Opinion
Tuesday 18: OVERKILL?
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Where are the cops when you really need them, asked one lady at the World Youth Netball Championships at the Telecom Sports Arena last week. “When you want them, they are never there. But look at them here [at WYNC] – they are crawling all over the place!”
Thursday 13: Every HoM position should be re-advertised
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
“Cook Islanders are so familiar with the process by which HOMs are chosen from a tiny pool of political shoe-ins that talented and experienced young Cook Islanders just don’t bother to apply,” a reader says. “Thus it is that Cabinet ends up with a short list from the tiny pool of those who are otherwise […]
Monday 17: 'Soft touch' buys a sob story
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, What on earth are our leaders doing? Since when do our country’s leaders cater to the demands of rapists and murderers! I think a response from Mark Short justifying his actions would be appropriate now. How can he condone the actions of the prisoners who escaped after they put the island on high […]
Tuesday 18: HOM PANELS
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
While Audit is looking at the HOM appointment process should they be asking questions about the selection panel itself, a smoke signaller asks. “Mark Short has publicly defended his appointment in part due to the fact that a fellow lawyer, Tina Browne, sat on the panel. Is this the same Tina Browne that is the […]
Monday 17: Govt cruel, inhumane to old HoMs
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Now we all know what this Demo government had in mind when they brought in the ‘new’ Public Service Act. And it is not very nice at all. Six Cook Islanders – Terry Hagan, Nga Mataio, Russell Thomas, Tamarii Pierre, Makiuti Tongia and John Herrmann – have now been consigned to the scrap […]
Tuesday 18: Public service easy money?
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Since the HoM contracts have yet to be signed and sealed, one person has suggested that the public service commissioner start everyone on a base salary of $45,000 and then work their way from there. “What I always notice is that when HoMs lose their job, you never seem to see them working in the […]
Saturday 15: TV coverage a team effort
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Thank you for your kind comments (William Framhein). Just to clarify, we are currently showing two games a day on CITV with the permission of IFNA. The 5.30pm game is shot with one camera (Pete or Matt) and has one commentator (Mona). The 9.30pm game has a team of eight people: three camera […]
Monday 17: NIGHT RAIDERS
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A recent police report in this newspaper about watermelons being stolen from a patch in Nikao raises the question about who these thieves are and how they’re getting away with this shameless act. “And it’s not just watermelons, it also happens with pawpaw patches, and sometimes whole taro patches are raided at night,” a reader […]
Wednesday 19: Phonetic links
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Just a quick note with regard to the life long desire of all Maori to find the “Makea” title holder. The phonetics of the Maori language provide keys to family names and traditions. When we in our language know the oral tradition and importance of spacing in a personable way as well as […]
Saturday 15: Angels' touch
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, With surprise I read about the outbreak of prisoners because of bad facilities and bad treatment. That is not the Polynesian Rarotongan way to deal with humans. There is a prison specialist on the island with 40 years of experience, Mr Gordon Sawtell, and I am sure he will be happy to help. […]
Monday 17: WHAT'S IT ALLS WORTH?
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
“The Cook Islands is at risk of going morally insane,” a reader says. “Our Audit Office seems to do a great job of uncovering corruption, exposing abuse of power and authority, revealing dishonesty, but what’s the point if there are no penalties or repercussions? It’s all very well to be vigilant and sharp in auditing […]
Wednesday 19: Let's get rid of them!
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I would like to congratulate my Cook Islands people for standing up and giving it to Government et al for their arrogance in appointing some young highly qualified people to HOM jobs. You are true Cook Islanders. I agree entirely with you, these new HOMs are too young and too highly qualified and […]
Saturday 15: PSC answers criticism
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, After reading some of the concerns voiced in the media over the appointment process for Heads of Departments and Island Secretaries, it is very important that this is clarified as a matter of public interest There were a total of 198 applications, 60 for the secretaries and 138 for HODs. These applications were […]
Monday 17: SMOKO TIME
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
You know the wind’s cold in Raro when otherwise tough tradesmen huddle in the sun on the sheltered side of a building under construction on the beachfront, none wanting to venture around the corner and get chilled and sandblasted on the windward side. So the job takes a bit longer than normal.
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 […]
Monday 17: PAPA SLOW DOWN!
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
One signaller urges the ol’ fella who was driving a blue single cab pick-up truck last Thursday morning from Upper Tupapa way towards town, to “please put some sense in your head and understand that every day it’s an early morning rush hour for most of us with a job, and your careless driving is […]
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 […]
Monday 17: REEF INSPECTOR
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A visitor to Rarotonga who received numerous coral cuts when he made the mistake – possibly after a few drinks – of paddling into waves crashing on to the reef on the island’s western side last week, reportedly had one request to make when his rescuers brought him to safety on the beach, a cold […]
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