The planned civil society seminar will be held this morning but without the Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, who has turned down the invitation.
In a press release issued yesterday by the Prime Ministers Office, Mr. Sogavare said he saw no reason why he should attend the seminar. Sogavare said the Civil Society Groups had already announced the topics of discussion and their stand on the issues in both the local and international media.The Prime Minister went on to say that the government had already decided on the issues, which it has the constitutional prerogative to decide on, and thus no amount of consultation with the groups would make that point any clearer.
"You need to understand that the Solomon Islands government is elected by the people by the virtue of the electoral and Parliamentary processes and therefore it is only answerable to the people of this country and not a group of people who have become hopeless victims of other people's agenda."
"If you and your group are aggrieved by the actions of the government, you have the courts to resort to rather than using your so-called seminars to pursue your grievances," Mr Sogavare said in the press statement.
Today's civil society alliance seminar will look at the Moti issue, the rearmament programme for the Solomon Islands Police and the appointment of the Commissioner of Police, Jahir Khan.