makira Ulawa Province in Kira Kira, the provincial capital, after its health assessment team had carried out an assessment on the oil spill situation at Namuga Harbour, where the MV Tanaka had sunk.
The Provincial Director Health and Nursing Services, John Harara says people especially children should not swim in the sea where the ship had sunk nor should they fish or collect sea shells in the area because of oil spills.
He says oil spills cause concerns and panic to more than one-thousand villagers living in 18 communities around the wreckage fearing possible threats of catching diseases.
The oil spills, he says could spread onto the reefs and onto the shorelines.
He says the team reports while engine oil is yet to surface around the area, the possibility it could happen soon cannot be ruled out, adding presently there are no direct or indirect impacts on patients’ health at the Namuga Clinic.
But again Mr Harara says, long-term effects cannot be ruled out.
Meanwhile, the Assessment Team is calling for fast intervention to address the situation at Namuga Area by the Environmental Conservation, Solomon Islands Maritime Safety Administration, Makira Ulawa Provincial Government and the MV Takana Management.
Mr Harara says the intervention team will need to put together a detailed assessment on the situation of the Namuga Wharf.
Namuga Wharf was the first rural wharf where Queen Elizabeth and her husband berthed in 1974, five years before the country gained its independence from British rule in 1978.
The MV Takana, owned by the former Member of Parliament for East Makira, Alfred Ghiro, sank on the reef outside the Namuga Wharf on June 7 while awaiting repairs and maintenance.
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Makira Ulawa landowners urged to go into cocoa farming
By George Atkin, Strong Island Foundation, Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
The Makira cocoa farmer who scooped the top SolChoc Festival award in Honiara recently, Leonard Nahu is urging landowners in Makira Ulawa Province to go into cocoa farming.
Mr Nahu who uses bubble solar dryer to dry his cocoa beans says he took the top award because international and local judges tasted three flavours on his dried cocoa beans namely banana, nut and ice cream.
And on return to his home village at Tawani on the eastern outskirts of Kira Kira, the provincial capital, he says landowners should go into cocoa farming because the potentials for cocoa farmers earning good incomes are huge.
He says it is very encouraging to know people in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Asia like the tastes in chocolate products produced from Solomon Islands solar dried cocoa beans.
Meanwhile, Mr Nahu says the province needs to increase its cocoa production, therefore the provincial agriculture officers must be prepared to train cocoa farmers how to look after their farms, how to use bubble solar dryers to dry their cocoa beans, and how to source funding to start up cocoa projects.
He says it is an opportunity farmers, agriculture officers and funders must take advantage of because cocoa farming families can earn incomes from their cocoa farms.
Meanwhile, visiting West Makira cocoa farmers welcomed the news that three Makira Cocoa farmers scooped the three top SolChoco Festival awards. West Makira cocoa farmer, Silvester Hio of Waimarae took the third award.
The Arosi cocoa farmers said in Kira Kira that Agriculture Officers must make it their duty to visit farmers, teach them and advise them about the cocoa industry.
They are concerned that these days it is very rare to see Agriculture Officers from Kira Kira visiting rural farmers, adding it is their hope they will do so this time.
The Arosi farmers lament the years when Agriculture Officer, Peter Suniabu made it a habit to frequently visit farmers – that was more than 10 years ago.
Since then, they claim, the Agriculture Officers spend most of their time in their offices in Kira Kira.
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Makira community wants Leatherback Turtles protected
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
A West Makira Family Community Association called BIANA BANA has sought advice from the Solomon Islands Rangers Association about its plan to have leatherback turtles in Makira protected.
Brisbane-based member of BIANA BANA Association, Brian Atkin has written to the Solomon Islands Rangers Association about the plan to protect leatherback turtles which have nesting sites at Waimarae Beach in Arosi, West Makira.
Waimarae Beach is one of three beaches in the area which leatherback turtles use as nesting sites.
