.. Sogavare’s sincerity on Malaita development questioned

 

MALAITAN leaders have accused Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare of “lying” about the truth of the Report prepared by the Malalta Think Tank.

“His exact words when he received the report during last year’s Malaita Day Celebrations in Auki were, ‘This is a precious document’,” the leaders joined by the authors of the Report said in a joint statement issued on the weekend.

They said his recent outburst in Parliament in rubbishing the Malaita Think Tank (MTT) Report was not only disappointing “but have made Malaitans and Malaitan leaders completely lost our trust in his leadership”.

“That report was a product of extensive discussions with traditional leaders and other prominent Malaitans. Furthermore, it was endorsed by the Malaita Provincial Government executive and prominent Malaitans in Honiara,” the leaders and authors of the report said yesterday.

“For the Prime Minister to turn around and rubbish that piece of work is an insult and a slap on the face for the people of Malaita whose views are contained in the MTT report,” they said.

“The MTT report was a first of its kind for Malaita, originating from the people based on their traditional thinking and concept of ‘land owns her people’.

They said the MTT report highlighted the unique relationship Malaitans have with land.

This was exemplified in the report by the Traditional Altar Concept used by the Kwaio and three important cultural theories of the Are’are that connect land to people, ie. Warató, Sihoto’o, and Namanaáha.

If these important Malaitan cultural foundations are to be thrown into the rubbish bin by the Government, then why are we even remaining as part of Solomon Islands? We may as well leave while you continue to insult our people and culture.

“The MTT report was not a thesis or academic report. It was written for the Prime Minister and Coalition Executive. Furthermore, there was a line drawn between academic vs. grassroots understanding to ensure that the ordinary people of Malaita fully understand the report.

“It would appear that the Prime Minister has used the allegations of plagiarising part of the report to side-step issues that are of paramount importance to Malaita and its people.”

They said if there were any shred of evidence of plagiarism, then it must have come from the Office of the Prime Minister.

“The report was endorsed by the Malaita Provincial Executive, as well as by prominent Malaitans in a workshop held in Honiara. Pinning it to some unfounded allegation is an excuse for failing Malaita. It is an insult and a slap on the face of Malaitans whose express aspirations contributed towards the report,” they said.

“If indeed that is the case, then the Prime Minister should investigate as to who is responsible for that part of the report as each of the consultants who undertook the task was given a specific role to play.

“We trusted each one of us to be academically responsible for each of the piece of work we did,” one of the authors said.

The Malaitan leaders and the authors called on the Prime Minister to identify the particular part of the report that was copy pasted.

“All we know is that the particular part in question was a contribution from a national consultant from the PMO who is responsible for Land Reform. It was not the work of the consultants. It was SIG property because the government paid for it,” the authors said.

“To generalise the whole lot of us is totally unfair and is an excuse for scapegoating innocent people. If the Prime Minister feels he has failed the people of Malaita by making never-ending promises of development, he should simply say,” the consultant said.

“Someone is looking for a scapegoat for lack of development on Malaita.”

They said countless reports were done in the past on various developmental aspects on Malaita, with huge sums of money spent on those reports. Despite this, the Government was unable to find a workable solution for Malaita. The Coalition Executive saw wisdom in allowing Malaitans to find their own solution hence the idea was put forward to the Prime Minister. This was the birth of the Think Tank, commissioned by none other than the Prime Minister himself

“Unfortunately it was never formally reviewed by the Coalition Executive as the initiator of the MTT.

“It is also worth noting that part of the report that was allegedly plagiarised was a government report hence the acknowledgement did not specify individuals as authors.

“All in all, enough of treating Malaitans as second class citizens of this country. Malaita is being driven to the sidelines again with a simple excuse.”