Letters for Wednesday October 27, 2021

Dear Editor,

It’s good to have a discussion on this (What it takes to become an MP in the Cook Islands, Cook Islands News, October 22).

I would also like to add things to the discussion:

- minimum requirements to be eligible to be a candidate (should a university degree be a minimum requirement)

- term limits for MPs (term limits force the system to bring in new blood)

- should we bring back local government to Raro (some of the current MP’s would be awesome village councillors or even as mayors)

- should MPs focus on the work required in Parliament (reviewing bills, improving laws, holding ministries and officials accountable) and leave village cleaning and projects to councillors.

I’m sure there’re more things we can discuss. Look forward to other ideas and discussions for this topic.

William Numanga

(Facebook)

Opening Cook Islands borders

Opening up the border is easy, closing the border is also easy, it’s coming up with the decision to choose which choice to make is the hardest part.

It’s not about thinking smart this time, it’s about thinking wisely. Yes, we are struggling now, but how much more will we struggle when Covid-19 arrives on our shores, this is where we should be thinking, planning for, health frontlines areas, resources to cope and handle cases, the departing process, the arrival process, we can open but again by thinking wisely and being prepared for everything, because keeping our nation safe and our economy going is not a balancing method, it’s a planning ahead to be prepared method. Just saying.

Pa Matapo

(Facebook)

The Cooks need to open the borders as it relies heavily on tourism to keep the economy ticking over. Problem is, NZ won’t get back to zero cases, not just because of the Delta variant but because most cases in NZ are from South Auckland and a lot of us brownies don’t listen, one idiot is uncooperative and many are anti-vaxx so they won’t get it under control.

That has put the Cooks in a tough position, hold out and hope NZ go back to zero cases which won’t happen, or open up and only let the vaxxed people in, in turn, applying that measure to all aspects of life in the Cooks.

Tama Rua

(Facebook)

Public service

The government is supposed to be working for the people that voted them in. The Public Service Commission is supposed to keep checks on the government to make sure the government is doing their job properly for the people. 

So if there is a problem in government and brought to light shouldn’t the first thing to be done by the government is to be objective and stand down and keep the accused away from further involvement?

Curious

(Name and address supplied)