To'abaitan appointed as the Commissioner of Forests in Solomon Islands

A well respected and prominent To'abaita leader has been officially appointed as the Commissioner of Forestry in Solomon Islands last week.

He is Mr Gordon Konairamo who hails from Raubabata Village in the Malu'u area in North Malaita. After graduating from Papua New Guinea, Mr Konairamo has been working with the Forestry department since then in various positions. Recently after the termination of the former Commissioner of Forests for corrupt dealings, he has been entrusted as the Acting Commissioner until last week. His official appointment letter to take up the Commissioner's post was just received on wednesday (04/10/06) last week.

Earlier in August while on a business trip to Suva, Mr Konairamo was invited by TARD to speak to the TARD students in Suva on various issues that the Forestry department in Solomon Islands in currently facing. One of the eminent challenges is that if the nation allows the current rate of forest harvesting to continue without appropriate management measures, no loggable trees would be left in Solomon Islands by 2011.

Mr Konairamo was in Nadi again at the end of last month to attend an important meeting. Yesterday he has left for another meeting in Port Moresby before returning to Solomon Islands on friday this week. After that he will accompany the Permanent Secretary on a tour to Isabel, Choiseul and Western Provinces on 23 October and will return to Honiara on 8 November.

Therefore, on behalf of all TARD members we would like to officially congratulate Mr Gordon Konairamo on his recent appointment as the Solomon Islands Commissioner of Forests. This is another personal achievement for North Malaita people in our collective efforts to restore a good image to our region.