Competion is good for the soul!

 

J. Roughan

31 May 2010

Honiara

Last week's essay--The Solomons biggest problem: Honiara--explained how our fastest growing, mega city has been driving the rest of the country down the wrong path for more than 30 years. That essay made it clear that Honiara will not easily change its ways, nor cease  demanding more and more resources to feed its life style and will never be shy about pushing its weight around to make sure that things stay that way long into the future. 

 

It would be wonderful, however, to report that with the new bunch of MPs elected into their positions in the up coming national poll in mid-year and marching off to the Big House on the Hill, things would indeed change. Don't hold your breath! It's not that this new crop of MPs are bad people, only out to fill their pockets and give little attention to the small people. It's the system! More than words are needed to bring change. That's why a healthy dose of competition could make a world of difference.

 

What kind of competition? Our nation has 50 constituencies, the backbone of our political system. Up to recent times, however, the monies and resources given to individual MPs have hardly made any lasting impression in their home grounds. In most places, it would be hard to take a  photo of anything new or special in any of the constituencies. It seems that the $2 million a year pumped into these constituencies should have worked a miracle or two by now.  $2 million yearly is a whole lot of money and if wisely invested in each of constituency, it could begin to make a big difference in how this country could be run for the health and welfare of the majority of our people.

 

Take for instance people's desperate need in these rural outposts to have a fair access to a phone service, banking facility, an information centre, a fully equipped medical outpost staffed by a doctor,  a thriving food centre, etc. to bring to rural people some of the very services we in Honiara take for granted on a daily basis. Our people, on the other hand, must travel great distances, pay high ship fares and spend serious time away from their families for the simplest of services we in Honiara take for granted.

 

Other countries already boast of setting up these services in places called GROWTH CENTERS.  Yes, villagers do like to come to Honiara but usually its for a distinct and clear purpose. They simply don't travel on uncomfortable ships for hours at a time costing a high price for the sheer joy of coming over to town. Usually these people time their journey visit so as to check in with a doctor, fix up their eyes/teeth/ears, do a bit of banking, find out about the extended family, check a child's progress in school, etc. etc.

 

If, however, many of these same services were firmly imbedded in a local GROWTH CENTRE, fewer and fewer of our people would be forced to travel long hours, on expensive, uncomfortable ships and then seek a place to sleep at the end of their journey. Part of the problem of why Honiara grew more than 30 times over the past 50 years, was it never really faced any kind of competition from the provinces. If a villager needed medical assistance, information, understanding, there was only way to achieve it:: travel to Honiara or do without the assistance.

 

And the time for the establishment of provincial GROWTH CENTERS seems to be well timed. Our new bunch of parliamentarians would be open to new, innovative ideas since the old method of MPs doling out bits and pieces of money but seeing little difference in their people's life style has gotten them nowhere. beMobile, the newest telephone company, will be rolling out its mobile phones about the same time as our new parliament is taking root. What better time than to make a deal with this new communication giant to be at the heart of any GROWTH CENTRE.  

 

Of course a centre which brings together 'under one roof', as it were, information technology, banking, medical and other services also becomes by definition a job centre as well. Yes, some of these higher services would require specialists but at least half of all jobs--building,  plumbing, electrical trades, food outlets, trucking, markets, accommodation, etc. would have to root in such centers. Up wards of 50-70 new jobs could be created by the formation of such centers.

 

In past years, an MP thinking along this line of drawing together many services for his people, ran into a fundamental problem: where does the money for this growth come from. Now that each and every MP is on the receiving end of a large grant, surely, over a four year period, large amounts of these grant monies could be focused on building up a service base which our people so desperately need. Once these centers begin to root, for the first time in Solomons recent history, Honiara would face stiff completion which would make it less and less attractive to the rest of the country. Perhaps then, MPs would truly make their own constituency their home base, NOT Honiara!