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Letters to the Editor

Week ending Wednesday, March 3, 2010

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We will not publish any material which we consider to be defamatory

Time ripe to demand new faces, fresh ideas
‘Stay safe’ applies to helmets, footpaths, kids on utes
We can’t afford parliament not to sit
Sounds like a TCI promo
Who’s counting all the funds?
Hotel idea ‘a load of hogwash’
Rule of fist should never apply
Appeal committee pledges accountability
Church defended
Tsunami alert – visitors should be well informed
Tsunami ‘warning’
Where is common sense?
‘Die differently’
We need a ‘real’ recovery plan
Helmets aren’t a magical solution
Well cared for
Destruction of our roads must stop
Bring helmets law in, stop mucking around
Support loans to MPs defended

Dear Editor,

On the one hand government is very much prepared to commit vast amounts of money, time and effort globe-trotting to international meetings and conferences in an effort to highlight the country’s plight on global warming and how sea level rise could make our northern-group, low lying atolls all but disappear.

On the other hand, however, government does next to nothing to keep the inhabitants on these very islands from migrating to Raro and then on to Aussie or NZ.

If current and future governments continue to ignore the depopulation issue, there is high probability that these northern group atolls and many of the islands in the southern group will become desolate and turn into ‘ghost-islands’.

Already this country has witnessed mass migration from the outer islands over the past 30 years or so. And the main reason for the exodus over the years? Probably neglect from central government in terms of failing to provide the necessary infrastructure to make living on these islands more comfortable, thus encouraging our people from the outer islands to remain in their respective islands.

If government is genuinely determined to see its most important resource – people – remain in the country and have a reasonable chance of attracting those who have already departed back, then it must stop paying lip-service and take act sooner rather than later to address this very serious national problem.

A good way to start would be to implement much needed reforms. Not just political reforms but public service reforms as well.

Much like the country’s parliament, the bloated public service consists of many individuals who contribute very little to the future development and advancement of this country and are actually a burden and cost to society.

Draining scarce resources away from much needed critical infrastructure projects such as roads, water supply, waste disposal areas, etc, the time is ripe to implement political and public sector reforms that provide long-term, tangible benefits to the country.

With the country’s general elections just around the corner, the time is ripe for voters to demand that new faces with fresh ideas represent them in parliament.

Toketoke enua

(Name and address supplied)

Dear Editor,

I was wanting to comment on the road works carried out around the Muri area last week.

I must say that I totally agree with the other letter writers who gave their endorsement to the wonderful job T & M Heather and their crew have been doing. Fast and efficient are just two words that come to mind. Professional is another.

What is perhaps the most pleasing aspect is that these guys have raised the standard here on how road works can and should be carried out. It’s the first time that I have witnessed ‘pointmen’ at each end of the works with lollipop signs safely telling us to stop or go. All this was done in sync with the diggers and bobcats working around the excavations.

We all felt safe and I bet the workmen did, too. To top it off they even had flashing signal lamps at night to indicate where the open trenches were so the public were kept safe once again. Excellent work, guys.

You can tell that these guys know how to look after their workers. Surely this will be the standard for all road works or excavations from now on?

The government departments can’t ignore these kinds of safe working practices any more. They must follow in these footsteps. It doesn’t take a lot of resources to equip and train their workmen and now there’s no excuse.

Actually we can all learn from this. From government to private contractors to the general public, our safety is the most important principle of all.

We talk about wearing safety helmets on motorbikes but what about our safety attitudes in everyday life? When we see young children riding on the back of utes and trucks with no restraints and the driver speeding this is an unsafe attitude.

Also children walking to and from school have no proper footpaths to walk on and are walking with their backs to the on-coming traffic. This is not only unsafe, it is dangerous.

So in the end safety is all our responsibility and it starts with how our attitude to ‘stay safe’ and the safety of others is applied in a practical way.

Once again, well done to T&M Heather for showing us what a responsible safe attitude can do.

Safety first

(Name and address supplied)

Dear Editor,

There are very solid grounds for the argument that five members of parliament, from a total of 24, do not have full executive powers to govern in a country that supposedly holds firm to the fundamental democratic principle of majority rule.

Difficult to imagine how a very small minority of MPs, less than a quarter of the total number of MPs in fact, can govern effectively.  This is especially so if Jim Marurai and his four other MPs are running scared, trying to avoid at all costs any call for parliament to sit.

But will this country be any better off if the current minority government of five MPs is replaced by a coalition Demo/CIP government of 21 MPs? The simple answer is clearly yes.

If the current minority government is unwilling to go to parliament to pass a supplementary budget for fear of being removed from office by a vote of no confidence from the other 21 MPs, then clearly it has put its own personal interests ahead of this country’s.

Under a Demo/CIP coalition government, however, there would be no problems calling for parliament to sit. They are, after all, the majority.

But can this country afford for parliament not to sit until after the next general elections in seven months time? The simple answer is clearly no.

Amongst other things, parliament needs to sit as soon as possible in order to appropriate the large amount of new aid monies which have been flowing into the country for the urgent cyclone relief work to be carried out in Aitutaki. This rehabilitation work is both urgent and critical and must begin immediately. It cannot be delayed by political shenanigans. However, before these aid monies can be spent right away in Aitutaki, parliament needs to give it the greeen light.

