Health minister salutes Sir Terepai

At yesterday’s health conference health minister Nandi Glassie paid tribute to Sir Terepai Maoate, who he said made health in the Cook Islands a personal and political priority.

He credits Sir Terepai’s persistence for his own personal decision to return to the Cook Islands.

”Back in 2001 in February I received a phone call from chief of staff at the time, he said the deputy prime minister would like you to come back and work in the Cook Islands. I said no. At that timethe government leadership was riddled with so many coalitions, in others words job security wasn’t secure at the time,“ he recalled.

”In May of the same time I received another call from Eddie, the chief of staff, that Sir Terepai Maoate would like to have a word with me in a hotel room in downtown Auckland. I went there and over a cup of tea he said ‘I want you to come back to the Cook Islands and head the ministry of outer island affairs’Four months later he sent me a contract.“

During the five years he worked for the then-ministry, and in the five years since, Glassie looked up to Sir Terepai as a political figure.

”I find Sir Terepai a very hardworking politician, a very strong debater, a person with principles, and as I’ve pondered over the past few nights I noticed that Sir Terepai, in my view, in my personal opinion, is a man of principle. He is guided by two key principles – first he wants to set a very high standard of living for the people of the Cook Islands. He is guided by that. Secondly he wants to provide the best quality of life for all Cook Islanders through the provision of quality health care.

”Those two principles as I noted have been pretty strong in Sir Terepai Maoate over the last five years. I’ve watched him debate in parliament and he’s a very strong debater. He wouldn’t stop at anything even if we in the opposition become quite critical, when it comes to budget time he won’t shift.“

He recalled Sir Terepai’s skilful negotiation with the Italian government, which successfully relieved some of the Cook Islands’ outstanding debt. He also recalled Sir Terepai’s passion for extracting profit from the Cook Islands’ manganese deposits.

”When I asked Sir Terepai, ‘Why are you pushing this manganese?’ he said, ‘I want the Cook Islands to have free education. I want the Cook Islands to have free health services. I want us to be like Norway’. That was the vision in Sir Terepai at that time.

”I will miss him in parliament. He is a strong debater. He provides a lot of questions and wisdom for people like myself.

”If I have to summarise Sir Terepai in one sentence I’m reminded of a quote by Sir Winston Churchill: that the price of greatness is responsibility. I find him (Sir Terepai) to be an absolutely responsible leader, not only in politics but in other spheres,“ Glassie said.