PKJ: Fundamental rights of Solomon Islanders should not be suspended for the sake of practice drills

The Member of parliament for East Are Are, Hon. Peter Kenilorea Jr., is concerned about the threats to civil liberties of ordinary Honiara residents and has cautioned the government to continue to uphold the fundamental rights of citizens guaranteed by the constitution, particularly during mock lockdowns.

He stated that, ‘he is concerned about the right to freedom of movement of Honiara citizens during the mock lockdown set for early next week’. He added that, ‘there is currently no community transmission in Honiara or the country and cautions the government not be tempted to curb these rights in what are essentially an imaginary scenarios’.

Fundamental rights, including the freedom of movement, as a matter of policy, should not be tampered with, especially for the purposes of a practice run. The government, as the duty bearer, should be duty bound to protect these rights belonging to the citizens, including during a global pandemic.

Kenilorea is even more concerned about the penalties that would be imposed should the orders for the mock lockdown were to be breached. He stated that, ‘the imposition of penalties for breach of what is only an imaginary scenario is, in my humble opinion, a step too far’.

The MP for East Are Are also raised concerns about the unbalanced focus of the intention to conduct the mock lockdown stating that, ‘the focus is clearly on the authorities’ response and preparedness only and not on systems and mechanisms that would all apply to the general populace if a real lockdown was ordered’.

‘What mechanisms or systems are in place for people to acquire food and other basic necessities during an actual lockdown? These should be also be made clear and practiced by the public during the mock lockdown’.

Kenilorea is aware that during the previous lockdown a number of businesses were given exemptions to sell food items around Honiara. ‘We need to know the findings of these practices during the previous lockdown and perhaps allow more businesses to be involved knowing that food and basic necessities will drive people to breach any orders during a real lockdown’.

‘I am fully aware that a lockdown is the ultimate social distancing measure to mitigate community transmission of Covid if it gets to our shore, but suspending fundamental rights and penalizing citizens for breaches during an imaginary scenario as is the case with a mock lockdown should be avoided as a matter of policy’.

Kenilorea also queried the impact the mock lockdown could have on the government key policy of vaccination against Covid 19. He queried, ‘Will vaccination continue during the mock lockdown? Vaccination has been heavily promoted by the government with ultimatums already made to public servants. So it would be confusing to stop vaccination during an imaginary lockdown’.

Hon. Kenilorea has been consistent in his calls to ensure that the fundamental rights of citizens are upheld as much a possible even as the nation is addressing the global pandemic which originated from China.