Letters to the Editor
Wednesday 19: Call for a prison's board
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, In my letter of August 17 I indicated that I would write another article outlining a remedial measure to improve the prison service. The prison service is charged with the containment of offenders sentenced to terms of imprisonment as well as offenders awaiting trial. Basically these offenders who have committed offences against the […]
Saturday 15: Leading by example – yeah right
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, The admission by the Finsec (CINews August 14) that he had applied direct to his uncle the Minister of Finance for a bonus of the full amount has proved beyond any doubt the self interest and conniving that is going on with the minister and his pet appointees. If the Finsec had any […]
Wednesday 19: Highest paid should be last for a rise
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Probably like every other tax paying individual in this country, I am appalled and disgusted that the country’s financial secretary Sholan Ivaiti has the nerve to seek a 5% increase to his salary for ‘outstanding’ work which he believes he has achieved over the past year. At a time when the economy has […]
Saturday 15: Endless stuff-ups speak
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, We read with disgust that Sholan Ivaiti is trying to get a bonus pay. What for? He is already highly paid for a start, and most of the things he has done since he started working have been a total failure. Like most of the current HoMs, his appointment was clearly political. We […]
Tuesday 18: We were fleeced!
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, The Cooks’ prosperity is based on tourism – and rightly so. You have it all. Four of us from New Zealand spent a glorious last week of July in Rarotonga and Aitutaki. And here’s how to kill the goose and its golden eggs. Take tourists for a ride by charging them $55 departure […]
Friday 14: Top job!
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I write to you on behalf of the team at Matariki FM to ask if you would publish our gratitude of the great TV presentation that Jeanne Matenga, Moana Vaevae and others are doing of the WYNC as seen on Cook Islands Television. Jeanne is the sole CITV camera person and Moana the […]
Tuesday 18: Snacks were to ease tension
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I write to provide clarification about the escaped prisoners, as requested by a letter writer in yesterday’s newspaper. I was contacted by the police saying the escapees wanted to give themselves up. The escapees noted that they would only talk to me as the Secretary of Justice or their former legal adviser Tony […]
Friday 14: It's fallacious, fraudulent
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, The shenanigans of the recently appointment of the HOMs are fallacious and, we believe, fraudulent. The whole of cabinet ought to be audited and charged if this can be proven to be fraud because what they did was not good governance and transparency as per their political party manifesto. Their selections were purely […]
Tuesday 18: Prosecute for Tepuka sewage problem
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Regarding your recent report head ‘Still no sewage permit for complex’, the sewage treatment system of Tepuka/Tereora has been a problem right from the beginning and everybody knows that. But nobody wanted to take responsibility for it for a long time and the buck was passed from one government entity to another, this […]
Friday 14: Finsec defends bonus
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, In response to your article of Thursday August 13 headed ‘Finsec wants performance bonus’, I wish to respond. Firstly, since taking up this role, the PSC Commissioner Mr Navy Epati has never done a formal performance appraisal for me. Given this was not done for the last two years, I took the initiative […]
Tuesday 18: Public deserves public service shake-up
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, The letter by ‘Fed up’ in yesterday’s paper is a most intriguing piece of dysfunctional public mud slinging on me, while he tenderly avoids offending ‘cabinet ministers (and) the Demo Party Caucus…’ (his words). The ‘HOD wannabe’ called Fed up has totally missed every point of my explanation and I’m beginning to think […]
Friday 14: Buck stops with the PSC
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, The letter of complaint received by the Audit Office from the Cook Islands Workers Association (CIWA) in relation to the recent HOM appointments by cabinet speaks volumes of what appears to be a gross failure of the Public Service Commissioner Navy Epati to ensure that the HOM selection process and criteria is fair […]
Monday 17: Dry as a desert
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, We are a public facility at Takamoa – by that, it means we provide services to the public, therefore it stands to reason we have to provide toilets for said people. However, for three days we have been without water, which we believe is a result of the work being carried out by […]
Thursday 13: DPM defends his sons
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Of the recent public comments that have been made recently by a former Cabinet minister and others, what disappoints me most is the insinuation that one of my sons is wrongly benefiting from my health portfolio. Please allow me to clarify this matter once and for all. My eldest son Terepai Jnr is […]
Monday 17: Dreadful advice
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Minister Ngamau Munokoa’s speech at the under 21 netball opening ceremony was awful. Her grammar and tenses were so badly arranged that one could barely understand what she was saying. Worst of all she turned on Cook Islanders who were sharing a proud moment of realising the dream of hosting the netball games. […]
Thursday 13: Dear Editor,
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Cook Islands citizens choose and elect officials during local and central government elections, which is our democratic right. It is hoped that the best person gets elected to govern with good governance, accountability, responsibility and total transparency in decision making in any and all fiscal expenditures. Sometimes we get it right, and the elected official […]
Monday 17: It's a fib, I didn't resign
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Either there is an error in information which I doubt or the office of the Deputy Prime Minister is telling fibs. In a press statement from the DPM’s office it said I have resigned from the Pacific Mini Games Board. I have not and nor have I been asked to. But Minister Ngamau […]
Thursday 13: Any dummy can see what's happening
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
The Editor, The question I’d like to ask is – how did cabinet elect the new HoMs? From my own knowledge, the first criteria I would evaluate are experience, performance and accountability. Again, do all these new appointees possess the above expertise? I doubt it very much. As far as I am concerned some of […]
Monday 17: Act like a rangatira!
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, What is customary lore and what are the duties of a leader under those customary lores? In principle do we elect under a democratic policy or do we elect those who have been groomed by the older generation guaranteed to walk beside the people and listen to their needs and have a willingness […]
Wednesday 12: We'll be back!
Wednesday 12 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I was asked to submit some thoughts and reviews of my recent trip to Raro. I live in San Francisco, California, USA, and travelled to Raro the first week in July with my girlfriend. We had the time of our lives in Raro. We went to many of the bars and shops in […]