By Peter Wagner

HONOLULU (Pacific Islands Report, Feb. 25, 2011) – In the Solomon Islands, Mark Kemakeza, younger brother of former Prime Minister Allan Kemakeza, is on trial for theft public funds. The news this week is the court’s decision to adjourn the case while Kemakeza, Minister of Mines, attended a cabinet meeting.

Brother Allan, who presided over a dysfunctional government before the Australian-led peacekeeping force known as RAMSI - Regional Assistance Mission Solomon Islands – waded ashore on Guadalcanal in 2003 to restore law and order, was elected to a seat in Parliament in 2008 while serving a prison sentence for bribery, intimidation and larceny.

The elder Kemakeza last year was among lawmakers reluctant to return a pickup truck provided by the government for business transportation at the end of his term. The vehicle was found at his residence, up on cement blocks without wheels, hood open, and various critical parts gone. So was the former policeman and longtime political leader.

Meanwhile, in nearby Papua New Guinea, the Right Honorable Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, the country’s prime minister, is facing a tribunal to be conducted by a panel of international jurists for failing to report his earnings as leader of the nation for more than ten years. A public prosecutor who took his job too seriously was removed last week for pursuing the tribunal, a move condemned by opposition lawmakers in the PNG parliament.

Like father like son, Somare’s son Arthur, a cabinet minister, is facing tribunal on similar charges.

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