Democracy & Governance
in the Pacific Islands
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Samoa's opposition Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) is without a leader in Parliament following the suspension of former Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi. Tuilaepa and the HRPP's secretary Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi were suspended indefinitely without pay on Tuesday from Parliament following a formal complaint by the Deputy Prime Minister, Tuala Iosefo Ponifasio. The complaint led to a report with the recommendation they both be suspended.
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The Kora Fund issued its first loan to an Ebeye woman as part of its official launch for Kwajalein Atoll last week. A team of Kora (women’s) Fund and Bank of Marshall Islands officials went to Ebeye for the launch and to run a series of informational and training sessions about the new loan program.
With the world not close to meeting the targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, the Global Assessment Report says new approaches are needed. The United Nations says despite commitments to build resilience, tackle climate change and create sustainable development pathways, current societal, political and economic choices are doing the reverse. Amongst them is the lack of women in decision making roles despite being the pillar in most disaster-prone countries.
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Domestic violence survivor Salata Laqere graduated with a certificate in culinary arts at the Makoi Women’s Vocational Training Centre yesterday. The daughter of a Bua farmer said it was a huge achievement for her personally, after suffering physical and verbal abuse at the hands of her former husband and his family for six years. Ms Laqere, a mother of two, said she was working part-time at a restaurant when she came to know about the training centre three months ago.
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“The first thing to do for political parties is to decide where on the spectrum of democracy they fit and once you figure that out, then every single policy of that party will be linked to how you define yourself within the spectrum of democracy."
-- Former Human Rights Commission director and University of Fiji vice-chancellor Professor Shaista Shameem
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🌏 International and Regional
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Leaked documents have revealed Beijing is proposing a region-wide deal with almost a dozen countries in the Pacific. Beijing's offer covers police training, biometrics like fingerprints, new trade arrangements and scholarships. National Party foreign affairs spokesperson Gerry Brownlee said if signed, the agreement could be a relationship catastrophe for New Zealand and our closest neighbours.
Jake Sullivan, U.S national security adviser, welcomed the move by Fiji to become the first Pacific Island nation and 14th member of IPEF, a trade initiative designed to deepen economic ties, which President Joe Biden launched in Japan on Monday. “IPEF now reflects the full regional diversity of the Indo-Pacific, with members from north-east and south-east Asia, South Asia, Oceania and the Pacific Islands,” Sullivan said.
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“There continues to be institutional and capacity issues. Our governments are challenged to retain skilled staff and the turnover can be significant resulting in loss of critical institutional memory. On another level the continued siloed nature of global climate change and disaster risk discourse translates to duplication of actions at the national level which our capacity constrained bureaucracies are challenged to coordinate and manage. The separate efforts to develop national climate change policies and plans and as well disaster risk reduction plans, is a good example.”
-- Deputy Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Dr Filimon Manoni
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🇫🇲 Federated States of Micronesia
The President of the Federated States of Micronesia says he has serious concerns about the details of two leaked Chinese government documents to be tabled at a meeting next week. David Panuelo warns the sovereignty of the Pacific Island countries is at stake, and that the outcome of one of the documents could result in a cold war or even a world war. Panuelo has written to 18 Pacific leaders, including New Zealand, Australia, and the Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum, specifically about the China-Pacific Island Countries Common Development Vision. The other document is a five-year plan to implement the outcomes into action.
🇫🇯 Fiji
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My opponents see their political doom in the success we have created together in partnership with the communities in Bua, so they lie, twist and distort the facts. This was highlighted by Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama while speaking at the Bua Provincial Council Meeting in Lomanikoro Village in Bua. He says nothing speaks louder than the strong and consistent returns landowners receive from their resources and for eight consecutive years, landowners have achieved massive returns and no one can argue with that.
Fiji’s Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has sought to play down concern over China’s proposed deal with 10 Pacific nations covering policing, security and communications. Former Kiribati president Anote Tong says the deal incorporates action on climate change – the Pacific’s biggest security concern – and has welcomed the Albanese government’s renewed focus on the issue. Sayed-Khaiyum, who is also Fiji’s climate change minister, says it is “simply a proposal, nobody has signed on the dotted line”.
Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says “certain political parties or their leaders have breached the Financial Management Act”. At a news onference on Wednesday night where he said the breach would be reported to authorities, he also said businesses were not supposed to contribute to political parties. “It’s been brought to our attention that certain political parties or their leaders are announcing on Facebook that they’ll be doing x, y ,z but they’re not saying where they’ll get the funding from,” the A-G said.
🇰🇮 Kiribati
A Pacific journalist believes the Kiribati government has been coerced by Beijing to accommodate China's foreign minister's visit on Friday. Kiribati authorities confirmed late Tuesday that Wang Yi will briefly stopover to meet President Taneti Maamau as part of his Pacific-wide tour. Journalist Rimon Rimon says the government has been "very secretive" and people "people are frustrated and angry" after only learning about the trip via a Facebook post.
