(Ricky Binihi, Port Vila, Vanuatu Daily Post)
Ni-Vanuatu members of the Vanuatu Police Force serving with the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) are not treated as equals by the Australians and New Zealanders.
“Australians and New Zealanders get $150 a day while ni-Vanuatu and other Pacific Islanders get $70 a day but we do the same work,” according to a confidential report that was leaked to the media.
Vanuatu members of RAMSI speak Bislama which is understood by Solomon Islanders and are familiar with the cultures of their Melanesian wantoks but no ni-Vanuatu or any other Pacific Islander hold an executive position in RAMSI.
“Even though (Pacific Island) members are very experienced officers within their police force in their respective island countries they are not given that opportunity to exercise in this mission as all positions are taken up by either Australians or New Zealanders although some of them serve only one or two years in their respective police forces,” the report said.
Vanuatu and 11 other Pacific island countries have been serving with RAMSI since its inception in 2003 but it would seem that although the organisation borrows the word “regional” it is in fact one that is solely controlled by Australians and New Zealanders.
The disturbing report which the Daily Post has a copy also said that Pacific Islanders serving in the mission have “very little knowledge of day to day development” within the Participating Police Force because no islander is part of the decision making body of PPF.
“The Pacific Islanders experience and ranks are not recognized in this mission,” the report said.
If the allegations made by a commander of a Vanuatu contingent that served 357 days in the Solomon Islands are true then the Vanuatu government needs to reconsider its association with RAMSI.
The Republic of Vanuatu should not allow its citizens to be ridiculed by an organisation that is headed by Australians and New Zealanders that look down on them.
