Dear Editor, I see George Angene, ex-con and current MP, regularly blow drying the main road stretch from his place to Taputapuatea. His sign says, always helping the people, but he is only helping certain people?

Why doesn’t he do the same for the Tupapa back roads? Is it because no one will see him?

I also see that a certain white GA truck and many workers cleaning from upper Tupapa to the town area. Is this group paid public officials from his Ministerial Office or are they from the Arorangi Prison? You see the way I see it, Angene is using his position and authority to gain an unfair advantage in the village by using free labour, machinery, fuel, transport and other things, at the expense of the tax payers of this country. This abuse and misuse must stop.

The question is, what are the senior government officials doing about it? They are all turning a blind eye to what he is doing. No government official has the guts to pull him up and say, ‘hey Angene you are breaking the law!’

We are tired of this repo and dirty politics, it has no place in our society.

Stop the Rot in Tupapa

(Name and address supplied)

Reply – I refer to the comments by a letter writer about George Angene and the derogatory manner in which he is described (as an “ex con”). It is widely known to all that the Minister has lived a very colourful life and spent time in prison, a product of a broken home and a hard upbringing. His release from that institution some 20+ years ago has since been one of redemption and service to others.

In the late 1990s after his release, he started helping out in his Tupapa community trimming hedges, cutting grass, assisting at funerals, helping those not able to help themselves and learning to become a builder.

The work that the Minister does did not start yesterday or in his current term as a Minister. It has been a culmination of many years of helping his community with or without access to resources; his view is it does not matter. 

As CEO for the Minister’s Support Office, I can confirm that we are subject to scrutiny in the use of our budget and must comply with the MFEM Act amongst our legislative obligations. The idea that the Minister is “using his position to gain an unfair advantage in the village by using free labor, machinery, fuel, transport…” is not correct but I would ask an unfair advantage over who? That only shows that this is politically driven from a candidate or group.

No mention that the community (in Tupapa and other villages) have been the main beneficiaries of the work that the Minister and his work crew have carried out. I can understand, this is election year but rather than focus on the Minister, focus on your own work.

Incidentally, our work crew can be found in all areas of Tupapa from Maraerenga to Karekare, main road and back road, inland and beachside. You only see him with his blower close to town because he lives there and he’s on the road at every opportunity he gets.

Kia manuia.

Terry Rangi

CEO

Minister George Maggie Support Office

---

Prevention is better than cure

Prevention is always better than cure and obedience better than sacrifice. Which step have we taken? Prevention and obedience or rejection and sacrifice?

Seeking God’s protection – “I will be down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O Lord make me dwell in safety” – Psalm 4:8. We may not want to admit but honestly and truthfully speaking, once in a while in our nightmares, close calls and when death seems to be knocking at our doors, we do get scared. Sometimes when we get into bed in pitch darkness, winds and rain roaring and beating heavily upon our houses with thunders rumbling and lightnings violently screeching across from all directions, our minds start to think about so many weird things and we get scared.

It’s OK to be scared but not OK to be buried or succumbed by fear. We certainly do not want Jesus to say to us, “O men of little faith”. A smart person is one who actions and activates his faith, an overcomer and conqueror of his/her own fear. Are you, am I, are we all ‘Smart Kukis’? If yes, what have we done? Prevention and obedience or nothing but self-sacrifice?

David in Psalm 23:4 is one such smart person, “`Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me, thy rod and staff they comfort me”. It’s smart to know that there are evil forces in the world that tries to scare us but a strong believer in Jesus Christ knows how to activate his/her faith like the young shepherd boy David put a single pebble into his bag and knocked Goliath to the ground, like Mordecai and Esther prayed and fasted three days against the evil and wicked Haman. Yes, our unseen God can come to us in any scariest moments, circumstances and situations like Meshack, Shadrack and Abednego in the fury furnace, Daniel in the den of lions and Jesus’ disciples in the middle of a storm – Peace be still it is I. Our God is more powerful than any force of evil. We can count on Him for safety and security even in face of death. He promises to not ever leave, forsake nor abandon those who trust in Him, “Lo, I will be with you always, even unto the ends of the earth” – Mt. 28:20.

Point of focus: Everyone wants to know we are safe. We in the Cook Islands today all do want to know if we are safe, since the opening of our border to tourists and our own local people returning home and for the long haul. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that we cannot come to God not believing that He exists, “But without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and He rewards those that (live and walk in faith) diligently seek Him”. “He alone knows our down sitting and uprising ... besets us behind and before ... compasses our paths, present everywhere even in sheol (hell)” – Psalm 139: 1 - 7. He offers His own divine plan of salvation for us to comply with in Acts 2:38 and 39, “Repent and be baptised every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost”, up to us to either receive or reject, obey or sacrifice one’s own life and that of our families and others.

Our Te Marae Ora likewise has also offered us protective, preventative and precautionary safety measures for us in our Covid free Cook Islands to also either receive and obey or reject and sacrifice to the outcome of consequences. Even in this most scary Covid variant – Delta variant and Omicron – environment that so many countries of the world are in right at this minute, prevention is always better than cure, obedience than sacrifice. Many antis are up in arms of protests creating confusions, chaos and anarchy. Let’s keep our focus on Jesus 2022 – Iesu Anake 2022. Rest with confidence in what He says in Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

In Jesus Christ alone is safety, life, peace and victory!

God bless, protect and prosper the Cook Islands. Amen and amen.

Bishop Tutai Pere