Sogavare Questions Timing of Public Opinion Survey

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has questioned the timing of the release of the public opinion survey.

Mr Sogavare questioned the timing given the fact that Parliament was about to review the Facilitation of the International Assistance Act (FIAA). Mr Sogavare said that this was "yet another demonstration of the true agendas behind the deployment of RAMSI."

Mr Sogavare said that RAMSI's barrage of criticisms and the so-called nationwide public opinion survey would not be deterring the upcoming review of FIAA. He said the Solomon Islands national parliament has been elected by the people of Solomon Islands and having approved a government bill to review RAMSI, no one, including the leaders of RAMSI, had the right to derail the review process.

The Prime Minister further added that instead of lobbying public support, RAMSI should be working to compliment the country's development priorities and provide a report on the status of recovered weapons since its arrival in 2003, as he had directly requested from the RAMSI Special Coordinator more than three weeks ago.