 Solomonstar News
27 June 2007 Honiara
A LEADING officer of the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International Solomons says revived plans to rearm the Police contradict earlier assurances from the Prime Minister.
Executive officer Joses Tuhanuku warned against the controversial plan, after the new Police Commissioner, Jahir Khan, asked the Government for money to buy weapons.Mr Tuhanuku told Radio Australia that Transparency International was extremely disappointed with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.
This was because earlier on the floor of Parliament he said that the Government was not going ahead with the rearming due to public concerns, Mr Tuhanuku said.Mr Tuhanuku was quoted in a report carried by the Australian Associated Press (AAP) news agency as saying:
“Now the commissioner is saying he is following Government policy.” Mr Tuhanuku said this raises questions about the credibility of the Prime Minister said.
Mr Khan put in a supplementary budget request for $18 million to buy guns for Police patrol boats and bodyguards for the prime minister and governor-general.
Mr Sogavare had earlier this year dropped plans to rearm the local officers of his protection unit. This followed protests from civil society groups.The Police were disarmed after the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) arrived in mid-2003 to restore law and order.
Some of the then Police officers had become embroiled in the country’s ethnic tensions and sided with the Malaita Eagle Force militants.Mr Khan said the funds would buy around 40 self-loading pistols for the prime minister’s and governor-general’s bodyguards, as well as weapons for the patrol boats.
He said the boats needed to be armed as they protected the country’s borders and fishing grounds. That could involve dangerous confrontations that risked officers’ lives.But Mr Tuhanuku was quoted in the Australian reports as saying that during the ethnic crisis, Police arms were not used to protect the country’s borders or resources. Instead, he said, they were used to harass civilians and take away the rule of law.
Some Police officers became corrupted, joined in the 2000 coup, broke into the Police armoury and gave arms to criminals, he was quoted as saying.He told Radio Australia: “In our view, while RAMSI is here we should not rush into arming the police.“If Australia decided to withdraw RAMSI, this country would plunge itself back into the situation we were in from 2000 to 2003 and the rule of law would fly through the window.”
Solomon Islanders had no guarantee that rearming police was in the best interests of the country, he said.Mr Khan said it’s now safe and essential to re-arm some sections of the Police.He told Radio New Zealand International: “I have no intention of arming the criminals or the thugs. I am arming the law and order agency that is the police force.
“These are highly trained people, these are professional people, and I’m arming them.“I’m fully aware and I’m very much concerned about what happened in the past and I’m keeping all my eyes and ears open when I make decisions about arming the police.” |
BENJAMIN DISRAELI (1804-1881)
Jacinta Moli from Central Malaita representing Solomon Islands in Powerlifting during the Commonwealth Games
