BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
Honiara City Council (HCC) election candidate, Moses Aunama Junior, vowed to empower the youth and women of Ngossi ward in West Honiara Constituency to pursue their dreams and reach their full potential.
Aunama Junior, 34, is the youngest candidate vying for the Ngossi Ward seat in the HCC electorate against 13 other candidates. He’s running under the Solomon Islands United Party (UP).
In an exclusive interview with SUNDAY ISLES, Aunama Jr. revealed that his motivation for running for office this year was the issue of youth and women in his ward.
“I have been raised and lived in Ngossi ward in West Honiara for over 30 years, and I believe that one of the missing links within the community is the opportunity and resource to support the youth and women to pursue their dreams and reach their full potential.
“I have been a community worker for the past 14 years, and I have seen that these two groups of people have been forgotten and put aside from opportunities. I have this feeling that we have been having leaders that are not inclusive,” he said.
Aunama Jnr, if elected, said he aims to make Ngossi Ward a role model out of the 12 Honiara wards.
“I want the Ngossi ward to be safe for people to reside in, clean, look after, and take ownership of—an inspiring ward too. We have the strength to become role models, but we don’t have the leader to tell the people and come out clearly with initiatives and programs,’’ he said.
Aunama Jnr plans to inspire and empower young people through workshops and training, particularly for small businesses and young entrepreneurs.
“We will encourage them to get into small start-up businesses so they can participate in the economic growth we have in the country, and they can get their energy back and adjust it to get jobs and contribute to the economy,” he said.
He stressed that it’s time to have faith in a youthful leader or thinker to introduce new, innovative ideas.
“Vote for someone with a heart for the community. By saying people with hearts, I mean people who have done things for the community, people who are trying to achieve changes, someone with community background,’’ Aunama Jnr said.
Speaking passionately about his vision for the future, Aunama Jr. outlined a series of ambitious plans to provide greater opportunities for young people and ensure that women are given the support they need to thrive in their communities.
“Ngossi is a place of incredible talent and potential, and it’s time we harness that energy and drive to create a brighter future for all.
“Our theme for the campaign is based on the slogan ‘Iumi Organise’. There are a lot of challenges and issues that have been there for the past years because we do not have the right platform where youths and women can go and voice their frustration and ideas that they feel they can contribute to.
“So it’s time we organized. Organize our community ward to create more committees and platforms for each particular group to have a clear pathway to do something or say something. That is the whole idea behind the slogan.
“I think the first step is to organize to address every issue we are having. We need to organize ourselves and our communities, then we can be able to deal with the issues that we are facing,’’ he said.
Aunama Jr. stressed the significance of granting access to opportunities for youth and women, especially in Ngossi Ward, to tackle their issues.
“I want to see a youth and women’s center for Ngossi Ward. That is my key message. I want to see a learning space that youths and women can have access to for free, where they can have access to the right information and more knowledge.
“At least there is a space that women and youth have access to regardless of denomination, race, or class. Everyone else can be seen in that space as equal,” he said.
He also noted the importance of transparency in promoting and implementing inclusive governance for youth and women in Ngossi.
“Transparency is one of my top priorities. Transparency has nothing to do with finance, funding, or whatever is accessible to HCC, but what I also include is transparency through information, which is whatever is going on inside the office, through the through the champers, or through the work.
“We have members of parliament and councillors overseas that have Facebook to utilize social media to connect with people and update them on information. I don’t see any reason as to why the leaders we have in the Solomon Islands don’t have one.
“For example, if the vehicle to pick up rubbish has not done the collection of rubbish for certain months now, at least the transparency to mention to the people is vital.
“Like, for instance, having a mechanical problem or any issue so that people can be aware because the more isolated a leader is, the more frustrating the voters and community members are, and more doubts arise, so we have to be more transparent not only with finance but also with information,’’ Aunama Jnr said.
He also aims to provide inclusive governance for youths and women in Ngossi by collaborating with elected candidates and stakeholders.
“Partnership is our second priority. We believe it can make a big impact. We will prioritize it because we have different issues in our communities, and once we organize our communities by zoning them and encouraging them to set up committees, each of these communities’ committees could have a clear pathway to raise concerns.
“We have different issues, so we have to seek different partners to support us. If we were allowed to get in there, we would align ourselves with MPs and ministries and work together with them.
“On that note, we can set up, for example, an education committee or a sports association committee, and the next thing we want to do is for them to plan out the whole year.
“They have to come up with activities in their calendar, and once we identify those activities that they want to do, then the next thing is for us to find partners,’’ he said.