🇲🇭 Marshall Islands
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“On a scale of one-to-10, with 10 being the best, I put my visit to Washington at 9.5,” said Speaker Kenneth Kedi in an interview with the Journal Wednesday this week. The Speaker was in Arkansas at mid-week, following a packed agenda in Washington, DC over several days last week with meetings with many high-level US government officials.
🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville
In preliminary figures released by the Electoral Commission when nominations closed last night 2,351 candidates had registered, compared with 3,332 in 2017. The Electoral Commissioner, Simon Sinai, was surprised at the numbers, saying the Commission had been anticipating more than 4,000 to stand. There are 86 women candidates compared with 167 in the last poll.
Papua New Guinea's People's National Congress is shaping up as the party to watch as the country's general election approaches. Nominations are set to finish later today with campaigning then in earnest through to early July when voting starts.
🇼🇸 Samoa
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The Samoa Tourism Authority C.E.O. Suifua Fa'amatuainu Leanata'i, who has been suspended to allow investigators to look into allegations of impropriety that were levelled against him by his own staff, wrote to the S.T.A. Board expressing his disappointment and responded to each one of the allegations that were made against him. He also questioned the professionalism of the investigation and raised concerns about the integrity of the whole inquiry’s process. Part of Suifua’s complaint was centred on screenshots of private Facebook messages, which he claimed showed the investigators’ conflict of interest and lack of professionalism.
Eighteen electoral constituencies have signed a $200,000 funding agreement for the much anticipated district development project, having satisfied all the requirements. The official signing agreement was hosted by the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development at the Tooa Salamasina Hall in Savalalo on Friday. District Council representatives from the eighteen constituencies accepted the agreement where the $200,000 fund will be deposited in their bank accounts to kick off the project.
The Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P.P.) will host a special programme on Wednesday morning at their Petesa headquarters, to commemorate Samoa's 60th Independence Anniversary. The plan was revealed by the party's Deputy Leader, Lauofo Pierre Lauofo, and party Secretary, Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi, during a press conference. According to Lauofo, as of Thursday, they had not received an invitation letter from the Government to attend the official service which will be held at the Malae o Tiafau, Mulinu'u on Wednesday morning. There, Samoa's first female Prime Minister, FIame Naomi Mata'afa, will raise the national flag.
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China's Foreign Minister says China has "no intention at all" of building a military base in Solomon Islands. Wang Yi, who has been in Honiara as part of a tour of Pacific Island states, said the security agreement Beijing sealed last month with the Manasseh Sogavare government was "above board, with honesty and integrity".
The Media Association of Solomon Islands (MASI) is urging its members to boycott a media conference for a visiting Chinese delegation. China's foreign minister Wang Yi leads the high-level delegation which arrives in Solomon Islands on Thursday. Wang is expected to sign a host of new agreements, including the security pact that has sparked anger in the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
🇹🇴 Tonga
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All four Tongan MPs whose seats in parliament were voided after election petitions, have won stays pending appeals. The quartet includes three cabinet ministers, the Deputy Prime Minister Poasi Tei, Finance Minister Tatafu Moeaki, and Sangster Saulala, along with the former prime minister Pohiva Tu'i'onetoa.
Siosiua ‘Utoikamanu and Dr 'Ana Taufe’ulungaki have been appointed as new members of His Majesty’s Privy Council. A statement from the Office of the Lord Privy Sea Viliami Malolo confirmed the appointments today, 26 May. His Majesty the King in Privy Council, in accordance with Clause 50(1) of the Constitution, approved the appointments of Siosiua Tu’italukua Tupou ‘Utoikamanu and Dr. ‘Ana Maui Taufe’ulungaki as Right Honourable Members of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council.
🇻🇺 Vanuatu
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On 5th of March 2022, Efate and off shore islands entered Level 3 lockdown as the first community transmissions of COVID-19 (Omicron) were reported. With the new Single Harmonised Electoral Bill in Drafting Instruction’s stage, it had been planned to conduct a six province (nation-wide) “Road Show.” The Road Show would have included not only extensive consultation in provincial communities on the new Bill with a section by section explanation of the proposed Bill’s segments.
Peaceful picketing took place in front of the national parliament in Port Vila this morning. Youths have staged it following the refusal of the peaceful march by the government through the minister of internal affairs and Deputy Prime Minister, Ishmael Kalsakau. Kalsakau has labeled the peaceful march against COVID-19 vaccine as politically motivated. Kalsakau told the youth to re-submit their application.
🇺🇸 IRI in the PIs 🇸🇧
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This week, USAID and IRI concluded it Solomon Islands Government and Stakeholders Roundtables in Barana, Guadalcanal Province, Solomon Islands. Youth from the community who attended IRI's Youth Leadership Training Schools and local civil society organizations presented their advocacy plans to Hon. Premier Francis Sade, Hon. Deputy Premier John Nano, Hon. MP Rose Tala, ad Hon. Amaziah Keith Rubo, and members of the Ward Development Committees (WDCs). IRI's sister organization, the National Democratic Institute, also gave a presentation on their Solomon Islands’ Road to Recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic – Key Findings of Public Opinion Research. The event concluded with WDC members completing a Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-and-Threats Analysis, which will be used to develop future capacity trainings.
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