Solomon Islands police play double standards

Dare I say this - but over the past couple of years, the SI police force have been in the local media on regular basis about their many operations to capture the two Guadalcanal fugitive inmates, who had escaped from Rove jail few years ago. Interestingly, many resources have been dedicated to the re-capturing of these two criminals. The latest about this case happened last week.

But no one in the Solomon Islands Police Force and the government, including the Solomon Islands mainstream media, seems to mention Edmond Sae, a Malaitan criminal fugitive, who had short dead the country's former first Commissioner of Police, late Fred Soaki, over ten years ago. 

Following the killing and through the help of several senior SI police officers, Sae fled and since then living amongst his village people in North Malaita. The RAMSI initially conducted a number of operations to capture him, but failed because of the lack of support from villagers of North Malaita, who were stonewalling from cooperating with the police. 

Instead, those operations were politicized by the Malaitan provincial government and several MPs.

Waswe, police frait fo kasholem Sae becos oketa frait for go lo Malaita?

These three criminal fugivtives are no different of each other, but it appears that the SI police have invested a lot of resources, time and energy, to capture the two Guadalcanal fugitives, while the Malaitan fugitive is left to enjoy his freedom with his people. 

This latest chapter of the Solomon Islands Police Force (SIPF) appears to legitimate a long standing suspicion by the public of the neutrality of the police to deal with criminals in the country. It also reminds me of the case of late Kalisto, a prison fugitive from East Kwaio, Malaita, who had escaped Rove prison in 1987 and fled to Malaita. 

The country's police were too intimidated to go and hunt him down in the mountains of East Kwaio, Malaita Province until some SDA church missionaries from Atoifi SDA Hospital in the region, went up the mountains and found him amongst his tribal people.

The missionaries held Bible studies with him until they eventually converted and baptized him with his wife and children to the Adventist faith in 1997. The conversion of Kalisto to the SDA faith was also communicated to the Malaita Provincial-based police headquarters in Auki. 

But the police allowed him to live in freedom, while looking after a small health outpost in the mountain region of East  Kwaio. But his freedom and life ended when he was lured to Honiara to join the Malaita Eagle Force (MEF) in an unsuccessful mission to capture the former Guadalcanal militants leader, Harold Keke.

To cut the story short, in 2001, Kalisto went with a group of Kwaio men of the MEF armed militia, who were allegedly sent by the then Prime Minister and current Speaker of Parliament, Allan Kemakeza, with the full knowledge of the then MP of Parliament for East Kwaio, Alfred Sasako, to capture the then Guale militants leader, Harold Keke. 

The trip was motivated by a huge bounty on Keke's head if he was to capture alive and handover to the SI government. Kalisto was killed, along side ten of his armed militia men, in that trip by the very person, whom they were intended of capturing, Harold Keke. Now the rest is history, but our police force and the current SI government are dishonest and living in constant denial of dealing with criminals in the country.

The point here is where is justice to the family of the late Fred Soaki in this whole story of the SI police ongoing operations on Weather Coast, South Guadalcanal, to capture the Guale criminals, while their counter part is enjoying his life in North Malaita? 

Solomon Islands cannot solve its problems if we have two sets of rules for criminals and our people. Every criminal should be treated the same under the rule of law, regardless of their ethnicity.