Other beaches used by leatherback turtles for nesting are at Apurahe, Wauwa and Maraone on the Rawa Area of the Makira Weather-Coast, Nana on Star Harbour and at Waanione Bay (Wainoni) of East Makira.
But Mr Atkin says sadly the local people eat the turtles and their eggs. “Now we want to train some rangers in our Association to protect the turtles and eggs and also educate the local community”, he says.
Meanwhile, Rawo man, Edon Rongo supports plans by Mr Atkin and his family’s association to protect and monitor leatherback turtles because he has noticed a decline in the number of leatherback turtles nesting in the Rawo beaches.
Both Mr Atkin and Mr Rongo want to know what sort of training the rangers would need to have.
Meanwhile, Turtle Expert, Albert Kwatelae says in his response to Mr Atkin that he is happy to help in whatever way possible as leatherback turtle is an under threat species around the world.
He says the interest to protect and monitor leatherback turtles would be a great opportunity to help the sea creatures to continue increase their populations and survive the threats.
Mr Kwatelae says communities engaged in leatherback turtle monitoring and conservation programs include Tetepare Island and Zaira in Marovo Lagoon of Western Province, Wai-hau in West Are’ Are in Malaita Province and Arnavon in Isabel Province.
He says Tetepare has been used for turtle monitoring and Zaira and Wai-hau had been part of the training program.
Mr Kwatelae says basic techniques and methods can be learnt from those who had participated in the program, adding a management plan for leatherback turtle species can be drafted.
But he doesn’t think there is a government approved published training material in a standard format for turtle monitoring, especially the leatherback species.
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Priest urges Solomon Christians to speak out against corruption
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
Anglican Priest Father NIGEL KELAEPA has urged Solomon Islands Christians, especially members of the Anglican Church of Melanesia to speak out against corruption in high public and private offices.
He said this while addressing nearly 10-thousand Anglicans attending a Sunday service at the Saint Barnabas Cathedral in Honiara recently.
Fr Kelaepa said corruption has been eating into the country’s forestry sector resulting in the loss of billions of dollars that should have been going to the resource owners, people and their governments.
Fr Kelaepa who is Mission Secretary to the Anglican Church of Melanesia in Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Solomon Islands said, the money through corruptive practices continues to end up in the hands of those he called unscrupulous loggers and middlemen.
He said he would rather see the forest resource owners, their people and their governments are the ones who should be receiving the maximum benefits from the forest resources.
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Process to build a Kira Kira wharf begins in earnest
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa ProvinceThe process to build a wharf for Kira Kira, the Makira Ulawa Provincial headquarters, has started in earnest with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in Kira Kira.
The Premier of Makira Ulawa Province, Mr Stanley Siapu and his Secretary, Mr James Taeburi signed the MOU, while a representative of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, Mr Lawrence Wawane witnessed the signing May 24.
Members of Premier Siapu’s Executive and officers from the MID Office and other departments in Kira Kira also witnessed the signing of the MOU.
Provincial Secretary Mr Taeburi in welcoming those attending the signing of the MOU said the Kira Kira wharf is important to the provincial government, business houses and the Makira Ulawa people as Kira Kira is the province’s centre of administration, commerce, health and education.
He said it is not fair other provincial headquarters in Solomon Islands have wharves with the exception of Kira Kira, adding the people are anxious about having a wharf built here.
Meanwhile, Premier Siapu said when his government came into power in 2016, the first thing it noted missing in Kira Kira was the wharf, which has been missing since the colonial days.
He said as the Kira Kira wharf is an important part and parcel of infrastructure development in Makira Ulawa Province, his administration had been working closely with the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Survey and the Ministry of Infrastructure Development to secure a site on the foreshore of Kira Kira, where it would be built.
Mr Siapu said his government and MID had been hard at work in their efforts to build the wharf, especially in negotiating with the customary landowners of the seafront and the property owners on the shore.
He added these people must be compensated, and his government commended their foresights in seeing the importance of the wharf to the provincial government, to the people, and to the business owners in Kira Kira and around the province.
