𝐈𝐒 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐈𝐍𝐀 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓

𝐈𝐒 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐈𝐍𝐀 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓?👀

𝙀𝙭𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙥𝙩𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙖 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙆𝙚𝙮𝙤𝙣 𝘼𝙧𝙩 𝙍𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙖

I think we all have seen the news, the Prime Minister has returned from Dubai. From the outset I hope it was a successful meeting and I hope that what I am seeing here is not true. Regardless of what I am hoping it not to be, I must nevertheless, raise my concerns as a right of expression to all of you, for purposes of safeguarding the future of our generation and that of our blue sea economy.

I dont know if the public is aware of this, but there is a thing called an Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). In the event that the Solomon Island government, (in the next five years) chose to implement taxes on the Dubai operators, or take over operations, from the dubai corporate funders, (in terms of the Tuna Processing Plant Operation at Bina Harbour), under the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), the Dubai coporation funders can actually sue our current government and it does not matter if we have made a sovereign decision, not to allow them to continue, our nations sovereign decision can be overturned, if we lose our case.

Losing our case can also potentially mean losing our sovereignty. Over the past years, the Investor State Dispute Settlement, has become widely known as another form of colonial looting, by other means and according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the total ISDS case counts, has reached more than well over 1100 by the end of 2020. It has affected (looted) more than 124 countries already.

We can argue that yes, indeed, the Tuna Processing Plant at Bina Harbour, will no doubt create more than a thousand jobs, for our people, but I think we are missing the true question to ask and only looking at the 'Job creation angle' as opposed to asking the right question. I believe the proper question we need to ask the Prime Minister is this, just how much money from this Tuna Processing Plant, will remain in our country and how much of it, will be taken out from our sea resources, by the Dubai Coporate funders operating the Tuna Plant, off to the Middle East. 

Now various confirmed sources have indicated that all the public infrastructures, for the Bina Harbour project, namely the International sea port,  domestic jetty and other public infrastructures, will be built by the Solomon Islands government and operated by the Solomon Islands government. On the other hand (now get this) the actual Tuna Processing Plant, will be operated by the Dubai Corporations who have funded the processing plant, for a period of 15 years, before it is handed over to the Solomon Islands government.

Now if you did notice or not but the fish that will be harvested, by this tuna plant is directly, a Sovereign Wealth of Solomon Islands and if over the course of this 15 years given, we begin to realize that our  Dubai friends, who have installed this Tuna Processing Plant, have successfully driven the transfer of our sea economic wealth from the poor (us), over to the rich (Middle East and Asia), by over exploiting our natural sea tuna resources, at will, and there is less to show for, in terms of economic growth by the current government, (if they continue to squander the returns from this investment as a substitute for distribution), and we suddenly decide that enough is enough and we take over in between that 15 year period of them completing their operations and ownership over the Tuna Processing Plant, they can sue us, under the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS).

Companies, such as the likes of our foreign Dubai corporate funders and beneficiaries, for the next 15 years, can easily make claims in the billions, if we are not careful and actually sue the government. A case in point under the ISDS agreement is the canadian company seeking $15 Billion in damages from the US government as a result of its decision to cancel the Keystone XL pipleline project. In our case making a claim against a weaker nation such as ours, weak to defend ourselves, by the rich Dubai coporate funders of our Tuna Processing Plant, presents the perfect opportunity to loot our natural sea resources, in large numbers in the future, by any means, if we lost our case.

We need to remember that the sea is not just the sea, its an economy of its own and for us, its our biggest, if not the greatest, natural resource, our nation has, in terms of our Solomon Islands National Sovereign Wealth, spread out, in comparison to our lands.

If our Prime Minister has signed us (with the Dubai corporate funders), under the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), then people thats 15 years of looting and plundering of our natural sea resources at will, by these Dubai benefactors. True, they will create jobs out from this Tuna Processing Plant but the real question is, how much money coming out from this project, will remain back in our economy and country for distribution purposes especially in light of the next 15 years of operation, at the Tuna Processing Plant, headed by our Dubai friends.

What am I saying here? well what I am seeing here (and trying to say here), is this, I think GNUT is privatizing our sea economy, for a period of 15 years, based on their agreement for the Dubai corporate funders to run the Tuna Processing Plant, before our seas natural resources can even be used, as a Sovereign Wealth, meant to be used for our peoples prosperity and distribution. 

What I think I am seeing here people, is the future reality of our biggest natural resource, our deep blue sea economy, being privatised right before our eyes, before it can even begin to serve its purpose for distribution, as a common sovereign wealth, used for the economical and social safety net growth of our people.

At present the public is yet to access a public copy of the business case, that was presented in Dubai by the Prime Ministers team. I hope he will make it available to the public but for the number of years I have grown and lived as a young man in Solomon Islands, I have seen nothing but a broken connection between growth and general prosperity for our nation, with the rich getter richer and the poor getting poorer, and if there were any forms of growth at all, it is used by former and present governments, as a substitute for distribution.

As a young man I have also heard the same lines repeated over and over again, as well. We will have improved public services. We will have greater economic security and over and over again, Iv also heard the same lines too, that our government cant afford it just yet, we are waiting on the collection of our governments revenue to meet payments, yet our constitution was amended to host a game that flopped economically just recently (only to the benefit of a few), with zero arrests made on ESP spendings, high unemployment rates still soaring up, rising government debts here and there, all our public servants pushed to their limits in terms of their work with high taxes on the SBD dollar and not much of an increase in their pays to make a difference, meanwhile our natural resource extraction activities have drastically accelerated, without any form of taxes being paid back at all, along with new foreign asian companies, entering our country, taking huge tax breaks in the form of Millions on tax exemptions, with a lot of new NGOs presenting themselves as independent bodies, offering dispassionate opinions on public affairs but behaving more like coporate lobbyist, working on behalf of their funders, its ridiculous and pathetic.

I mean, the point im trying to stress here is this, our economical growth compared to each individuals prosperity, has not progressed at all over the last forty years and Im just looking at the Bina Harbour Project and thinking, did the GNUT government just successfully privatised our biggest largest natural resource (our deep blue sea economy) before it even served its purpose as a sovereign wealth intended for our equal distribution and prosperity, for the next 15 years????? Did we just allow a Middle Eastern 'friend' to loot our seas, for the next 15 years, while we watch helplessly, the disenchantment of our political votes, by our economics and by poor governance.

If I can be blunt, it feels like the last forty years, beginning at the time UP party and other political party members who ushered in our Independence,  lost their reign on the government, not excluding, right after the Ulufa'alu government fell, the governments that came after, right up to our current government, have achieved only one thing repetitively overtime and that is the successfull engineering of our constant failure, in the area of economic growth and a lack of sheer political will, to break out from our attachment to our on going dependency syndrome, on Foreign Aid donor support.

I hope that what I am getting alerted to here is not what it looks like and I look forward to the success of the Bina Harbour project. I also hope and wait on the Prime Ministers presentation of the business case presented in Dubai to be made officially public for the people to read.

𝙀𝙣𝙙//