Commentary

What is worse? Turning government planning and implementation over to consultants who drop in for a few weeks at a time, putting it in the hands of people without the tools or inclination to do it, or engaging competent locally based people to provide advice and then ignoring it?

South Pacific states need to heed the words of Fiji’s Prime Minister, for it will help shift the thinking from others determining our future to self-determination. Kalafi Moala writes that maybe there is a lesson or two to be learnt from Fiji when it comes to home grown solutions.

Remote islands in the Pacific are littered with the detritus of renewable energy projects gone wrong. People need to look beyond the ribbon cutting after installation to the details of operations and maintenance to know if these substantial aid projects will still be providing benefits one or more years down the track.

His Majesty’s Armed Forces has replaced Tonga Defence Services as the new name for the armed forces of Tonga. But what’s in a name? Why is this change of name to Tonga’s armed forces so significant? Kalafi Moana argues that changing the military’s name signals a step back from the democratisation process.

Changes to the Ok Tedi Mining Agreement by the Papua New Guinea parliament last week officially transferred full ownership of the copper-gold mine to the PNG government. But political wrangling over vested interests has hindered open discussion of the Ok Tedi takeover.

A debate over United States donor aid to the Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia is intensifying as island leaders chafe at controls being exerted by the United States government. Giff Johnson argues that sovereignty would be best expressed by action on MDGs, not rhetoric