Dare I say this - but over the past couple of years, the SI police force have been in the local media on regular basis about their many attempts (operations) to capture the two Guadalcanal fugitive inmates, who had escaped from Rove jail few years ago. Interestingly, many resources have been dedicated to the re-capturing of these two criminals. But no one seems, including the Solomon Islands mainstream media, to mention Augustine Sae, a Malaitan criminal fugitive, who had short dead the country's former first Commissioner of Police, late Fred Soaki. Following the killing, Sae fled and since then living amongst his village people in North Malaita. The RAMSI initially conducted an operation to capture him, but failed because of the lack of support from the people and villagers, who were stonewalling from cooperating with the police. Waswe, police frait fo kasholem hem becos oketa frait for go lo Malaita? These three criminal fugivtives are no different, but it appears that the SI police have invested a lot of resources, time and energy, to capture the Guale fugitives, while the Malaitan fugitive is left to enjoy his freedom with his people. This case reminds me of the case of the late Kalisto, a prison fugitive from Kwaio, Malaita, who escaped Rove prison in 1987 and fled to Malaita. The SI police were too intimidated to go and hunt him down in the mountains of Kwaio, until some SDA church missionaries from Atoifi SDA Hospital in the region, went up the mountains and converted him to the Adventist faith in 1997. He was left to continue enjoying his freedom until he had joined the Malaita Eagle Force (MEF). In 2001, he went with a group of Kwaio men of MEF armed militia, who were sent on a secret mission by the government and the then MP for parliament for Kwaio, Alfred Sasako, to capture the Guale militants leader and now jailed inmate, Harold Keke. There was a huge bounty on Keke's head if he was captured alive and handed over to the SI government. Kalisto was killed, along side ten of his colleagues, in that trip by the very person, whom they were intended of capturing. The point here is where is justice to the family of the late Fred Soaki in this whole story of capturing the Guale criminals, while their counter part is enjoying his life? Solomon Islands cannot solve its problems if we have two sets of rules for criminals. Every criminal should be treated the same under the rule of law.
