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Friday, October 17, 2008
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E-mail: |
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Phone: |
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Fax:
(692) 625-3136 |
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Mail:
PO Box 14 Majuro, MH 96960 Marshall Islands |
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In Person:
On the ocean road behind Formosa in Uliga, Majuro |
| To vote or not Will there be an election to replace the late Kili/Bikini/Ejit Mayor Kataejar Jibas? Just as Majuro has faced controversy over whether or not to hold a special election to replace a deceased mayor, the KBE Council will be facing this question shortly as Jibas’ funeral wraps up this week. Two provisions in the KBE Constitution directly conflict. One says that a special election is to be held to replace a mayor who dies in office, while a later provision indicates that the Council selects an acting mayor to preside for the duration of the term. The next regular election for the RMI is 2011. ROC $2 million Taiwan Ambassador Bruce J.D. Linghu presented a $2 million check to Minister of Foreign Affairs Tony deBrum and Minister of Finance Jack Ading Wednesday afternoon. The funding is part of the ROC/Taiwan annual grant to the RMI General Fund for the fourth quarter, 2008. Yachts trashed in Uliga Burglars trashed two yachts and attempted to burglarize a third on Sunday night in the anchorage off of Matt Holly’s area in Uliga. A couple living shore side Uliga in the vicinity of the burgled yachts said they had a battery stolen from their boat Sunday night. 7,000 tons of copra in 2008 In the 58 years that records have been kept, Marshall Islands copra makers produced more than 7,000 tons only three times — and 2008 is one of these three bumper years. Tobolar Copra Processing Authority reported this week that for the fiscal year 2008 (October 1, 2007-September 30, 2008), it processed 7,182.42 tons of copra. This is the third highest 12-month total ever behind 1970 (7,348 tons) and 1995 (7,728 tons). AMI figures add up to loss After several years of being unauditable, three years’ worth of Air Marshall Islands audits, 2004-2006, are included in the latest Auditor General’s report to the Nitijela. The reports show that all three years are “qualified” — meaning not complete — “because of inadequacy of accounting records.” |
By SUZANNE CHUTARO and GIFF JOHNSON
Marshall Islands President Litokwa Tomeing is facing a vote of no confidence next week, following the motion introduced Tuesday by 14 members of the United Democratic Party. The surprise motion was introduced on the last sitting day of the year, disrupting the expected long afternoon and evening of debate and voting to pass bills before Nitijela wrapped up. With a 10-day Constitutional “clock” now ticking, the vote must be held no later than next Friday. Foreign Minister Tony deBrum told the Journal Wednesday the motion “has no chance of passage. ”Two
broadcast, the public was in the dark about the reason for Nitijela’s recess until next week. The opposition said the no-confidence motion was brought because of government’s lack of timely support for a US Senate bill that would have provided $4 million per year for health care services for nuclear test affected islanders for the next 15 years, the deteriorating relations with the United States, and the government’s refusal to move forward on a previously approved and funded new Uliga Elementary School. Other points in the motion introduced by Silk include: the lack of a concrete plan for dealing with the job losses at the US Army base at Kwajalein, Cabinet appointments of “certain individuals” to top positions in government, the canceling of a water reservoir for Majuro and a major CMI project from the Japan funding priority list, and not following good governance requirements that is hurting the welfare of Marshallese. DeBrum told the Journal, “those are questions we’ve been addressing all session. Most intelligent people understand the answers.”
Marshall Islands President Litokwa Tomeing is facing a vote of no confidence next week, following the motion introduced Tuesday by 14 members of the United Democratic Party. The surprise motion was introduced on the last sitting day of the year, disrupting the expected long afternoon and evening of debate and voting to pass bills before Nitijela wrapped up. With a 10-day Constitutional “clock” now ticking, the vote must be held no later than next Friday. Foreign Minister Tony deBrum told the Journal Wednesday the motion “has no chance of passage. ”Two
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no confidence motion signers, Senators John Silk (pictured left) and Gerald Zackios, acknowledged to the Journal that they may not have the numbers to win today but hope by next week’s vote they will have a 17-member majority. Silk introduced the motion and was joined by 13 UDP members. A vote on the motion must be held within a five-to-10 day period after a no-confidence motion is introduced, according to the constitution. Saturday and Sunday count toward
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| UDP: 'We have 15' |
the maximum 10 days. “The vote can be lawfully taken on any day next week but in no circumstances shall it be taken later than Friday, October 24,” RMI Attorney General Filimon Manoni told the Journal. Before accepting the motion Tuesday afternoon, Speaker Jurelang Zedkaia called in the Nitijela Legislative Counsel Melvin Narruhn and Attorney General Manoni for advice. Once legal issues were cleared for the motion to proceed, the Nitijela recessed until next week. All of this happened off the air from the normally V7AB broadcast sessions, so until V7AB aired a news item about the motion on its Wednesday 12 noon
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United Democratic Party leaders told the Journal Wednesday morning that the motion for a vote of no confidence was introduced to put the spotlight on issues the current administration has failed to resolve. “We want the issues in the motion to be discussed and debated,” said Ebon Senator John Silk who introduced the motion for the vote of no confidence. “These are serious issues that we need to articulate and let the public know about. That is why we’re doing it. We have a firm 15,” said Silk. “We just need a simple majority (17) and we hope we can bring some others over through the debates.” A former UDP Minister during Note’s Administration, however is adamant that this time UDP has the numbers.
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'The RMI Auditor General’s Office is understaffed because of delays in the government hiring process, forcing it to rely increasingly on Deloitte and Touche to monitor government spending.' – Atmita Jonathan
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The RMI Auditor General’s Office is understaffed because of delays in the government hiring process, forcing it to rely increasingly on Deloitte and Touche to monitor government spending, Acting Auditor General Atmita Jonathan told the Nitijela in her latest report to the body. In addition, funding cutbacks by the national government as a result of the recent economic emergency have hurt the Constitutionally-required Jonathan said staff auditors must complete 80 hours of continuing professional education every two years to maintain compliance with audit standards. “The independence of the office has been impaired. “Unfortunately, due to current budgetary constraints imposed by the Ministry of Finance, all staff members within our office have been unable to satisfy these continuing professional education requirements,” Jonathan said. “The independence of the office has been impaired.
P9 (comment) The letter in Marshallese on page six of this paper is a good example of the growing estrangement between the public and police in Majuro. The letter, written by patrolman Lari John, describes how he came to use a nightstick to subdue a man named Murjel, close relative to Iroij Namo Hermios. After the incident Namo was very upset and asked Lari why he struck Murjel on the head — a part of the body traditionally considered sacred by Marshallese. Lari found himself
P2 (editorial) Two harbingers of improved community relations have been seen coming from Kwajalein in recent weeks and the Journal would like to note them and voice encouragement. The first sign of improvement is a very definite drift apparent in the official Army publication Hourglass. Articles in the paper show a distinct awareness of the Marshalls wider community, one that just a few months ago KMR was known to wish would “just go away.” And a frequent traveler between
P1 The Marshall Islands will seek extension of the Compact for a period of more than 15 years and ask US support for including incentives to attract American investors to the Marshall Islands, said Foreign Minister Phillip Muller in an interview.