TRADITIONAL GOVERNANCE BILL NOT INCLUSIVE

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BY GEORGINA KEKEA

MEMBER of Parliament (MP) for Central Guadalcanal in Solomon Islands, Peter Shanel says the Traditional Governance Bill does not include women.

Shanel joins other sectoral groups in the community by saying that the traditional governance bill is not fair and only represents one specific grouping in the community.

He said though he agreed with the Bill to give powers to chiefs in the communities, the role of chiefs are only played by men. He said while the Bill aims to give powers to the chiefs, it fails to include women.

“The need is for a woman to be a part of the house of chiefs. It will break the traditional norms that we have. In this time and age, active participation of women in the community and in the tribe is very important”.

MP for Central Guadalcanal, Peter Shanel
 Shanel said there should be a space for women in this Traditional Governance Bill especially the roles and responsibilities of women and the powers they have in decision making.

Earlier Non-Government Organization (NGO) Transparency Solomon Islands (TSI) has called the Traditional Governance Bill ill-informed and unfair because it target specific groups of people only. TSI also says the Traditional Governance Bill excludes women, elders of the communities who are not chiefs, youths and all members of the community.

Also disagreeing with the bill was the Lauru Land Conference of Tribal Communities. The Chiefs from Choiseul are very concerned about the tabling of the Traditional Governance Bill. They say consultations had not been thorough since they were not consulted in this Bill though they represent the mass majority of chiefs from Choiseul province. 

Shanel says he will also bring to light these points when the Bill is brought to parliament for debate. The MP was making this call during his dialogue with the women from Guadalcanal.

ENDS///

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