Friday 9th November.

31 days to go.

Well, today we received the news we have a new boss. There is a new Minister of Finance. The previous one has been demoted to a junior portfolio and the new Minister is promoted from that Portfolio.

The timing is unusual. Parliament sits in November for the budget session. The Financial Year here is the same as the Calendar Year. Now there will be several theories on this. The paper here the Solomon Star, has its own. I am not allowed to make public comment on the situation here and I would not venture into that area. I will however paraphrase the article, mainly because for me to transcribe it would take hours.

The newspaper seems to think that the former Finance Minister was removed because he set up a new board for the National Airline. This board appointed a new Financial Officer, I referred to in a previous post. The new FO has uncovered all sorts of "irregularities". He was sacked, but the person doing it had no power to, however it appears that there are 2 Boards, one of whom has sacked the FO. The Chairman of the other Board who appointed the FO is now also under threat.

The new Minister, well, he was recently acquitted of Corruption charges, well not acquitted, the charges were withdrawn. He was charged under an Offence for stealing as a public servant, this is only for people employed in the Public Service. He should have been charged under an offence relating to Parliamentarians. Strangely he has not been charged, which, he can be as the actions so far do not implicate any "Double Jeopardy" being involved. This offence attracts a fine of $2000. From what was written, he admitted he had done it, but as the charges were wrongly laid, he doesn't care. (What happens if you steal $10,000?, this is not a comment on the situation, just a question. The paper did not mention anything about repaying any money taken!)

Anyway, the new Minister is one of the people who did all the leg work for the PM when he was elected. Now he is Minister of Finance. He is expected to sack the new board at the airline next week.

So that is what the Solomon Star thinks. As the paper is only out Monday to Friday, we have to wait to see what happens next. This is exciting to be in the middle of such political intrigue. Last time this happened they had riots and all sorts. I am not expecting anything like that this time though. RAMSI took all the guns last time.