PORT VILA, 17^th June 2025 – The Vanuatu Government fully understands the frustrations people have over the conditions of the roads in the Capital but stresses that it is highly imperative that relevant authorities follow due processes to ensure that the road conditions are fixed to last.

The experience is that most sealing works have not been carried out correctly in the past, costing the country lots of money to continuously patch, only for those patching work to come off during severe weather conditions. The Government, through the Ministry of Infrastructure cannot continue the same approach.

However, as seen from this map (attached), the roads marked (light green) within the CBD are under tender, while the ones marked yellow are being prepared for tendering in July.

The Government is also urging everyone to bear with PWD as they have been undergoing vital training on how to properly carry out sealing works. Under current planning schedule, PWD will be fixing the roads outside of the CBD areas.

The Government also wishes to reiterate that fixing the roads within the town areas cannot be done without first fixing the drainage and key components of a modern road network. Such a task requires proper planning and design.

Additionally, in collaboration with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the rebuilding of Port Vila is currently being discussed through a consultative process – with the public being invited to provide their feedbacks and suggestions on how to improve the town overall look and experience.

Through this participatory approach, the Government hopes to rebuild Port Vila City back better and stronger.

Meanwhile, the Government has ordered more equipment and machinery to help them address the road conditions in and around Port Vila. This is what resilience building is all about.

PORT VILA, 11^th June 2025 – The Opposition leader was clearly trying to pull wool over the eyes of the public in his latest outbursts against the Government’s performance under the 100-days plan.

The Office of the Prime Minister wishes to clarify that the 66% achievement are the overall indicators of how the Government has performed with regards to the 76 policy initiatives covering the entire government and private sector, which it set out to accomplish since February 11.

The figure in and of itself is a remarkable achievement given the limited time it took to achieve the target.

Prime Minister Jotham Napat says the best that the leader could have done was give credit where it was due. In response to his rhetoric that businesses affected after the earthquake were not yet up and running, the Prime Minister said it seemed the Opposition leader had easily forgotten that it was the Government who came forward with funding assistance that cleared the CBD area within weeks – a task meant to be left to the business and property owners to undertake.

“We supported the private sector to demolish the buildings because most of them could not do it.

“The town is still being cleared but I can assure everyone that once rebuilt Port Vila will be totally transformed for the better. Being resilient, as they have always been, most businesses are pretty much back up and operating in and around Port Vila already so it is quite misleading for him to state that the Government has done nothing,” says the Prime Minister.

Currently, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with relevant authorities and agencies are carrying out consultations with members of the pubic and stakeholders on how they would like the new Port Vila to look and feel like going forward.

“This is a highly significant participatory approach to town planning.

“Port Vila City is a town built during the colonial era by the merchants and traders. This is now our opportunity to rebuild our beloved city in a way that reflects our values and aspirations for the future.

“There’s never been a better time. Rather than criticise what the Government has been doing, how about we all work together to rebuild our city,” says the Prime Minister.

With regards to the road conditions, the Government is urging everyone to bear with PWD as they undergo vital training on how to properly do sealing works. Under current planning schedule, PWD will be carrying out sealing works outside of the CBD areas.

In addition, it should be cleared that fixing the roads cannot be done without first fixing the drainage. It requires proper design and planning. That is being done, and with funding support from our partners, we will improve the road conditions within the CBD.

For the other road works around the CBD, our experience is that most sealing works in the past have not been carried out correctly, costing the country lots of money to continuously repeat the same thing. We cannot continue the same approach.

The road maintenance section of the PWD need to be able to master the craft so that more public resources are not wasted.

The Government has also ordered more equipment and machinery which are on their way. Once PWD have them, they will close up all the potholes with better results. This is what resilience building is all about.

On the question of diplomatic passports, the Opposition leader attempted to smear the Government – an obvious political tactic that he seems good at. The public should be made aware that under his tutelage as Minister for Internal Affairs, he signed off on an order that paved the way for practices that have come under scrutiny with people like consulates and Trade Commissioners being granted diplomatic passports, contrary to the Vienna Convention. 

PORT VILA, 9^th June 2025 – The Government has appointed a team of officials tasked with the responsibility of working with the teachers, or their representatives towards signing a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) to end the long drawn out strike currently affecting the country’s school systems and impacting adversely on students’ learning.

The team has a specific term of reference geared towards settling the teachers’ legal claims and ending the 10 months strike so that the teachers could return to class.

In consultation with his Deputy and the Minister for Education, Prime Minister Jotham Napat called a meeting this afternoon with members of the negotiation team to try and better understand the issue at hand and map out a way forward before meeting VTU members.

Based on legal advice the Government will still follow through on its intention to proceed with an appeal to settle the strike’s legality question beyond doubt, but such a course of action will not prevent the negotiating team from reaching out to the teachers for a settlement.

Prime Minister Napat says however that it was clear from the judgement the case had been mishandled from the beginning.

He also says no leader should be using the issue for their own political ends because in some way or other, everyone has a part in the way the issue was allowed to drag on.

PORT VILA, 3^rd June 2025 – Following the decision of the Supreme Court in Case No.24/2752 between the Teaching Service Commission and the Vanuatu Teacher’s Union and its members, the Government has made its intentions known that it will appeal the decision, with the aim of overturning it because of the potential ramifications that the ruling could have on the future of the country’s education system and the overall Government workforce.

The Government, named as Second Defendant in the case, expresses deep dissatisfaction over the outcome, especially at the manner in which the case was handled and presented before the Supreme Court. As a result, it has so far sought advice from a private lawyer to act on its behalf at the Appeal Court level.

It was apparent from the Supreme Court decision that the interests of the Vanuatu Education Sector and of the Government as a whole were not properly covered by way of documents pleaded and evidence presented, resulting in Mr Justice Edwin Goldsbrough noting at paragraph 35 of his decision:

“In some instances, the parties have won or lost through inadequate pleadings…This is less that a court should expect from counsel.”

Both Minister for Education Johnson Simil and Deputy Prime Minister Johnny Koanapo who is also Minister for Finance met today to discuss possible ways forward and have urged all teachers nationwide whose names are not listed in this week’s court judgement to refrain from joining on the VTU bandwagon, saying any such action could have very detrimental effect on their careers.

“Those who have not lodged any claims must remain loyal to their duties and responsibilities. We will not hesitate to take action against anyone found to be in disobedience of our instructions.”

The Ministry of Education is also aware of members of the Union going round in schools trying to persuade teachers who have not been part of the strike to join in the fray.

“We wish to categorically state that we will not treat this lightly because such approaches unsettle both the teachers’ capacity to deliver on their lesson plans, and disrupts student learning.”

The Government remains steadfast in its commitment to settle what the teachers are legally owed and confirms that all claims submitted thus far have been verified as of 31^st of May and payments are being processed.

The total sum already paid out thus far amounts to close to Vt2 billion vatu – a marked contrast to the original figure bandied around 17 and 20 billion Vatu trumped up at the start of the strike.

The Government notes that a large majority of the claims could not be assessed due to lack of proper justification and/or documentation during the verification process.

“We wish to reiterate that the Government can only follow what was approved as the proper payment plan and endorsed by the Council of Ministers,” says the two Ministers.

Meanwhile, the claims left to be processed fall under four main categories. These are Death in Service, Principals and Deputy Principals allowances, Zone Curriculum Advisers Allowances and Partial Severance – the latter to be paid provided there is available budget.