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John Roughan - Latest News [Page 1]
Partners, Not Clients, Certainly Not Customers!
Monday, 19 June 2006, 11:23 am | John Roughan
The Grand Coalition for Change policy-framework document says it clearly: "it has to be a reform-minded, people-focused and rules-based" government. The document's language highlights a constant but basic theme--change must "occur at the grassroots ... More >>
John Roughan: Time Is Not On Our Side!
Monday, 12 June 2006, 3:32 pm | John Roughan
Dili, East Timor's capital, PNG, our big brothers and sisters west of us and Bougainville, literally on our western boarder, all suffer different degrees of social unrest. Dili, of course, is currently in the grip of something we experienced back in April, ... More >>
John Roughan: People's Code of Conduct
Tuesday, 6 June 2006, 4:40 pm | John Roughan
Parliament members had to go back to school last week. Their teachers--overseas speakers from PNG parliament, an Australian academic, Solomons' leaders, etc--stressed the idea that parliamentarians are necessarily held to high standards, higher than that ... More >>
New Direction - Old Attitudes - Deadwood = ?
Monday, 29 May 2006, 10:33 am | John Roughan
Solomons’ newly elected government is to be congratulated on its determination to turn the fortunes of our country around by focusing the state’s many and varied resources on rural people’s daily lives. But it’s completely out of character for me to simply ... More >>
John Roughan: RAMSi failed us!
Monday, 22 May 2006, 1:47 pm | John Roughan
Whether the Solomons was a failed state or not, there is no doubt that in the hour of our greatest need, the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) failed us. The heroics of police personnel, ordinary citizens, both men and women, ... More >>
John Roughan: Culture Of Impunity!
Monday, 15 May 2006, 12:19 am | John Roughan
Why is it that some Big Men are exempt from punishment no matter what their crime? They live charmed lives--rising higher and higher in national political life--no matter how serious the offense. More >>
John Roughan: Lessons From The Chinatown Burnout?
Monday, 8 May 2006, 11:55 am | John Roughan
Burning down Chinatown during Solomons Black Tuesday was an awful way to teach. But our lawmakers, have over many years, grown deaf to people's pleas. Since the early 1990s, the voting public have asked, no, begged, Cabinet and Parliament not to sell ... More >>
John Roughan: More Questions Than Answers!
Tuesday, 2 May 2006, 3:22 pm | John Roughan
The recent burndown of Honiara's Chinatown raises a host of questions but few answers are coming out clearly. The initial 'official' response to the terrible events of Black Tuesday (18 April) is that authorities were caught off guard. Our police force ... More >>
John Roughan (Honiara): Third Time Lucky?
Monday, 24 April 2006, 2:10 pm | John Roughan
We had a fair go at making a great nation of ourselves in 1978 and failed the test miserably by the late 1990s. Then RAMSI kicked in a few years ago but once again we blotted our copy book. This time, however, it took less than three years to come ... More >>
John Roughan: The Youth's Election!
Tuesday, 4 April 2006, 11:28 am | John Roughan
Few if any young people are running for national office. The bulk of contestants are drawn from the 'old guard', former parliamentarians or government 'has been's' who have decided to throw their hats into the political arena. More >>
John Roughan: Taking Things For Granted!
Monday, 27 March 2006, 12:10 am | John Roughan
How easily we take things for granted! Last week I got a wake up call, began to realize how much I depend on institutions, personnel and processes that I hardly think about until I need their help. My wife, Bernardine, was admitted to the Solomons' Referral ... More >>
John Roughan: A History of Forgetting!
Monday, 20 March 2006, 1:06 pm | John Roughan
A famous English statesman early last century claimed that a people who fail to remember their history are doomed to repeat it. In other words, nations that pay little attention to their past history, especially their bad times, their mistakes, their shortcomings ... More >>
John Roughan: Villager Or Farmer!
Tuesday, 14 March 2006, 3:11 pm | John Roughan
Last Friday (10 March), the Iron Bottom Hotel was the scene of a major meeting hosted by World Bank, European Union and AusAID. It was called the Agriculture and Rural Development Strategy workshop and was attended by many important persons. Moreover, ... More >>
John Roughan (In Honiara): 2,000 vs. 50!
Monday, 6 March 2006, 1:05 pm | John Roughan
These numbers refer to the number of Solomon Islanders--2,000--who could have been engaged as local poll watchers and the actual number of overseas people--50--who are expected to fly in to observe our election day, 5 April, and then stay on a few ... More >>
John Roughan: New Political Culture Forming?
Tuesday, 31 January 2006, 12:15 am | John Roughan
By April this year, the Solomons will have gone through its seventh national election since its 1978 independence. Every national poll without exception has fortunately been run, free and fair. In fact in the country's last election, 2001, dozens of ... More >>
Corruption Is Alive And Well!
Monday, 23 January 2006, 10:47 am | John Roughan
The United Nations Development Program out of Suva is seriously working on setting up a domestic monitors scheme to support our nation's March elections. In 2001, for instance, dozens of foreigners monitored our last election. They called it a free ... More >>
Learning from the locals!
Monday, 16 January 2006, 9:41 am | John Roughan
When Peace Corps, as well as other volunteer sending groups, initially arrived in the Solomons, the first thing on the agenda was to help their volunteers get an accurate feeling for the local scene. The best way of doing it, after much trial and error, ... More >>
Solomon Islands: Customers not cattle!
Tuesday, 10 January 2006, 2:13 pm | John Roughan
An overseas business house has recently made a drastic, hardnosed business decision. A newly established Honiara shipping company has invested big bucks in two ships to transport village people in style. It's fleet of two ships--new, fast, clean, ... More >>
John Roughan: Customers Not Cattle!
Monday, 9 January 2006, 3:03 pm | John Roughan
An overseas business house has recently made a drastic, hardnosed business decision. A newly established Honiara shipping company has invested big bucks in two ships to transport village people in style. It's fleet of two ships--new, fast, clean, ... More >>
Change the top and the bottom!
Wednesday, 4 January 2006, 10:36 am | John Roughan
Great expectations are currently riding high on the up coming national elections. People know that the first years of the 21st century have not been that great for us. Yes, RAMSI came in to save us--more for the political elite's life style, however, ... More >>
