Wantok Fridays - A week in the life of a Solomon Islands Lawyer: MV Independence, Louna Girl, and a Whole Lot of High Notes!!

This week was packed with phone calls, appointments, follow ups and some slow Honiara catch up vibes.

Rewinding it back to Sunday, 7th July, the Solomon Islands celebrated 46 years of Independence. The official program graced the nation’s national stadium at the eastern part of Honiara, flanked by King George the Sixth School, the University of the South Pacific Solomon Islands campus, and the Solomon Islands National University Panatina Campus.

Monday 8th July was a Public Holiday, where the celebration continued with an open concert and cultural dance performances hosted at the Honiara City Youth Hub. My highlight of the festivity was ‘Louna Girl’, a classic by the Ngulavi Ridge Sisters string band from Solomon Islands featured as an encore-like cover performance by Flight Mode Acoustic and POV Band. It seems Louna Girl is still cruising with MV Independence (an inter-island vessel) since 1978 and now we are in 2024. By measure of local feedback, it is indeed squeezing the necks of the giant hit ‘Wakabaoti long Saenataoni’ and every other classic Solomon Islands string band melody.

Tuesday means back to business and law (pretty slow though). If you’ve been working in the Solomon Islands, you know where to catch up with the right people to get the work done. If you don’t know, you can contact our Office and we can help you get your needs sorted.

The big news throughout the week was the Prime Minister’s election Court decision. MP for Aoke and Langalanga, Mathew Wale, challenged the election of the Prime Minister as invalid. However, the separation of powers is clear under the Constitution, and the Judiciary doesn’t have any power to hear disputes arising out of schedule 2 of the Constitution. This means the Governor General’s decision regarding the questions raised by Mathew Wale on the floor of Parliament on May 2, 2024 is final and conclusive, and shall not be questioned in any proceeding whatsoever. However, there are components of the High Court’s judgment that may be brought further to the Appellate jurisdiction for review. Primo Afeau Legal Services act for the Governor General on this matter, and Suri’s Law Practice represent the MP Mathew Wale.

Some other big news was the visit by the Minister of State Katja Keul, to Solomon Islands – a first ever visit by a representative of the German government. Details of the visit are still lowkey at the moment (keep an eye on our LinkedIn for a follow up article on this).

To close off the festivities from last weekend and to shrug away the busy week, we have news confirmed that six contestants are set to compete in the upcoming Miss Solomon Islands Pageant next month. Our Office is rooting for Miss Tourism as a moral support because she’s also a lawyer by profession too. Miss Tourism, Kerrie Faradatolo works in the Attorney General’s Chambers, Legal Drafting Division.

Finally, England’s semi-final win against the Netherlands in the Euro 2024 just opened new doors for celebration this weekend, and we look forward for football to finally go home to England – London my life!