Dear editor,

I'm of the view that RAMSI has outlived its usefulness.

Law and order has been normalised.

Capacity building in government machinary and other areas has been going-on for years and by now our locals should be familiar with those performs magic.

Some of RAMSI's programs to 'strengthen this and that' as they used to say can be seen as duplications of other official donors functions, interestingly on the same localities.

Whats next? I hope they won't involve in politics as well.

Another concern to raise is that, I'm just wondering where in the Solomons is RAMSI dumping all its rubbish/wastes. This should be regulated to protect our environment. I think all RAMSI's rubbish/waste should be shipped back to where it comes from.

Lest we forget, RAMSI is just a mission and it should operate within a time-frame and not the usual 'we will be here for as long as you want us'.

My fear is that, it seems that Solomon Islands is showing signs of what I would like to called 'security dependency syndrome' toward RAMSI in terms of security. The recent PM's comment says it all. That's a worry for a sovereign State that seems to have no trust in its own Police force. On the same line, I strongly believe that it is time to re-arm our police force. This is necessary for policing activities.

Sometimes I tend to think that RAMSI is like our new colonial masters. And I have predicted that the day that RAMSI will finally left our shores, will coincide with celebrations, just like the Iraqis did when the British Forces finally left southern Iraqi recently.

Finally, I acknowledged all the good works that RAMSI has done in our our country. My concern is all Mission have a specific tasks to be done within a time-frame but more especially when one is just an intervention in another sovereign States.

Bye