BY IRWIN ANGIKI
The United Kingdom will continue to help Solomon Islands’ democratic institutions – parliament and media, UK’s new High Commissioner has said.
One important area is enhancing information flow from parliament to the people of Solomon Islands. This is where media comes in.
The UK is supporting the initiative to better connect parliament with media, a relationship which is projected to help public better access information about its parliament.
A parliament-media workshop on Tuesday has set the pathway towards this.
UK High Commissioner to Solomon Islands His Excellency Paul Turner, opening the workshop reiterated the UK’s willingness to help the country’s democracy through helping its parliament and media.
“We all see the news. We see how democracy is under threat in so many parts of the world today. Popularism, authoritarianism, lies, more lies from both political leaders and social media.
“More than ever, ensuring a healthy, challenging, positive dynamic between the two foundations of our societies – the media and parliament – is crucial.
“A vibrant media is a sign of a healthy society – a society that is at ease with itself, that is able to investigate and report on all kinds of stories, one that can both challenge and reflect on matters in the political arena,” Mr Turner said.
Turner highlighted the importance of parliament officials having a working relations with media for the sake of public better accessing information from their parliament.
“Our job in this workshop is to equip and prepare you as parliamentary officials to be able to flourish in such an environment – to manage the flow of information and sharpen your skills in interacting with the media and ultimately with the public.
“The vision I have for Solomons is – a country where the media can hold its politicians and public institutions to account and where our parliamentarians can hold the government – the Executive – to account.
“Your role is crucial as parliamentarians – enabling the flow of information to the media and public in a clear, timely and professional manner. The workshop will help you in fulfilling those responsibilities,” Turner said.
Themed “Effective media platforms for parliament officials” the workshop brought together officials from various offices within Parliament and journalists/ editors from various media outlets.
The workshop was funded by the United Kingdom’s Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) and BBC Media Action.
This support follows a recent WFD-funded learning trip of three MPs and parliament staff to the UK, which has been dubbed a success.
Testifying to the positive exposure the trip gave them, MP Rick Fuo’o said:
“While I was there, I had to opportunity to be invited to the parliament to witness the questioning of the Prime Minister. What really surprised me is that it was not just the opposition doing the questioning, but the Ministers and Backbenchers of the ruling government were also questioning the prime minister.”
The trip was part of WFD’s partnership with the Solomon Islands parliament which began in 2022 and aimed at “strengthening parliamentary profile, practices and procedures towards enhanced democratic capacity and resilience”.
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