Solomon Islands Soccer Disqualification has Lessons for its General Election

■ See also my next posting pn345 on the election results.
This anonymous article by a Solomon Islander is very critical of the way its governments have performed, pointing to many instances of likely corruption, foreign influence and damage to the environment, all  to the detriment of ordinary Solomon Islanders.  The election results (pn345) with its indicate the difficulties of applying a Westminster style of elections READ ALSO the election results. 

pn329

■ Lessons from the Disqualification

Two months ago Solomon Islands was rocked by the news that our only team to enter the World Cup finals – the 2018 U17 team – was disqualified because of one over-age player on the squad.

This is not about pointing the finger. This is about turning our disappointment into a lesson for us in wider things about Solomon Islands. It is important as we go into the coming polls on Wednesday. The disqualification of our U17 squad was just the tip of the iceberg of Solomon Islands failure.  The iceberg of failure is much bigger than soccer, and it can still sink our country in many ways beyond soccer.

Not one but probably dozens of people were complicit in the failure to prevent Satu from playing for the team. Complicit therefore in the disqualification of the national U17 team from the World Cup. And complicit in dashing the hopes of Solomon Islanders everywhere.  These dozens of people were all part of a series of organisations both formal and informal: his family, his extended family, his team(s), his coaches and managers, the national squad organisation, the SIFF...

Not enough of these organisations and the various leaders in them were a) aware of the importance of a verified age b) cared to ensure that he was of verified age, or c) felt able to raise any concern that he might not be of verified age. These can summarised as failures of a) COMPETENCE b) CARE c) COURAGE.

COMPETENCE is knowing the right thing to be done.

CARE is having enough concern about the right thing to do the work to ensure that it is being done.

COURAGE is having the conviction to make sure that the competence and care are followed through into action to make sure that the "right thing" is accomplished, not merely announced, not merely planned.

Everyone associated with the u17 team has somehow failed on at least one of the 3 counts. And this is a small example of how our country is failing.  

 Unless there is ALL THREE  of these in place - COMPETENCE, CARE and COURAGE, we will continue to fail - In soccer, in sports, in politics, in governance, in national life.

■ Lessons for the General Election

This iceberg:

It is the tip of the iceberg of inCOMPETENCE, unCARINGNESS, and Cowardice instead of COURAGE.

• has let hundreds of ghost teachers continue taking pay for years,
• has let millions of dollars of public salaried time be stolen by absent or late public officers,
• has let hundreds of cars to be hired unnecessarily by ministries and government officers for millions of dollars every year,
• has let Rennell be dug up and sold off for zero export duty and for its reefs be poisoned from oil by a negligent company,
•  has let No.9 run out of bandages, painkillers and even light,
• has let thousands of foreigners work in logging instead of Solomon Islanders,
• has enriched a small number of foreign businessmen and their cronies while kids now beg in Honiara,
• has let Provinces play with finances and provincial land like they are personal property of Premiers and executives,
• has let millions annually in remissions to companies that rape our country,
• has let millions in RCDF get spent without basic financial reporting or audits,
• has allowed 3 casinos to operate in Honiara instead of the 2 allowed by the law,
• has let hundreds of millions of dollars of government surplus disappear from 2015-2017,
• has let multiple public servants become millionaires overnight,
• has let Honiara's beachfront and seabed be stolen, illegally registered and sold off
• has let Landowners’ share in Gold Ridge Ltd disappear without trace,
• has let FTE titles in Honiara be corruptly transferred by some officers in the Ministry of Lands either to themselves, to cronies, local businessmen and to wakus,
• has caused the word “scholarship” to  come to mean “corruption” instead of excellence.

This iceberg has made sure that crazy, impossible dreams are treated as if they are guaranteed by tomorrow morning, and has made people think of national development plans the same way they think of the Diana Charity Fund.

This is something we all need to keep in mind for the national general election,  and for the government formation afterwards. We need ALL THREE of COMPETENCE, CARE and COURAGE.

COMPETENCE without CARE or COURAGE means we will have a government that is clever and capable but does not do the right thing.  We have plenty of experience of governments like that. 

On the other hand, CARE and COURAGE but without COMPETENCE means having the best intentions and going through motions with a team of dedicated people but not understanding what to do in the first place. Many can be seen in this space: dreaming of reaching the moon without even knowing which way to aim.

COMPETENCE and COURAGE without CARE means having the right plans and the conviction to do things, but still not having the ability or the team to do the work to make sure that things are ready to be pushed to happen.

Let's all make sure that the three C's are in place when the parliament is formed on Wednesday and when the government is formed during the following weeks in April.

COURAGE. Let's avoid electing the con-men, those with a questionable history and known thieves on 3 April. Avoid the worst of the worst when forming the government. The worst of the worst may be old faces, or new ones.  By doing this we will ensure there is real conviction and courage in the government. 

Even more importantly, by weeding out the worst of the worst, we are practicing COURAGE, because this process of weeding will cause a lot of attacks and backstabbing. This is normal and should not be a discouragement.

CARE. Let's make sure that there is care in the new administration. This means the right teams of people in place to turn plans into useful action. The teams to be able to take care to ensure implementation, not just have a big announcement and then go back to business as usual.

CARE means planning realistically, in full knowledge of what can be achieved, and making choices in good time so that promises can be fulfilled.

COMPETENCE. Finally, work to ensure that there is a base level of competence, of right knowledge and genuine experience available to the new government. This means using people that are credible, that have shown results, that will honestly tell leaders and implementers what is important, what is possible and most importantly, WHAT IS IMPOSSIBLE.

It is impossible to run a youth soccer team to the World Cup without strict verified age information. Someone should have realised this along the way. We all failed when we thought otherwise, or didn't think about it at all. 

FIFA has done us a favour by showing us how wrong we are, and how used we are to getting things wrong.

This soccer failure is the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more we have to lose as a country if we don't recognise the rest of the iceberg and learn to do things differently.

SO

Anonymous

1 Apr 2019