Archive - Aug 1, 2011

As Mele Maat villagers strengthened the coconut leafed walls of their stalls against the merciless ‘cold’ weather at night this week, Daily Post turned left towards the silent graveyard of the ancient forefathers who cut through this swampy patch to build the first houses where the village is situated today.

The original people from South East Ambrym were allowed at Mele Maat immediately after the disastrous volcanic eruption in Ambrym in 1913. Here lie the heroes of approximately 600 people of the village today.

The Police Commissioner Joshua Bong, yesterday morning officially opened a two-day workshop of the Vanuatu National Workshop on Monitoring &Survelleillance at the Vanuatu Police Training College.

Different government departments, customs, fisheries, Airports Vanuatu, Foreign Affairs and Vanuatu Police force are participating in this. In this workshop they will be discussing a number of important issues that have been mandated by the senior official meeting (SOM) at the MSG pre-submit SOM held on the 25th and 28th March 2011, in Suva Fiji.

Heart Specialists from New Zealand are expected in Vanuatu next week to see children with heart problems. Parents of children in Port Vila and Efate with heart problems are encouraged to refer their children to the Vila Central Hospital this week for clearance and preparation for the visiting cardiac team from New Zealand.

The New Zealand Cardiac Team prepares to deal with twenty children a day and some one hundred children during the five days they will be in Port Vila.

Article 9 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD) ratified by Vanuatu in 2008 stated that “State Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others… facilities and services open or provided to the public…”

Yet it is still a concern especially for the Disability Promotion and Advocacy (DPA) that many buildings including public buildings are still planned without taking into account disable peoples’ accessibility.

Dear Editor,

Over the last decade Vanuatu has witnessed the rise of so-called 'new blood' politicians in the country.

This has of course been the result of various factors, one of which is the dissatisfaction with old leaders, founders of independence, etc, who may have not lived up to expectations of others in society.

Many had hoped that the new leaders would exemplify and display a novel and attractive leadership style to take the country a step more advanced than where our old politicians might have left us at.

Dear Editor,

I read with interest the article headlined 'Government alarmed with the emerging urban child poverty in Vanuatu' in your paper dated Friday 29th July 2011. This is a depressing and very urgent situation.

It is worth noting that the policy action was prompted by the evidence presented in accurate, up-to-date statistics. I wondered what other positive policy actions would be taken if the Govt had access to a much wider range of accurate and up-to-date statistics?

The policy actions proposed re: child nutrition, fee-free education etc are very important.

o Mi harem se why do we bother having an Ombudsman office? The staff are paid to do absolutely nothing. No audits have been done for years, no public reports are put out. They can't even get their act together in an open breach of the leadership code over Minister Iouku who pled guilty in court to aiding an abetting an assault and damage to property. Let's face it, the Ombudsman office is a complete and utter waste of taxpayers money. They should close it down rather than pretend there is an effective watchdog over government corruption.

Dear Editor,

I must make myself clear as a teacher teaching in Port Vila that we are sorry for not hosting the Annual program SEPSA Games. The annual game usually comes before Children's Day. And if is done to include every children from every school, as from year 3 to year 8.

The objective of SEPSA Game
1. The children can share their physical ability with their friends from other schools
2. The children should have the chance to share the display the arts of sportsmanship during such competition

Dear Editor,

This is an interesting note from Tonga which has acceded to WTO and the question for Vanuatu is do we want to be in their position after accession or should we take this advice now
Below is the advice from our Tongan Chamber of Commerce & Industry Inc. friend.

1. WTO is only beneficial if you are a net exporting country. If you aren't like all of us island countries it's a license for all the big boys (not just the Chinese) to walk into your house and eat your food because you've just put a sign on the door that says “Open house”.

­­­Mi jas luk long wan gudfala ripot we i kam aot long Daily Post long Tusde, 12 Julae 2011. Niuspepa i talemaot se gavman bae i enforsem niufala loa blong no salem wanwan frut tabak long ol man.

Sipos gavman i faenemaot se wan stoa i salem wanwan frut tabak bae i kasem faen blong Vt5 million mo sipos i wanwan man nomo we i salem frut, bae i save kasem faen blong Vt1 million. Mo tu, ripot i talemaot se maet ol man we oli salem wanwan frut tabak bae oli save go long prison kasem wan yia.