Premier Siapu said acquisition of the site where the wharf would be built had been committed, the commitment paved the way for the signing of the MOU.
He concluded by assuring the people and his critics that the Kira Kira Wharf development is now ready to roll.
Meanwhile, MID representative, Mr Lawrence Wawane said the MOU confirmed it all, adding the wharf was an outstanding issue.
He said while funding had been an issue, the Kira Kira wharf is a MUST to build as it will ease the problems of loading and unloading cargoes and passengers.
Mr Wawane said the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the United Nations Development Program had requested a thorough study of the project including its architectural design, an indication of their willingness to consider providing assistance towards it.
He said while the process is progressing, the MID would build a ramp at the wharf site where boats and canoes could berth to unload arriving cargoes and passengers and loading those that would be either Honiara bound or to the villages around the province.
Mr Wawane concluded his statement by advising the Makira Ulawa Provincial Government to deal with the outstanding situations because the MID is serious to take things on board.
It is understood the wharf’s architectural design includes toilets.
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Kira Kira HQs needs helping hands
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
Makira Ulawa Province needs helping hands to develop its Headquarters at Kira Kira.
Since Solomon Islands gained its independence from British rule 41 years ago, Kira Kira still does not have a wharf, does not have tar-sealed roads, does not have a tar-sealed airport runway, does not have public toilets and a proper Market House, so the list of does not haves goes on.
But a proper wharf for Kira Kira is an essential infrastructure as it will ensure the safe movement of people and cargoes from the national capital of Honiara on Guadalcanal Province and villages around the Province to Kira Kira, and vice versa.
Kira Kira, like the other provincial headquarters or capitals, is the centre ‘of administration, commerce and investment, agriculture and fisheries, health and education.
Because of the absence of a wharf at Kira Kira, loading and unloading of cargoes and passengers in Kira Kira can be a dangerous and risky task as time and time again, cargoes are damaged while others still, end up at the bottom of the sea.
Similarly, other times children’s lives and those of their mothers are at great risk as have been observed.
The provincial capital also urgently needs at least three public toilets near or at the market, one for women, the other for farmers, fishermen selling their root crops, vegetables, cooked food and fish and the third one for members of the public.
One can only guess where vendors, producers and fishermen go for convenience and whether or not, the Kira Kira Market is hygienic.
The need for public toilets is greater when Kira Kira hosts celebrative events because political leaders and officials from Honiara and people from around the province gather here.
The Kira Kira Government blames land disputes as the major reasons for not building a wharf and public toilets.
While possible sites for public toilets have been identified, the dispute remains unresolved and work could not start.
It is the same with the wharf. A team of Japanese Engineers reportedly had carried out a feasibility study on the Kira Kira seafront where it could be built.
The result of the study has not been sited to verify whether or not land dispute is indeed the problem or the difficulty in securing funds to finance the wharf project is the culprit.
Indeed, the Kira Kira Market does need a bigger permanent Market House where vendors can sell their food crops, vegetables and fish. Currently there is a permanent market house but it is not big enough to accommodate all the vendors.
This means the vendors place their produce either on stalls or on the ground, while the fishermen place their fish on the ground on an open space.
While the prices of fresh reef fish and tuna at the Kira Kira Market are quite high, the qualities of food crops like yam, taro, cassava, panna, banana and kumara, vegetables and fruits are exceptionally good.
Meanwhile, Kira Kira being the provincial headquarters needs an improved infrastructure like tar-sealing its roads and the main road leading to the provincial airport at Ngora Ngora.
Even the airport needs to be upgraded, expanded and its runway tar-sealed.
The Ngora Ngora Airport Terminal needs an urgent fix to its toilet facility and other facilities as they have been a disgrace for many years for both international and domestic visitors.
They have to use the seaside and the nearby bushes when nature calls, indeed a real novelty for many of them.
It may not be a disgrace for the people of the province because it is not a big deal to use the beaches and bushes when the nature calls.
