The Republic of China (ROC) has praised the Solomon Islands NCRA Government's reform initiative to channel ROC's constituency support through the Ministry of Rural Development and Indigenous Affairs rather than through the 50 Members of Parliament.
ROC Ambassador to Solomon Islands Roy Wu said this when he presented to the Prime Minister Hon. Danny Philip SBD $13.8 Million of assistance to forty-six (46) constituencies whose MPs have already submitted their acquittals on how they spent their previous constituency funds.Ambassador Wu said the next SBD$1.2 Million would be released when the remaining four MPs submitted their acquittals.
Under the new arrangement, all acquittal reports must be reviewed by the ROC Government and if satisfied, funds will be released to the Solomon Islands government.
Ambassador Wu said ROC is very happy with the new arrangements because they are in line with ROC's three key principles underlying the disbursement of its aid programme.
"They are legitimacy, transparency, and efficiency. This is ensuring that the purpose is a legitimate one in that it supports people in the rural areas by enhancing their livelihood. And channeling it through one Ministry would help bring about transparency and accountability as well efficiency in the disbursement of the funds," Ambassador Wu said.
In accepting the constituency funding, Prime Minister Philip thanked ROC on behalf of the Government and people of Solomon Islands.
The Prime Minister said that the amongst other donor assistance the ROC constituency support is the only form of donor support that directly goes down into rural areas and he thanked the ROC Government for their help.
Source: Press Release, Government Communications Unit