National Council of Women's response to ANU survey on RAMSI ludicrous: Caucus Chairman

The chairman of Solomon Islands Government Caucus, Nelson Ne’e has described the media statement by the National Council of Women in response to his comments on the Australian National University’s survey on RAMSI as ludicrous.

Mr Ne’e said as a national leader he has the right to express concern over matters of national interest.

He said the particular finding of the survey that 90 percent of Solomon Islanders wanted more women in parliament was clearly questionable.

Mr Ne’e said the National Council of women had talked so much about transparency and accountability and should request an explanation from those responsible for the conduct of survey when their findings were questionable instead of launching an attack on the government for raising genuine and valid concerns.

The Caucus Chairman said any fair-minded Solomon Islander who accessed the survey report would agree with him that the survey report was poorly presented and furthermore contained some questionable findings that needed explanations.

He said NCW’s Secretary General has taken his message out of context and blamed the lack of money for the failure of women to secure a seat in parliament in the 2006 national general elections.

Mr Ne’e said might be other contributing factors to the failure of women to secure seats in the current parliament other than the lack of money.

He said culture and character might have also contributed to the election defeat for the women contestants last year.

Source: GCU