BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
THE 2024 Joint General Election is a crucial one for the Solomon Islands, said the Ownership, Unity, and Responsibility Party (OUR Party) led by the Democratic Coalition Government for Advancement (DCGA) Caretaker Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.
Sogavare said that the 2024 Joint Election on April 17 is crucial to where the country would be in terms of development, geo-political alignment, national unity, and the nation’s existence as a sovereign state.
“It would depend on the decision that you would make about the composition of the next Solomon Islands government,’’ he said when speaking during the OUR Party launch Tuesday last week at Henderson, east of Honiara.
The Caretaker Prime Minister said that this is not just about competing for a seat in Parliament.
“Likewise, money might have been offered to voters, but we need to be careful when making decisions. This is not kura (gambling). It is a serious business. It is not just about competing for a seat in Parliament so that we can be careless about who we cast our votes for,’’ he said.
He pointed out that this is not the time for voters to be careless.
“I need to make this clear. You have a specific, serious interest in the outcome of this election. Unlike past elections, where we were concerned about dealing with domestic issues, it would be different this round. We are slowly becoming part of a very complicated world,’’ Sogavare said.
He stressed that over the last 10 years, and with big rival superpowers pursuing their geopolitical interests in the Pacific, they will and have been interested in the outcome of this election.
“Whether you like it or not, thus, I call for all of us to be smart in the way we manage the affairs of our nation, starting, of course, with how we manage our votes on April 17th,’’ he said.
Given the challenging geopolitical environment the nation finds itself in, he stated that the country needs strong leaders now more than ever who cannot be readily pulled by foreign nations with limited strategic goals in this nation.
“We have seen the development over the last 45 years of our existence as a sovereign state, and therefore, as responsible Solomon Islanders, we have a solemn duty not to allow the status quo to continue,” he said.