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Makira Banana Festival Stakeholders 2019
From George Atkin, Coordinator, Strong Island Foundation, Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province (atkingeorge65@gmail.com) Mobile: 7495505
To: Mr Joe Au Ramosaea (jramosaea@oag.gov.sb) Christalyn Faith Pwea (khrizeff@gmail.com) Doris Raumae (doris.raumae7@gmail.com) James Taeburi (jtaeburi@gmail.com) Davidson Rarumae (drarumae2010@gmail.com) Commins Ikioa Ulawa (makiraulawa@gmail.com) Makira DPS (makiradps@gmail.com) James Kamalige (jnkamalige@gmail.com) CECILIA SENIDIIE (cicilia24sinediie@gmail.com) Eunice Bea (mupg.eunice@gmail.com) SELWYN AHARO (Selwyn.aharo7star@gmail.com) Janet Waino’oh (janetwainooha@gmail.com) Stanley Siapu (sssiapu@gmail.com) Daniel Wagatora (danielwagatora@gmail.com)
Hello Mr Ramosaea, I wish to thank you for putting me on the loop, because as you know, the 2019 Makira Banana Festival is one of my top priorities as the Foundation’s Coordinator in Kira Kira.
As you all know, the festival is always held annually on the month of June, although it was not held in 2017 and 2018 due to reasons I am sure you are all aware of. And by the time this email reaches you, it will most likely be three or four days into June, therefore the postponement of the date to hold the festival for later this year should now be discussed.
The National General Elections on April 3 and the Makira Ulawa Provincial Election on June 12 had been the main reasons for the postponement of the 2019 Makira Banana Festival. However, the date for the Makira Ulawa Provincial Election had been deferred, and will now be held on December 11.
It is now the time to discuss the 2019 Makira Banana Festival in earnest. If a Festival Working Committee is to be formed, I will be very happy to be a member to represent Strong Island Foundation and the media.
The festival will need a wider publicity to attract sponsors and participants. I suggest a meeting should be called immediately so discussions on the festival can start rolling. Or what do you think? Please do not hesitate to call me on my mobile 7495505 for more discussions.
Thank you and regards.
George Atkin
West Makira woman candidate pleads for women support
The only woman candidate amongst 14 men candidates who will contest the West Makira Parliamentary seat, ELSIE DIRIMAE is calling for the support of women voters in the National General Elections on April 3.
MS DIRIMAE says since Independence in 1978, only men have represented West Makira Constituency in the National Parliament.
Therefore, she says it is high time, voters especially women voters elect a woman to represent West Makira people in Parliament.
MS DIRIMAE, a businesswoman in Kira Kira, the provincial capital of Makira-Ulawa Province says she is the woman, adding to elect her into Parliament will go in line with the United Nations program that calls for more women to take part in making political decisions.
She pleads West Makira voters to give her the opportunity to take part in the country’s highest decision making body, the National Parliament.
MS DIRIMAE believes she has proved herself to be a capable leader because she has been managing her businesses in the areas of trade and road transport in Kira Kira and West Makira for more than a decade.
And she also believes she is the only businesswoman in the province who is expanding her businesses in the two areas engaging nearly 100 men and women in her workforce.
MS DIRIMAE adds there will be more jobs for Makira people as “my businesses will continue to grow”.
But asked if the millions of dollars the government has been paying Members of Parliament in recent years lure her to want to contest the elections, MS DIRIMAE replies, “ no I have enough money of my own that I earn from my businesses.
“But if elected, I will ensure the money will be given to my people so they can improve their livelihoods and their participation in economic activities”.
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W. Makira woman candidate calls for improved Makira economy
The only woman candidate to contest the West Makira Parliamentary seat on April 3rd National General Elections, MS ELSIE DIRIMAE says Makira-Ulawa Province should develop its economy.
MS DIRIMAE, the Kira Kira-based businesswoman says if the province developed its economy, it would not need to entirely depend on Honiara for service deliveries to the people in the future.
She says Makira-Ulawa Province does have the resources to develop its economy, but the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening in Honiara always dictates the provincial development plans.
