11 Oct 2010

Changes planned in Solomons rural fund delivery

2:24 pm on 11 October 2010

The Ministry of Rural Development in Solomon Islands says changing the way the Rural Constituency Fund is handled will bring more transparency.

Money under the fund is provided by Taiwan and MPs have been responsible for distributing the funding.

But the Acting Deputy Secretary for the Ministry, Clezy Rore, says there are plans to direct the money to the Ministry of Rural Development instead of to the MPs.

He says there have been complaints from members of the public who're not satisfied with the way the money has been handled.

"Well I'm not an MP and I don't know how they use it but it has been put in the newspaper and radio. So there have been a lot of complaints that have been raised on the use of these funds, that they're used for their own - that's what the accusations are made to them. So we'd like to protect them and make it more transparent so that the accusations don't fall on the MPs."

Clezy Rore says the Ministry hopes to meet cabinet on Thursday to have the plan endorsed.