Hours after Finance minister Manasseh Sogavare called the media to explain why he granted duty exemptions to certain Chinese business houses, the Opposition came out firing again.
Last night, Opposition leader Matthew Wale claimed a total of $199M discretionary exemptions from January to end of September 2024 were granted by the Minister of Finance to individuals and companies.
“This is outrageous and reckless,” Wale said in a statement.
“Exemptions granted to Lee Kwok Kuen & Anthony Veke, Nature Motel, and Wan Chen Company total more than $30 million,” he added.
Wale said in the case of Anthony Veke, it appears that there is a deliberate attempt by the Minister of Finance to misrepresent the facts by referring to Veke as honourable, although the exemption was granted after the elections in which he lost his seat.
“There are no reasonable grounds, given the current precarious cash flow problem in government, for the Minister of Finance to award these exemptions.
“The Minister’s press conference today is a cover up of the whole truth,” he said.
He said revelations of GNUT’s string of exemptions are a slap in the face of every hardworking Solomon Islander.
“Ordinary Solomon Islanders struggle to make ends meet and put food on the table for their families, yet the Minister of Finance sees it fit to subsidise a select few who are already well-off.”
Wale said citizens of this country deserve to know and the Prime Minister and his Finance Minister has a duty to inform the nation.
“I am calling on the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister to clarify to people in this country how many exemptions have been granted by GNUT, how much it costs, to which companies and individuals and why exemptions are granted when GNUT cannot even fund the 2024 budget,” the Opposition Leader said.
He reiterated the Finance Minister is “out of control” in granting the multimillion-dollar exemptions.
However Sogavare explained the exemption orders were granted for only a short period of time and will expire in mid November.
“ That is to allow the government to review the implementation of the exemption, and that’s how it works, the exemptions were hardly utilised, so there is very minimal loss of revenue,Sogavare clarified.
Wale said one would expect the Finance Minister to be apologetic now that he has been called out publicly.
“But this is not the case; surprisingly the Finance Minister is trying to defend his actions.
“This is worse than it appears. Obviously, the Finance Minister does not fear discipline from the Prime Minister.
“This is clear political calculation. The Finance Minister knows the Prime Minister is very weak and cannot sack him.
“This situation is terrible for the good governance of Solomon Islands. A weak Prime Minister emboldens Ministers to make decisions without accountability and not fear sanction,” he said.
Wale said as the Finance Minister’s conduct is under question, he expects the Prime Minister to inform the nation on the extent of exemptions granted and whether he, the Prime Minister, accepts it, and what actions he will take to discipline the Finance Minister.
The Opposition Leader said if the Prime Minister does not address this issue, then it merely confirms his utter weakness as Prime Minister.
“$199M of exemptions granted by a government which cannot even fund its own budget.
“Although it is not surprising, it is frustrating that GNUT lied to parliament that they have cancelled all exemptions as of June this year, yet they have done the opposite.
“This hypocrisy smacks of the worst arrogance. GNUT does not respect the people’s parliament.
“GNUT therefore does not respect the people, and feels it can lie to the nation,” he said.
The Opposition Leader has also criticized the Prime Minister as to why he remains tight-lipped over all these controversial issues happening under his nose.
“A Prime Minister with any sense of integrity would have taken stern action already. Yet he is abetting all these nonsense.
“It is clear, the Prime Minister is either part of all this or too weak to control his ministers, either way, the Prime Minister is enabling all of this” he said.
The Opposition Leader said GNUT likens itself, as a regime for ‘transformation’ but it only seems the transformation is going from being bad to worse.
“Our people are sick of this nonsense and the responsibility lies with the Prime Minister as head of GNUT to make the tough decisions and take action.
“The Prime Minister must stand up for a change, the people expect you to,” Wale said.