MS DIRIMAE says Kira Kira is always on dependent on Honiara even to the extent that it imports eggs, chicken products, pork, beef and bread from Honiara when chickens and pigs roam around Makira villages.
She says the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock which is tasked with the responsibility to help poultry, cattle and piggery farmers to develop their projects continues to fail this responsibility.
MS DIRIMAE says surely Honiara economy does not need boosting by financial contributions from the provinces because it is the home of multinational investors, and Non-Governmental-Organizations, donor partners, the commercial and industrial sectors and the working population.
Unfortunately, she says Makira-Ulawa Province does not have the same investors, people and organizations to contribute to its economic growth, although it has the resources.
MS DIRIMAE, an entrepreneur in trade and road transport in Kira Kira and West Makira says the province needs to base its economic growth on agriculture and livestock, fisheries and tourism.
Meanwhile, she says it is true poor infrastructure can be attributed to the province’s poor economy.
“I realize the urgent need to improve the province’s poor infrastructure because without improved infrastructural services such as roads, bridges, wharves and shipping, there can never be development.
“Developers and investors need to move around, therefore improved infrastructure is important to them and the provincial economy”, says MS DIRIMAE.
MS DIRIMAE is amongst 14 men candidates who will contest the Parliamentary seat of West Makira in the coming national elections.
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MEMORANDUM
Dear Sirs/Madams,
Re: Reports on Makira Banana Festival 2019 and on Plans to set up office of Strong Island Foundation
I am sure when this MEMORANDUM reaches you and your good offices, Solomon Islands National General Elections will have been held and the newly elected Members of Parliament will have arrived in Honiara to start discussions on the formation of a new National Government.
I am happy to inform that copies of the two reports mentioned above are attached.
Some Kira Kira-based organizations and individuals will have heard or known about the Makira Banana Festival but probably will have had no idea about Strong Island Foundation.
Similarly, I am sure some organizations and individuals who are based say in Honiara, the national capital, may have heard about the Makira Banana Festival, but, may have neither known or heard about Strong Island Foundation.
As Strong Island Foundation is an advocate of the Banana Festival, my reports acknowledged organizations and individuals who had supported me in various kinds and given the moral support towards the Foundation.
To us, the support is indicative of the support you have of the Makira Banana Festival and the presence of Strong Island Foundation in the Province.
Meanwhile, I would like to inform you in advance that the organizers of the festival will probably need your organizations to offer whatever support you may be able to give towards the 2019 Makira Banana Festival.
As Kira Kira-based organizations that have representatives in the Festival’s Organizing Committee will also receive copies of this Memo, they will probably be anxious to hear from you.
I, as the Foundation’s Kira Kira Coordinator will also be just as anxious to get wind of whatever support you may offer.
The support may be in form of prizes to various groups and individuals in whatever categories of participation in the festival’s activities.
In conclusion, the Strong Island Foundation wishes to see 2019 Makira Banana Festival will not only be bigger than the previous festivals but will be a successful event.
Thank you very much.
Yours sincerely,
George Atkin
Kira Kira Coordinator
Editor, Solomon Star (solstar@solomon.com.sb)
Hi colleague, here are stories that you can use in your next bulletins. Regards. George Atkin
PRESS RELEASES
Eastern Regional Hospital to be built in Makira Ulawa Province
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
The Premier of Makira Ulawa Province, Stanley Siapu has revealed the National Government has been considering an idea to build an Eastern Regional Hospital in his Province.
He says the Government envisions an Eastern Regional Hospital could come under the control of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services and could serve the people of Temotu and Makira Ulawa Provinces.
Mr Siapu says a new regional hospital could replace the Kira Kira Hospital which needs to be relocated from the existing site, as it faces Sea Water Rise and Climate Change threats.
He says, while the threats are real in the existing location, the Ministry of Health and Medical Services has yet to give out the details about the plans for a new Eastern Regional Hospital for the two Provinces.
