Page 11 - IB May 2018 Edition

Political Brief

Chinese built hospital saga

By Samisoni Pareti

EFFECTIVENESS of Chinese aid hit the headlines in Fiji last
month over reports that sewer leakage in one of the new
hospitals it built 30 kilometres southwest of the capital Suva
had triggered a health crisis.
Residents near the new Navua Hospital say the crisis was
triggered by a fault that saw raw sewerage redirected to dis- The newly built Navua Hospital. Photos: Samisoni Pareti
charge into a creek nearby, which is a key source of bathing
and food for more than 300 villagers in the area.
When a team from this magazine visited the hospital, it
observed liquid waste flowing out of the hospital’s septic tank
onto a concrete drain that discharges into the creek, some 20
metres away.
Beside the septic tank is a house, which is securely locked
that local residents say houses the waste reticulation plant.
The machine has been defective for ages, they say.
Nearby residents say they first noticed sewer in the creek
about a month ago, and alerted hospital officials. They said Built by China, the new hospital has had serious building defects.
Ministry of Health environmental health officers visited the
defective plant last month but did nothing.
In the absence of an official warning, the three villages that
use the creek have warned villagers to stop using the creek
for bathing or fishing.
Questions sent to the Ministry of Health about the health
scare were not answered although Islands Business has es-
tablished that environmental health officers were dispatched
to the hospital after our questions were sent. Health officials
also scrambled to hold public health awareness with villagers
living around the new hospital. – www.islandsbusiness.com River is left empty after hospital sewer was diverted into it.

PNG orders social media review Churchill War Rooms in London on the margins of last month’s
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea - The PNG Government says Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Peters made the
it will pursue ways to take down fake Facebook account users, suggestion of regular discussions with the UK on Pacific issues,
trolls, cyber bullies and porn pushers. Communications, infor- staff secondments and practical development cooperation. One
mation technology and energy minister Samuel Basil directed example of collaboration would come in late 2019, when New
his ICT line agencies to research and advise him on appropriate Zealand was due to open a newly-built high commission in Ho-
course of action to “protect privacy of the many Facebook users” niara, Solomon Islands, on a site shared with the British High
in Papua New Guinea. Commission. - Pacnews
“The brief I require will also include issues of unidentified
Facebook users using false IDs to commit cybercrimes, including UK should aid Pacific post-Brexit
defamation, fake news, pornographic and other illicit materials Canbera, Australia – Foreign Minister Julie Bishop wants
which is behind the SIM card registration,” said Basil. - Pacnews Britain to spend more aid money in the Pacific as the region’s
island nations battle climate change. “My point is that the United
Call for High Court to sit in Tokelau Kingdom, separate from the EU, will have an opportunity,” said
Nuku’nonu, Tokelau - Two sacked senior Tokelauan public Bishop. “The United Kingdom is already talking about expanding
servants say High Court cases should be heard in Tokelau rather its diplomatic footprint in the Pacific.” – Pacnews
than in New Zealand. The duo, Heto Puka and Joe Suveinakama,
were dumped after being blamed for the purchase of two heli- Fallout in Cook Islands Party
copters, which were part of a planned interim air service for the Rarotonga, Cook Islands - The winning party of the last two
atolls. They contended the sackings were unjust and they were general elections in the Cook Islands is heading into the 2018
suing the government in the Tokelau High Court. The court sits polls with some internal fallout and allegations of corruption
in New Zealand but Heto Puka said to ensure justice is served, when it comes to candidate selection. However the Cook Islands
all cases should be heard in the atolls. – Pacnews Party’s vice president Mark Brown who’s been named by Margaret
Matenga as part of the problems forcing her withdrawal from the
UK, NZ to work together Cook Islands Party and going independent for the 2018 general
London, United Kingdom - Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson elections says it’s unlikely the cloud of attention will be a major
and his New Zealand counterpart Winston Peters have plans to problem. Matenga is the daughter of retired longtime Cook Islands
work closely in the Pacific region. Peters and Johnson met in the Party MP Teanua Dan Kamana. – Pacnews

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