Five things our new Premier MUST do!

Renbel province needs an overhaul, and a Premier who knows what to do and is wiling to take the criticism and the risks to carry them out. The MPA who will take this responsibility during this coming year should address these five issues.

1. Assess the cost of Renbel operation in Honiara

There's a need to find out how much exactly did Rennell Bellona province spent in Honiara since moving back to Honiara some years ago. Any assessment of the cost of our province's operation in Honiara should also include the following; rental properties--hotels, motels, rest-houses, traveling expenses, allowances incurred as a result of the rise in cost of services in town, and any other expenditures and stuff that got nothing to do with the province. Or money that was spent on things that aren't beneficial to the province.

The new administration should hire someone to evaluate these things before proceeding with the next four years plan. It is essential to carry this out for the purpose of transparency and for the benefit of the newly established government, and to hold those who abused the province accountable for their own failures and corruption.

2. Audit of previous government

This assessment should also include an overall audit of the entire province since its inception. Rennell Bellona province is the tinniest of all provinces in the Solomon Islands, and the funds that poured into our province in the last decade should be enough to develop the province substantially. To this day, our province remains underdeveloped. Thus, it is important to know just exactly how much of the provincial funds had been used on developing our province, and how much of it had been used for personal gain or just wasteful spending.

This audit should also cover every expense of the Province since becoming a province in the 1990s. The auditor should find patterns in the manner with which previous governments expended our provincial grants. In other words, find spending patterns amongst previous administrations and find ways to either minimize these pattern, or just do away with these wasteful spending so that Rennell Bellona retains at least a good junk of its cash now and in the future.

The auditor must also evaluate the efficacy of all the programs put forward by previous governments and how they impacted Renbel in the past decade. This audit should provide our next provincial government (and future ones) exactly the kinds of road it needs to take in the next four years.

3. Leadership Training

It is essential that the first term MPA goes through, in my humble opinion, some form of political orientation. This orientation should give freshman MPAs the opportunity to learn their responsibilities, their roles and limitations in the provincial system. They should have each a copy of their Provincial Act and have them study it. A clear understanding of the roles of MPAs, the Premier, the Executives and the Non-executives, etc. is the key to a better leadership in the province.

There will be MPAs who will enter the political arena for the first time and may not know what and how to participate in the political process. The orientation should include a demonstration of the Assembly's protocols; how to address the speaker, how to address the chairman, and what to expect when the speak presides over the Assembly. How to respond to an MPA or how to address MPAs and how to participate in any Provincial proceedings.

This should give each new MPA a glimpse into what lies ahead, or what will happen in the next four years. This orientation should be designed as an educational tool so that the new MPAs will trained the next new set of MPAs who will enter the house in the near future as freshmen.

The Province should also hire an expert administrator, like in the case of late Wilfred Hatigeva, whom Taupongi hired, to trained the Assembly on basic administrative skills. Well, let assume that each MPA is a potential Premier and head of the cabinet. It is critical to have someone with the knowledge on administration to train these MPAs in the art of administration in relation to politics and government.

4. Draw up a Developmental plan for Renbel

The newly established provincial administration should draw up a plan for development. This should be done by inviting all MPAs to share ideas on how to tackle our socioeconomic issues. A well thought out development scheme is drawn up and a budget is set to meet this plan.

I said earlier that I don't favor "budgetary" in the provincial leve because it filters much needed funds from reaching village people, but as a matter of practice, a budget should be drawn up according to this development scheme puts forward by the administration and have each MPA executes it in his/her Ward.

There are ways to go about it and it is the responsibility of the provincial government-both sides of the aisle to find out exactly how to come up with one in the most effective and time saving way. Today, each MPA is left to come up with his idea on how to spend his Ward's money. Thus, a development plan, in my view, will equip our MPAs in addressing much needed development in our various Wards.

5. Make preparation to return to Renbel

Talking about transition, this administration should be the one that overhauls our system and bringing back the Provincial government to Tigoa, Rennell Island. Look around Honiara, only Rennell Bellona province operates out of Honiara. This is a huge disadvantage for our province in many ways. We didn't acquire a piece of land in Honiara, instead our province operates in the city on a rental basis. The money spent on rental properties must be accounted for.

It is time to return to Rennell Bellona province. If this administration unable to do it, at least it will open up the road to returning home. Preparations must be made as soon as possible. If each provincial government refuses to return the provincial operations to its rightful place, no body will! It is important to return to the province and develop it.

I suggest that the major provincial meetings are held in our province. Money can be spent on resorts, resthouses, transports, etc. An office is opened in Rennell for basic operations. The rest should follow through.