Honiara : 1 September 2017
Letter to the Editors, Solomon Star and Island Sun newspapers.
A 20 ft container of much needed medical equipment and supplies for the NRH was shipped by Take My Hands (TMH) charitable trust in New Zealand in late June this year and arrived in Honiara prior to 10 July.
The container has, reportedly, been left at the SIPA wharf awaiting clearance pending the payment of the requisite handling charges requested from the local Ministry of Finance.
It is claimed that other container supplies sent by several charitable donors for the NRH are also being held up at the wharf for the same reason.
My information is that the NRH requested the money to cover the charges for the container from TMH more than 7 weeks ago and it is likely the NRH did the same for the other containers I have mentioned, although I have no information I can give to support such a claim.
While the Ministry of Finance can take credit for its successful JANUS operations in close-cooperation with the RSIPF, it is most unfortunate that the Ministry is being criticized by some prominent citizens for its slowness in meeting the payment needs of other Ministries and the MOHMS/NRH in particular.