And although Premier Siapu would not say whether or not the new Eastern Regional Hospital could be built at Huro Land on the eastern end of the Ngora Ngora Airport, Provincial Government sources have confirmed a site at Huro has already been identified.
But, he has confirmed that a draft survey work, previously done by the Provincial Lands Division on the entire Huro Land remains to be addressed, because different National Government Agencies and the Private Sector reportedly are seeking more investors to invest there.
Mr Siapu said these while addressing the 36th Anniversary celebrations of the Second Appointed Day of the Makira Ulawa Province on August 2 in Kira Kira, the provincial capital.
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Provincial Government Act to be reviewed – says Marau
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
The Minister of Lands, Housing and Survey, William Bradford Marau has told Makira Ulawa people in Kira Kira, the provincial capital, the Democratic Coalition Government for Advancement is working on reviewing the Provincial Government Act.
He says the review of the Provincial Government Act will be in conjunction with the Revenue Sharing Scheme Bill, which is being drafted, and should be tabled in the National Parliament later this year.
Mr Marau who was speaking on the Province’s 36th Anniversary of its Second Appointed Day in Kira Kira August 2, said the Coalition Government for Advancement hopes the revised Provincial Government Act will provide clearer insights of the responsibilities and functions of Provincial Governments.
And he says the revised Provincial Government Act will also draw clearer lines on the administrative responsibilities of Provincial Assemblies and National Government agencies.
And Mr Marau adds, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare Coalition Government for Advancement also believes the revised Provincial Government Act will clarify investments and revenue earning sectors for Provincial Governments as well.
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Makira Banana Festival – Promoting Peace Tourism in Makira Ulawa
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
The Makira Banana Festival Committee has agreed on a theme as it prepares to hold the 2019 Makira Banana Festival at Kokana Village, West Bauro in October.
While the Committee has yet to decide on the exact date to hold the festival, the theme is ‘Makira Banana Festival – Promoting Peace Tourism in Makira Ulawa Province’.
The committee has also decided to register the name in the Kampani Haus in Honiara, and to open a bank account with the Bank South Pacific, as it has an agency in Kira Kira, the provincial capital of Makira Ulawa Province.
A budget sub-committee which comprises a President and a Vice President, a Treasurer, a Secretary and three committee members has been formed and is now working on a budget for the 2019 Makira Banana Festival at Kokana Village.
Meanwhile, the committee in its meeting on August 15 appointed leaders who will be working on specific details including budgetary allocations for the various Kokana 2019 Festival Events.
And as the banana festival is a tourism catalyst to promote Makira Ulawa Province as a tourist destination, the main participants are expected to be banana farmers who will showcase various products they can produce out of banana.
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Two Aussie groups want to do more for Makira
By George Atkin in Kira Kira, Makira Ulawa Province
Two Australian organizations, the Bond University and Strong Island Foundation which have relations with Makira Ulawa Province say they want to do more the for the province.
This time, they want to donate books first to schools in and around Kira Kira, the provincial capital of Makira Ulawa Province.
The Bond University currently has health programs with the Kira Kira Hospital, the Architectural Design with the Provincial Education Sector and with the Provincial Justice and Legal Affairs in Kira Kira.
In the health sector, Bond University has been sending trainee doctors to work in the Kira Kira Hospital, which from time to time sends its nurses on attachments with Australian Hospitals, while its architectural designers helped in designing schools and provincial buildings and its law students help the Provincial Magistrate’s Court in its efforts to reduce its backload of cases.
And for the Strong Island Foundation, it has programs with rural sanitation, the Makira Banana Festival, nurses’ exchange between Australia and the Kira Kira Hospital, and public toilets for the provincial capital, especially the Kira Kira Market, and in areas where people gather to celebrate important events.
Kira Kira has the FM Campbell Memorial School, and has both primary and secondary schools, with an extension school at Tawani in the eastern outskirts of the provincial capital.
Discussions will be held with the school’s administration about what sorts of books the students will want to read, and where the books will be kept as FM Campbell Memorial School does not have a library.
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