By Loretta B Manele
It is only proper that as the current minister for the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) I make some clarifications on the hotly debated Dodo Creek issue for clarity of the general public.
Member of parliament for East Makira constituency, and minister for MAL, Franklyn Wasi stressed this when he contributed to the Sine Die Motion a week ago.
Initially, he said the Dodo Creek research station was sold before he became a Member of Parliament and minister for the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock.
Wasi explained that back then, MAL executive management decided not to venture into the land because of occupation by people claiming to be the original and customary landowners of the land.
He said these people also buried their loved ones and constructed permanent homes on the land.
Wasi mentioned that henceforth, it would take many years and resource from the ministry to evict occupants from the land.
“Even if the occupants were evicted from the land, it does not prevent them from appealing to high court for legal redress which will further drag the development of Dodo Creek land”
Wasi said given the limited financial resources and urgent need to re-establish a new research centre, the ministry did not submit an interest to bid for the Dodo Creek land.
He added that with reasons such as cost of eviction, rehabilitation, legal fees and prolonged legal battle with landowners, MAL chose not to take that path.
In relation, Wasi said when the commission of lands sent out a request through the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (OPMC) for line ministries to submit their interest to bid for the land, there was totally zero interest from line ministries including MAL.
He expressed that MAL still maintains the decision of the past MAL executive not to bid for the Dodo Creek land due to anticipated legal and relocation issues.
Wasi pointed out that even during the peak operations of the Dodo Creek research station, there was hardly any research field work conducted at the site.
“The research field work was conducted at the Tenaru field experiment station”
Wasi stated that no research work was carried out at the much talked about Dodo Creek research station and it only housed the research headquarter, office, laboratories and staff residences.
“So, the Dodo Creek land we have been talking about which the public has also commented about and complained about; no research work was done on that land”
Wasi furthered that MAL does not want to further engage with Dodo Creek land because they have similar experiences with many of their field experiment stations and agriculture training centres in the provinces.
