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FRIDAY, November 13, 2009
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Census delays hurt the Marshall Islands
By GIFF JOHNSON
A national census for the Marshall Islands has now been postponed twice and the possibility of holding it in 2011 depends on the government coming up with about half a million dollars. Originally supposed to be conducted in September 2009, the census was put off until next year, and now has been delayed to 2011 for lack of money, according to Carl Hacker,
director of the government’s Economic Policy, Planning and Statistics Office (EPPSO) that is overseeing the plan. The population count is not only important for addressing education, health, social and economic needs in RMI communities, but helps the country to attract millions of dollars in foreign aid for this work, Hacker said.
Hacker said information from the “1999 census brought in millions of dollars in grants to the RMI. We use it for grants.” The census will give government planners up-to-date information “on areas of need and where to put resources,” he said.
But so far, the plan for the next census is languishing for lack of funding. If it happens, this will be the 11th census since 1920 and the third since independence in 1986. The first population census was in 1920 and conducted every five years until 1935 under the League of Nations Mandate with Japan. The first census after the Second World War was in 1958, followed by censuses in 1967, 1973, 1980, 1988 and 1999. Since 1980, they have been conducted on an approximately 10-year cycle. Hacker said he’s been able to confirm about $350,000 from the Australian government, UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and US sources, but is $500,000 short of the estimated $850,000 price tag for the population count. He said he expected to Asian Development Bank to support the census, since the census is an important tool for addressing poverty issues in the RMI and this coincides with a major ADB theme. But he said he’s been told the ADB does not fund censuses, and he needs to find other donors to support it. “I don’t see them (other donors),” he said, adding he finds ADB’s attitude toward funding for the census as “mystifying.” He noted that ADB provided about $350,000 for the 1999 census. He praised AusAID for stepping in to initiate funding for early preparation phases for the census, which has helped to bring some other funding commitments. “The census will help us to understand what is going on in the country,” he said. “If the importance of a census in terms of national development has changed, how come no one told me?”
Photos: Douglas Henry
This Week's
Inside Stories
Ebeye gets A+
for immunization
Ebeye has the best immunization completion record in the Marshall Islands, a new report issued by the Economic Policy, Planning and Statistics Office (EPPSO) shows. The immunization completion rate for 2008 for children born in 2006 on Ebeye is 98 percent, while Majuro is 66.6 percent, the report said. The Majuro coverage for children born in 2007 was lower at 53 percent. “There has been steady and excellent progress on Ebeye with coverage,” the report said. “What is being done there should be studied in order to improve Majuro and outer islands coverage rates."
Marshalls
Energy
Company
records net loss
of $4.1 million
The Marshalls Energy Company suffered a $2.9 million operating loss in fiscal year 2008 and overall its net deficit for the year was $4.1 million, giving the company an overall $10.9 million net deficit when previous years losses are combined, the latest Deloitte and Touche audit reported.
New RMI AG's
first Ebeye visit
New Attorney General Frederick Canavor was sworn into service earlier this month by High Court Judge James Plasman, and is moving forward with a reorganization of this office. Canavor flew to Kwajalein on Tuesday this week for his first visit to Ebeye.
MMRA sets up PNA fishing headquarters office
The new regional fishing headquarters being established in Majuro “will immediately put the RMI on the map as far as fisheries is concerned,” said MIMRA Director Glen Joseph. He is currently negotiating rental of office space on the fourth floor of the MIDB building for the new secretariat of the “Parties to the Nauru Agreement” (PNA). Joseph said he expects to have the office available for use in January 2010.
Andrew Kaihsa, last of a kind
By DOUGLAS HENRY
Andrew Kaihsa is one of the last of a dying breed of Marshall Islanders. Twenty years ago, Marshallese dominated the road providing transportation services by taxi. Now Asians have taken over what was once a Marshallese-powered service. Why is Kaihsa the last one of his kind? Because Kaihsa owns and drives his own taxi. Meanwhile, Asian owned taxis and buses are at war to see who will rule Majuro’s roads. “The price war between buses and taxis affects me because whatever price they drop to I have no choice but to abide by,” says Kaihsa. During the early 1990s, “I could make 80 dollars a day with a service charge of 30 cents,” said Kaihsa. Nowadays, “I make about 50 dollars a day with a 50-cent fee.” It all started during the dawn of Cruisin’ Taxi era, pioneered by Kimbar Peter, a local businessman who employed Kaihsa as one of his mechanics. Both Peter and Kaihsa have something in common — they are both entrepreneurs who started small with second-hand vehicles. But Kaihsa, who has been driving for 17 years and is in the middle of a price war, said that driving a taxi is great, but being the only Marshallese driver/owner is really difficult to compete for dominance. Before the arrival of Asians, taxis were an easy way for any local man to earn money without working too hard. Today, Kaihsa still feels the same. But Kaihsa said that drivers working for foreigners are in the midst of a crossfire due to the price war. “The price drop is not the taxi owners’ decision, it’s the drivers,” says Kaihsa. According to Kaihsa, both taxi and bus drivers are in a rotating frenzy due to high cost of fuel and the drop of prices that reduces their revenue and the need to come up with a fair cut for both the owner and driver. “The Asian taxi companies don’t care about the price war, because they aren’t the ones on the road working hard,” Kaihsa told the Journal. If you wondered why Kaihsa is still in the game, his secret is he controls his own costs: he is a mechanic, so he can fix his own vehicles. Kaihsa drives a Mitsubishi Lancer, a vehicle that is several grades above the average run-of-the-mill taxis operated in Majuro. Its simple, he said: “Have only three passengers in the taxi...customers love to have a bit of space while cruising around town.” “I encouraged more Marshallese to join the taxi business,” he said. For the drivers of Asian-owned tasix, it's an all-out-war. For Kaihsa it's a one-man-army standoff.
