BY ALEX DADAMU
WHENEVER a case of COVID-19 is discovered on a vessel, that vessel is immediately put under quarantine by the Comptroller of Customs. No one is allowed to go onboard the vessel and no one from the vessel is allowed to disembark.
“Only authorized health officials are allowed to board the vessel for the expressed purpose of swabbing all the crews of the vessel to monitor the progress of infection among those infected and to check the status of the other crew members of the vessel,” Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare reiterated in his nationwide address on Tuesday in light of reports stating that there are illegal activities occurring in some foreign vessels while they are at anchor in Honiara ports. These activities involve sex workers accessing some of these vessels illegally.
“I must make it clear that even during normal times, no one is allowed to board any foreign vessel anchored in our ports.
“Now, with the risk and threat of COVID-19, it is a serious offense for anyone to board any vessel without approval.
“I ask all individuals including sex workers who sometimes go to foreign vessels under the cover of darkness, to please stop such activities because you risk contracting COVID-19 and risk bringing COVID-19 into the country,” Prime Minister Sogavare urged.
He asks members of the public to be vigilant and report any suspicious activities around foreign vessels in the ports and to immediately report these observations to the Police at the time you see them so that they can be investigated in real-time.
“I have instructed the OSC to step up surveillance and to ensure we do more awareness about the risks of these illegal activities that threaten the security of our country.
“I am putting all ships’ masters and crews, shipping agents, ship owners and operators of all foreign vessels on notice that if any person boards any of the foreign vessels in our ports illegally, be they cargo vessels, tankers, logging vessels, fishing vessels, landing crafts, tug boats or barges, the ship’s master and crews, their agents, the ship owners or operators will face punitive consequences.
“If it is discovered that COVID-19 had spread to the country because of an illegal activity such as entertaining sex-worker activity on any foreign vessel while it is at the port, the master and crew of the vessel will be prosecuted, and the vessel may be seized and forfeited by the State,” Prime Minister Sogavare warned.
Prime Minister Sogavare further warned that any citizen that illegally boards a foreign vessel when it is at Honiara ports, and any person that assists in such action commits a serious offense, they will be punished under the laws of the country.
“COVID-19 is a threat to each person in our country. Each person must therefore do our bit to fight it. This includes sex workers not exposing themselves, their families, and their country to the risk of COVID-19.
“To win the war against COVID-19, we must work together, and fight it together. The government cannot fight this war alone,” Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said.
