gane simbe : the role coins play in the solomon islands ’ payment system speech by mr gane simbe, deputy governor of the central bank of solomon islands, at the launching of the solomon islands new coins, honiara, 4 july 2012. * * * [ i have a message for you in my speech this afternoon. and the message is this : “ coins are important for proper pricing of your goods and services and therefore you must actively use the coins in your daily transactions and not to store coins away in wooden boxes! using coins as medium of exchange will bring much benefit to you and help our economy grow ”. ] the honourable prime minister mr lilo ; members of diplomatic corps who are present with us this afternoon, ceo of royal australian mint, mr macdiarmid, distinguish guests, the good people of solomon islands now listening, ladies and gentlemen. good afternoon to you all and thanking for being part of our celebration this afternoon. first let me on behalf of the board of directors of the central bank of solomon islands and the governor, thank the honourable prime minister who has allocated his time from his busy schedules to come and officially launch the new coins, as the legal tender coins for our vibrant country, the solomon islands. and i am pleased that our prime minister is given this honour to launch the new coins, because the decision that solomon islands should have its own currency as one of the key symbols of an independent state of solomon islands, was a major political decision made by our political leaders in early 1970s ( the alternative was whether to continue use the australian dollar as the currency for the independent state of solomon islands ). looking back at the historical journey of our country, the decision to issue our own currency in my personal opinion was a correct decision. our currency remains a symbol for our independent state and having our own currency has contributed to the management of our economy, especially in terms of balance of payment management in times of economic stresses. these new coins i am sure will continue to play their roles in the daily trading activities in solomon islands for many years ahead of us, so long as we choose to continue to live the dreams of our pioneering political leaders to have one country, one people, one nation, one national budget and one currency to symbolize our independence. secondly, i thank the ceo of the royal australian mint, mr macdiarmid for his kind words. as the chairman of the currency steering committee, i appreciate the relationship that we have developed with royal australian

. we generate a lot of money from our economic activities and our development partners provide a lot of assistance to our country. in fact, solomon islands is one of the high “ aid per capita ” countries in the world. so our problem is not because we don ’ t have money. it is because we have mismanaged our money and corruption is a very big part of that mismanagement. and corruption is rife in our country because our leaders, we the people of this country have lost or forgotten that important value of fearing god. a god - fearing leader will not accept that “ yellow envelope ” pushed under the table. a godfearing businessman will not pay that extra $ 1000 to the tender board member to secure that “ road maintenance ” project. a god - fearing politician will put that wharf where it makes economic sense to have a wharf and not where his supporters live. a god - fearing school principal will not ask for $ 500 from me to transfer my child to his school. so we can see that corruption is indeed a cancer slowly eating away at the core of our country. but that ’ s not what our creator wants our country to be. we are meant to be a healthy, wealthy country, not a sick and corrupted one. we are called solomon islands, after one of the wisest kings that ever lived for a reason. and i believe that solomon islanders are wise people. but why are we allowing this to happen to our beloved country? how do we get our country out of this situation? i believe we need to re - dedicate and re - commit our country to fear god in everything we do. we all need to re - dedicate ourselves to fight corruption in our country. and you graduating students of su ’ u school who already fear god and will soon go out into the world and climb your new mountains, i encourage you to hold on strongly to your christian values and the fear of god. your christian values and the fear of god will enable you to deal with whatever challenges you will face wherever you may be. your parents, guardians and teachers have played their part in helping you reach this stage, the top of your “ secondary school mountain ”. your parents / guardians have invested in your education by paying your school fees and provided for your needs when at school. your teachers have also played their part in teaching you and imparting their skills and knowledge to you here at su ’ u school. this is all they can do and have done for