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Friday, January 4, 2008
Who will rule RMI?

E-mail:
   journal@ntamar.net

Phone:
   (692) 625-8143
   (692) 625-8146

Fax:
   (692) 625-3136

Mail:
   PO Box 14
   Majuro, MH 96960
   Marshall Islands

In Person:
   On the ocean road
   behind Formosa
   in Uliga, Majuro
Recounts
rejected
Three petitions for vote recounts have been rejected, while four more were expected to be rejected as the Journal went to press this week. Candidates Tadashi Lometo (Mili), Rod Nakamura (Namdrik) and Atbi Riklon (Rongelap) all petitioned Chief Electoral Officer Carl Alik for recounts. But Alik rejected these. Lometo lost by 76 votes, Nakamura by six and Riklon by 17.
1,000 ri-Majol
leave in 2007
It looks like 2007 is going to be another strong year for out-migration of Marshallese to the United States. If trends from earlier this year hold up through December, 2007 will continue the pattern started in 2000 with an average of 1,000 Marshall Islanders moving to the US annually. “I’ve been looking at the data for the first half of the calendar year and we’re on trend for another 1,000 or more out-migrants by year’s end,” private consultant Ben Graham told the Journal late last week.
IMF official warns
of cash shortfall
An International Monetary Fund official says without more money going into the RMI government’s trust fund, there will be a huge drop in funding for the RMI when the Compact grants end in 2023. A return on investments at six percent will make available only $24.4 million for withdrawal by the government in 2024, leaving a shortfall of $22.5 million over the $47 million level of US grants available in the final year of the Compact.
All eyes will be on the Nitijela this Monday — an opening session that promises to be an historic event for the country and will, after weeks of political rhetoric and conflicting statements from the two main political parties, end the speculation about who will be the new RMI President. Unlike previous presidential elections in the Nitijela, the outcome of this year’s vote is not a foregone conclusion. Not only is there still speculation about whether the RMI will have a UDP- or an AKA-led government, Monday’s opening may also offer the possible additional drama of several competing candidates within at least one of the parties. For the first time in the RMI’s 28 years of constitutional government, the outcome of Monday’s election is in the hands of independent candidates, since neither party has the 17 votes it needs to control the vote and form a new government.
Happy
New Year
to all our Marshall Islands Journal readers!
Tons of people had fun at the New Year's Eve Block Party.
RMI backs Our Airline plan
Our Airlines officials were in town at the weekend to revive interest from the RMI government in an agreement for Air Marshall Islands to exercise Fiji landing rights through the Nauru-based airline. The agreement, which has been on the table with the RMI government for more than 14 months, is now expected to be up for Cabinet approval on Thursday this week. AMI would also stand to benefit from a percentage on both tickets sold and gross sales on the route. Access to Fiji is not a foregone conclusion, however, as Fiji’s national air carrier, Air Pacific, now holds a monopoly on the Fiji-Kiribati route and the Fiji government has rejected earlier Our Airlines’ approaches to reestablish the flight to Fiji from Majuro and Tarawa, Kiribati.
AMI to be flying
in three weeks?
It is nearly three months since the last Air Marshall Islands flight. But things may be looking up.
AMI general manager Dan Fitzpatrick said the Cabinet last week approved a loan guarantee for AMI to use to obtain a commercial.
He is hopeful that the Cabinet action will pave the way for a loan from either Bank of Marshall Islands or Marshall Islands Development Bank in the near future.
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