Transcript
The first point to note came from the last special coordinator of RAMSI Quinton Devlin who acknowledged that RAMSI's partnership with Solomon Islands was not perfect.
"There were hiccups and no doubt there were missed opportunities and it took some time for RAMSI to learn how to deal with Solomon Islands and vice-versa. But overall I would argue that RAMSI has helped Solomon Islands to build strong institutional foundations from which it can continue to tackle its development challenges and to write its own history."
This success, according to the director of political governance and security at the Pacific Islands Forum, Sione Tekiteki, was not just a victory for Solomon Islands but for the region as a whole.
"We are a region where the concept of helping friends is the core to existence. It tugs at our communal heart-strings and our sense of belonging when the need arises. At the heart of RAMSI is about people and we again acknowledge and thank the resilience of people of Solomon Islands for the lessons that RAMSI has given us. Your resilience, diversity, strength will serve you all in good stead."
However the Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare said Solomon Islanders should never forget the price it and its neighbours paid in lives and in resources as a result of the ethnic crisis.
"And I say this because crisis bares a cost and resolving crisis also bares a cost. It cost Australian and New Zealand tax payers nearly three billion Australian dollars to return this country to normalcy. This is serious food for thought for Solomon Islanders. Imagine what three billion dollars Australian can do for the economy if it is put in other uses."
In light of this cost and amid reports of unease and mixed feelings among the Solomon Islands public about the mission's departure, RAMSI's first special coordinator, Nick Warner gave this reassurance.
"RAMSI might be going but we your Pacific neighbours, all of us, remain your friends and our help is there any time you need it."
The former Solomon Islands prime minister Sir Allan Kemakeza pointed out that having invited RAMSI in 2003, he himself was arrested and convicted in 2007 on charges of demanding money with menace, intimidation and larceny in relation to an attack on the Sol Law office.
"They have taken much of my time (laughter) and I have very little time for my family. But that is a success story."
On how the mission achieved the things that it did, former National Peace Councillor and permanent secretary of the Ministry of Peace, Joy Kere, who is now Solomon Islands high commissioner to New Zealand offered this explanation.
"It extends beyond the formal state institutions, beyond the police force, corrections service and formal justice sector. But it is also about incorporating the strength of our society and the informal traditional institutions in many of the reforms. And I think that's the best part of it. It's about the relationship building as well."
A fellow National Peace Councillor Sir Paul Tovua supported this view saying the Royal Solomon Islands Police needed to continue and build on RAMSI's approach to the community at the grassroots level.
"To make people in the community feel they are part of the community, and not just an authority waiting for wrong doing and then apprehending the wrong doer. So that when the law now is reinstated, people will continue to uphold law and order in our country."
Also looking to the future the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Finance Harry Kuma said a lot of work still needed to be done to improve economic governance and protect public resources from corruption.
"I believe that the destiny of this country and its children, the future development of government machinery that delivers sound economic governance, strengthens accountable administration and delivers strong and independent systems, rests on today's leadership."
With all these things taken into account and his talk time running out another former special coordinator Tim George said the real test of RAMSI's success begins when the mission departs on Friday.
"It will not be possible to make a final judgment on RAMSI for some years when the sustainability of the work done by the mission can be better assessed. But I believe as RAMSI comes to an end Solomon Islands can have a bright future. I thank you all and wish you all the very best."
Thursday is the final day of festivities to farewell RAMSI in the capital Honiara, it is a public holiday and will end with a fireworks display at Lawson Tama stadium.
But for many the loud bangs and smell of gunpowder could still churn up memories of a turbulent past.
In Honiara this is Koroi Hawkins.