WASC report promising for
Marshall Islands High School
The Western Accreditation of Schools and Colleges (WASC) visiting team’s exit report on Marshall Islands High School indicated a positive review of the school with one major recommendation that MIHS and the Ministry of Education need to be in control of their own hiring. WASC team chairperson Geraldine Ichimura and her team of five educators noted many “areas worth celebrating” which the school and community should be proud of.
Ready to play ball
The lady Tiger Sharks of Laura High School are ready to hit the basketball courts to compete with other local teams. Last weekend, Marshall Islands Basketball Federation officials stopped out in Laura to deliver a donation of shoes for the women's team, which is proudly showing them off here with Coach David Tibon (back, right) and MIBF member and Councilman Robert Pinho (back, center). Photo Alber Alik

Journal 11/16/1984
P1 Unofficial results for the Congress of Micronesia elections in the Marshalls District indicate incumbent Rep. Charles Domnick, the only candidate facing opposition, is leading with 387 votes over Hemos Jack with 74. Incumbent Senate President Amata Kabua has received 819, Congressman Ekpap Silk 286, Congressman Ataji Balos 196.
P1 All eyes were skyward in Majuro as Lagoon Aviation’s seaplane announced its arrival by slowly cruising the length of Marshalls' district center for the first time Sunday afternoon.
P4 Briefs: The paper ordered by the Micronitor last August did not arrive on last week’s ship from the mainland. But a temporary supply will be air-shipped to us, hopefully before next Saturday…Rumor has it that over $1,000 was spent on cables between Kwajalein Missile
P1 A meeting of the alabs of the faction known as Lowelaplap was held tonight at the request of Iroij Imada Kabua and the outcome of the meeting was a unanimous declaration of all attending alabs that the iroijship succession, which is rooted in the person of Jeimata Kabua, is a unique and recognized line of succession in the Kabua royal family and is one of the three lines which are universally accepted by the alabs who constitute the Lowelaplap federation. The meeting was heavily accented with apparently prepared statements centering on the controversy flaring between Imada Kabua and Kabua Kabua over the question of who is the
Range and Saipan in pressuring the Administration to veto the Congress’ Income Tax Bill. A far-fetched story, perhaps, but you could hear the sighs of relief of the American civilian employees all the way to Majuro last month when the High Commissioner made his decision…The Micronitor would like to put a question to Public Works Saipan: How can private business in the TT possibly function without a minimal supply of electrical power?
P10 Editorial During the past four days, Majuro has been experiencing its most serious electrical power failure in recent years. Temporary power failures have been experienced and tolerated for the past several months because the Public Works Department has done a good job in making speedy repairs. But there was something about the power failure this past weekend that caused a high degree of tension and strained relations, a rare experience for this community. By early Friday evening, local businessmen were beginning to show concern whether or not it was going to be necessary to transfer all their frozen meats that just arrived from the mainland to the government reefer to prevent spoilage. But it was found that some power was available that was servicing the American government housing area and could be diverted to the business area, at least temporarily to prevent food spoilage in the stores. But this was never done and the pretext offered by the administration was “the power would be momentarily restored.” But it wasn’t. Businessmen lost thousands of dollars in spoiled meat. The “would be momentarily restored” gave false hope which was unfortunately listened to. It is a general consensus among the people and business community of Majuro that Saipan should take immediate steps to alleviate the present critical power shortage. A good way to begin would be to keep an old promise about a new generator.
correct successor to the title of iroijlaplap for certain Kabua family lands in Kwajalein and elsewhere in the Marshalls.
P1 The Republic of the Marshall Islands is moving toward early enactment of new regulations for its burgeoning offshore banking business. The Marshall Islands government began licensing offshore banks in March 1983 and has, since then, licensed 102 such banks, the government said in a release. Some irregularities have recently come to light in the form of practices by a few of the newly licensed offshore banks. Government officials here are deeply concerned that if such practices are not stopped immediately, they could cause serious losses to unsuspecting private investors, damage the reputation of responsible banks operating in the Marshall Islands and damage the reputation of the Marshall Islands as a reputable center of international business activity.
P8 “I told the Chief Secretary to give us the worst thing he wanted to get rid of and he suggested taking over trash collection,” said Kwajalein Mayor Alvin Jacklick. “We wanted to do something that needed to be done to prove that we could handle it and do a good job.” He explained that any function assumed by the Kwajalein Atoll Local Government should be monitored by RepMar, as insurance that the function is being properly handled.

Journal 11/13/1992
P1 The much talked about and planned for education overhaul gets down to business this month with aid from the Asian Development Bank. Education Minister Phillip Muller said that early next year the country will begin to feel the impact of an aggressive education revamp that will focus initially in three areas: importing dozens of overseas primary school teachers to improve instruction levels; the launching of a teacher training “lab school” at the College of the Marshall Islands; and major renovation and upgrading of public elementary schools.
P5 The Marshall Islands Handicraft Cooperative located behind the Alele Museum plays a little noticed role in supporting self-sufficiency of women in the Marshall Islands in addition to promoting an important element of
Marshallese culture on an international basis. It was established 20 years go by Majuro’s Young Women’s Club aimed at educating women how to support their families. Presently, this idea seems to have initiated a trend with women on the outer islands expressing growing interest, said manager Mary Lanwi. The cooperative is now exporting to Hawaii, other parts of Micronesia and Guam. “It helps to finance women,” Lanwi said. “Many times there are families that need funds to put their children through school or for health reasons. (By doing this) we can help ourselves and help each other.”
P9 Ebeye SDA High School first quarter 12th grade honor roll 4.0 grades: Baso Ijeia, Jim Iso, Tony Maika and Wise Roko.