By Loretta B Manele

Political considerations, as you know is on emotions and sometimes it’s hard for people to break it down when you think about numbers, calculations because all we want is to push our political agenda.

Peter Kenilorea Junior, leader of the Independent Group expressed this when he contributed to the debate on the Constitution Amendment, Constituent Assembly Sitting Bill 2024 in parliament yesterday.

He said this happens around the world and everywhere around the world it is the same.

Kenilorea Jr also shared a story depicting the above sentiment.

“We know the political sensitivities around this discussion. As you know full well, the first government collapsed because of the discussions around provincial government.

The first ever government during independence or after independence, the first Kenilorea government collapsed because of discussions around provincial government”

Kenilorea Jr stressed that this was because of discussions on how to carry out things and about different ideas around doing things back then.

“They were saying that the then Prime Minister was moving too slowly in trying to consider what the options were while some wanted to go faster”

Moreover, referring to the current debate on the bill, he voiced that he really appreciates how they have been discussing the bill.

“These are very political sensitive issues. That brings back to the point, that I really appreciate how we have been discussing this here”

Kenilorea Jr added that this is very important because it can really become very emotional for many of them especially when it’s political.

“I just want to register my appreciation in terms of how discussions have been held here. I think that’s a sign of us 50 MPs in the 12th Parliament that we love our nation.

I think whatever we want to do, we don’t want to fragment further. We don’t want to disintegrate the modern nation of Solomon Islands”

Kenilorea Jr said he says “modern” because we are nations within a nation in the sense that Solomon Islands is made up of diverse language groups, customs and governance structures of which are traditionally already set in place.

He mentioned that while some of these aspects are whittled away, some are still stronger than others and at the end of the day it’s important because it is our identity.

Kenilorea Jr said he thinks discussion around the bill is important hence they must continue to remain civil and continue to be rational in terms of what it is they want.

“We want the best for the whole collective Solomon Islands, the modern state of Solomon Islands, which is much younger than the many nations that already live within Solomon Islands prior to our independence, prior to us taking that name Solomon Islands even”