By Ronald Toito’ona

In East Choiseul Constituency, seven villages there were hoping that a government grant would finally provide them with the resources to protect their local poultry farms from predators, and boost their livelihoods. 

However, their hopes have vanished and never materialized, an Audit Report of the Economic Stimulus Package (ESP) released by the Solomon Islands Auditor General last week has revealed.

The villagers applied for funding under the ESP, designed to support local businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The applications, identical in format and written on the same type of paper, were all penned by the same person. 

In each one, the request was the same:

“We have a lot of local chickens roaming the village vulnerable to dogs and prey birds. Therefore, we need your assistance for proper keeping and feeding for cash.”

The villagers requested various amounts ranging from $2,719 to $3,860 for chicken wire, nails, chainsaw hire, and chicken feed. 

Yet, what they received was an approval of $15,000 each, significantly above what they had asked for. 

This sudden windfall, however, never materialized. 

During fieldwork for the ESP audit by the OAG team, five of the farmers confirmed they never saw a single cent of the approved funds. 

The sixth farmer was unaware whether any money was disbursed, the audit report said.

“The Guidelines for Disbursement and Monitoring of ESP Funds provide that applications for funds in the poultry sector must have an existing farm and links to local buyers. 

“It is arguable whether having some chickens meets the definition of an existing farm. 

“As there were no documents to provide analysis of these decisions, it could not determine during our fieldwork why $15,000 had been approved for each chicken farmer,” the audit’s case study noted.

Subsequently, MoFT provided the Audit team with an ESP Oversight Committee Minute recording the decision to approve an allocation of $15,000 to poultry farmers in the East Choiseul Constituency. 

“After we sent the draft report to MoFT for its comment, MoFT confirmed that no amounts were in fact distributed to the chicken farmers, or their representatives despite evidence of approval by the ESP Oversight Committee,” the case study report by the OAG stated.

The OAG’s recommendations for future grant programs are clear: a transparent assessment process should be established, with all decisions documented and retained. 

According to the Auditor General, David Dennis “This would help ensure that public funds are used effectively and that grant programs achieve their intended outcomes.”

The story of the poor villagers who applied for the grants to safeguard their chickens, is one of the many findings in the ESP Audit Report 2021-2022 that requires further investigations by various integrity agencies.

Former prime minister and current Minister of Finance, Mannesseh Sogavare, is the MP for East Choiseul.

ENDS//