Bodo Dettke

Heinz Horst Bodo Dettke, better known as Bodo Dettke, born 27 February 1967,[3] is a Solomon Islands politician.

The Right Honourable

Heinz Horst Bodo Dettke

MP
Minister of Fisheries & Marine Resources
In office
8 December 2010 – 21 January 2011
Prime MinisterDanny Philip
Preceded byJimmy Lusibaea
Succeeded byBraddley Tovosia[1]
Minister of Forestry
In office
26 August 2010 – 30 November 2010
Prime MinisterDanny Philip
Succeeded byDouglas Ete
Member of Parliament
for North West Guadalcanal
Assumed office
4 August 2010
Preceded bySiriako Usa
Personal details
Born (1967-02-27) 27 February 1967
Political partyIndependent[2]

His political career began when he was elected to Parliament as MP for North West Guadalcanal in the August 2010 general election. He was appointed Ministry for Forestry in Prime Minister Danny Philip's Cabinet.[3] On 30 November, however, he was sacked over allegations of misconduct; Dettke had ordered the seizure of a ship's cargo of round logs for allegedly "personal reasons", linked to his own ownership of a logging company. On the same day, Fisheries Minister Jimmy Lusibaea lost his position in Cabinet upon losing his parliamentary seat due to being sentenced to two years and nine months in gaol for assault and grievous bodily harm. The loss of both ministers brought the Philip government's parliamentary support down to twenty-four MPs, just one ahead of Steve Abana's opposition.[4] The Kolombangara Island Biodiversity Conservation Association (KIBCA) welcomed the sacking, noting that Dettke's logging company, Success Company, had attempted to carry out logging on protected land on Kolombangara island, before KIBCA successfully obtained a court injunction to prevent a violation of environmental laws.[5] For his part, Dettke suggested "Malaysian loggers in the Solomons Forest Association (SFA) [had] pressured [Philip] to sack him as he was a threat to them in the logging industry".[6]

A few days later, however, Dettke was reinstated in Cabinet, and accepted the Ministry of Fisheries left vacant by Lusibaea.[6]

In January 2011, Dettke was one of several government ministers to resign and join the Opposition, expressing hopes of forcing Prime Minister Philip to resign.[7][8]

A few days after joining the opposition, he claimed to have been shot at in Honiara, at night, along with Douglas Ete (a fellow MP who had also left the government) and said he had been "targeted for having left the government". The police investigated the incident, but claimed Ete and Dettke had not been present at the scene of the shooting, and had therefore not been shot at.[9][10][11] The police then released a media statement describing Dettke and Ete's claim as "incorrect and misleading".[12]

Notes and references
  1. Tovosia was appointed on 21 November 2011. The position remained vacant between January and November.
  2. 2010 election data Archived 20 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation
  3. Official biography on the website of the Solomon Islands Parliament
  4. "Solomon Islands govt sacks minister", Sydney Morning Herald, 1 December 2010
  5. "Bodo sacking welcome" Archived 5 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Solomon Star, 2 December 2010
  6. "Bodo picks up fisheries" Archived 11 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Solomon Star, 9 December 2010
  7. "Politics game turns dirty" Archived 16 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Solomon Star, 26 January 2011
  8. "Bodo to PM: Step down" Archived 31 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Solomon Star, 28 January 2011
  9. "Solomons MPs claim gun attacks", Sydney Morning Herald, 1 February 2011
  10. "Police probe shooting incident" Archived 16 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Solomon Star, 1 February 2011
  11. "Solomons police investigate firearms incident but deny MPs were at scene". Radio New Zealand International. 1 February 2011. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  12. "Solomon MPs 'misleading' over shooting say police" Archived 17 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Radio Australia, 3 February 2011


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