Election Deferred to 2023

There has been a flurry of international media and commentary attention on Solomon Islands in recent months. Since the news broke of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s intention to sign a security agreement with the People’s Republic of China, scrutiny of his every move and word has been intense.

There have been two recent developments that have caused yet more scrutiny of the Sogavare government - the government’s intention to delay next year’s federal election and moratorium on some international ships from its ports.

Once again, too much of the reporting and commentary casts these events through the overly narrow lens of geo-strategic competition. The interplay of domestic political dynamics is overlooked or oversimplified, yet it is only by understanding these dynamics that a full picture of what is happening in Solomon Islands can be drawn.

This Blog is about Manasseh Sogavare

Welcome, This blog documents the history of Sogavare and his controversial dealings since entering politics in 1997. Mr. Sogavare is the only prime minister in the history of Solomon Islands to hold the office of Prime Minister in four different terms - 2000, 2006, 2014, and 2019 - to current. In his first three stints, Sogavare was marred by controversies and eventually voted out of office. He became the most revered and feared politicians in Solomon Islands. He was also the first PM to take on Australia after the election of 2006 - kicking out the Australian Higher Commission to SI, and appointed a sex offender as Attorney General of SI in defiance of protestation of the 'Civil Society' and the regional partners.

Sogavare lied to the world

SOGAVARE LIED AT THE UNGA The Prime Minister of SI spoke at the United Nations General Assembly, attacking two important key issues he believes that are hurting his government and SI. First, he went after what he called an effort on 'Social Media' to spread disinformation about his 'China – SI' security pact, which he signed earlier this year. In it, Sogavare claimed that most of the things said about him and his new friends, the Chinese Communist Party, were done deliberately to mislead his country and the world. As a result of that, he said the misleading information led to riots and looting, as we'd seen at the end of 2021. Secondly, Sogavare attacked – indirectly – Australia and its allies such as the US and Britain. Choosing a foreign partner is the right of a sovereign, independent state. He argued that his government's partnership with the Chinese government is solely for the interest of the country, and decried any perception that SI was becoming an a...

Is Sogavare really in control of SI?

If you put water in a glass container and watched for days, you won't see any change to the water, the clarity, depth and its movement. But if you put a hard object inside that water, it changes everything. It changes the stillness of the water, its depth, and coloring if the object is colored. Your conclusion is, the foreign object changed the nature of the water. In this analogy, your conclusion is simply - the foreign object changed everything. Sogavare and China Since China entered SI, everything changed and continues to change. The election dates are deferred, foreign Naval ships are being subjected to new standards, reaction to foreign diplomat changed, views on human rights changed, regional security also changed, and new standard for accepting foreign money also changed. So, the new changes and be summed up this way - they come along because of the Chinese government's presence in SI.

Manasseh Sogavare - the Puppet

Search This Blog