Guadalcanal Province is one of the nine provinces of Solomon Islands, consisting of the island of Guadalcanal. It is a 2,510 square mile (5,336 km2) island and is largely a jungle. Its name was given by Pedro de Ortega Valencia, born in the village of Guadalcanal, Seville, Spain. The national capital and largest city of the Solomon Islands, Honiara, is on the island; in July 1983, it was designated a 22 km2 (8.5 sq mi) separately-administered Capital Territory and is no longer considered part of the province. The population of the province is 93,613 (2009), not including the capital territory. The population of the island (including Honiara) is 161,197 (as of 2021). Honiara serves as the provincial capital.[1][2] The climate is rainforest tropical.[3] The estimated terrain elevation above sea level is 447 meters (1,467 ft).[4]
World War II
The island became the scene of the important Guadalcanal Campaign during World War II. The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the Department of State's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs established an explosive ordnance disposal training program. It safely disposed of hundreds of items of UXO, and it trained police personnel to respond to EOD call-outs in the island's highly populated areas.
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Administrative divisions
Guadalcanal Province is sub-divided into the following wards (population numbers come from the 2009 census):
The Guadalcanal Provincial Assembly is one of the nine provincial assemblies in the Solomon Islands. Guadalcanal received its 'Devolution Order' in 1984 from the Area Council. The 'Devolution Order' gives the provinces some autonomous to administer the province in terms of certain services and also allows the province to create its own ordinances.
Office of the Provincial Assembly
The Guadalcanal Provincial Assembly Office is administered by the Honorable Speaker. The current Honorable Speaker of the 9th Provincial Assembly (2019 - 2023) is Honorable Peter Aoraunisaka. He was a longtime member of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF).
The Provincial Assembly Office also has a Clerk of the Assembly. The current Clerk of Guadalcanal Provincial Assembly (2019 - 2023) is Edward Juvia.
Premiership
The first honorable premier of Guadalcanal Province is David Rosalio, from Savulei Ward. He was elected in 1984 under the Area Council and transitioned as the first Premier from 1985 - 1988.
The current premier of Guadalcanal Province is Francis Sade who entered the office after the 2019 provincial election. Premier Sade is the first Premier of Guadalcanal to hold office for a full term (4 years) since 1985. He entered Office with a huge debt of more than SBD30m. He also faced a lot of challenges during the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Despite these hardships, Premier Sade managed to reform Guadalcanal Provincial Government financially with a strong debt-servicing and revenue collections. The current debt of the provincial government in the 2023 - 2024 FY is believed to be less than SBD 2M. Premier Sade also do some reforms with the human resources and policy reforms.