Irrespective of whether the 21 ‘backbench’ MPs will use the opportunity when parliament sits to play politics and move a vote of no confidence against the present government, that is a risk that Marurai and his rebel four MPs have little option but to accept.

After all, that is the price that politicians are expected to pay when they show disloyalty to the party that helped get them into parliament in the first place.

Country first

(Name and address supplied)

Dear Editor,

It’s no wonder that the PM is flip flopping on allowing Telecom’s monopoly to continue.

He was wined and dined twice by the Telecom board members last week and wrapped up nicely with a cocktail evening at the Salsa. Everyone knows that the quickest way to get the PM to agree with you is to pop open a bottle first.

The PM’s remarks on considering maintaining the Telecom monopoly sound like a TCI promotional advert. His disdain for the private sector comes across loud and clear.

His advisor on the Telecom monopoly issues is the chairman of the TCI board and is none other than our new High Commissioner to Wellington.

No doubt he will be flying back to Raro each month for the regular monthly board meetings. Good reward for a job well done.

In the meantime majority shareholder in TCI – Telecom New Zealand (60%) – is under siege in NZ for its failed XT service, falling share price, falling market share and public admonitions by the New Zealand Commerce Commission as the most complained about of all New Zealand’s major companies.

The Telecom board must be rubbing their hands in glee at the success of their wine and dine mission with the PM.

With the parliamentary process sidelined by the QR (with his new three-year term) there is no need to convince the people (who own 40% of TCI) or their representatives. Only need to convince one man.

Bottoms up!

(Name and address supplied)

Dear Editor,

This cyclone appeal is certainly a good idea to help our brothers and sisters in Aitutaki.

Many people have made cash donations and pledged donations, sales of plates of food, sales of t-shirts and many more. Others have provided materials, containers and equipment.

Our concern is whether all the money raised will actually be sent to Aitutaki.

Who is going to check that all of it does and just who gets what over there?

Who’s checking on all the funding through Red Cross, funding direct to the government, as well as the public appeal? Also, we believe cash donations are being collected in NZ and Australia for this very worthy cause.

I’ve heard the appeal committee chairman George George’s comments about accountability, but how can he be so sure that funds raised from all sources will be accounted for.

Saying that they have receipt books means nothing – anyone can buy a receipt book from the shop.

Like the Manihiki case, it is easy to raise funds, but do the funds really arrive there for the job?

Anonymous Donor

Rarotonga

Dear Editor,

I write in response to a recent article published in Cook Islands Herald by Charles Pitt promoting the notion that government should seriously consider getting into the business of reviving the failed Vaima’anga hotel project. What a load of hogwash.

For starters, why on earth would any person of a sane mind want government to involve itself in any sort of business activity that relates to the private sector when it is obvious that the performance levels of successive governments over the past 20 years has been dismal to say the least.

Proving to be incapable of delivering public services in an effective and efficient manner, the very last thing this country needs is for its politicians to suddenly think that they are hotel property developers or vice versa.

One only has to look at the state of the country’s most basic infrastructure such as roads, water, drainage and sewage to realise that these have been in a terrible state over the years with very little effort taken by government to repair or address these growing problems.

And if, since independence, successive governments have struggled to provide even the most basic of essential public services to the country year after year, what on earth would convince the people of this country that this government could successfully turn the Vaima’anga project into a ‘cash cow’? If pigs could only fly.

In any case, the last time that government involved itself in the Vaima’anga project the end result was a complete financial shambles with the poor taxpayers of this country having to fork out almost $100 million to pay off some loan to some bank in Italy. Now, do we want a repeat of this scenario again? I do not think so.

Almost back to the day when this country became self-governing, the only common thread running through successive governments that we have seen come and go is that they are big on making promises but small on delivering them.

Get real

(Name and address supplied)

Dear Editor,

I noted Norman George’s comments as reported in your court news of February 26 regarding assault on a female – a ‘minor assault,’ ‘way down on the scale of seriousness’, ’a domestic argument not in some lawless area of town but in their own home’, rendering it ‘just an argument’.

Sorry Norman but if someone uses violence then it is not “just an argument” but an assault and if it occurs in the home then the home becomes “a lawless area of town” and the law has been broken.

No matter the circumstances, the rule of fist should NEVER apply and the victim’s feelings about it should NEVER be belittled.

What do his comments tell us about his attitude toward women?

Stop domestic violence

(Name and address supplied)

Dear Editor,

The Aitutaki Cyclone Appeal Committee is saddened by the insinuation by Anonymous Donor that monies raised by the national appeal will not reach its destination – the Aitutaki people.

The ACA cannot speak for monies given to Red Cross or the Government – we can only speak for funds that have been donated to our Aitutaki cause.

All receipt books that are being used by the ACA have been numbered, recorded and every single receipt boldly stamped with Aitutaki Cyclone Appeal.

The names of the ACA team leaders amongst whom the receipt books have been distributed have all been recorded along with the numbers of the books they have received.

These volunteers are responsible for reconciling all monies received against the receipts issued.

A second reconciliation is then done by our Treasurer Nga Takaiti and his finance team.

Director of Audit Paul Allsworth and Ministry of Education Finance Manager Anthony Turua have volunteered to carry out an audit of all ACA finances when we have completed this round of fundraising.

Contrary to what your anonymous whinger implies, the ACA believes that these steps do ensure accountability and we are doing our very best to ensure that our fundraising remains credible.

If Anonymous Donor wants something useful to do, please feel free to volunteer time at our office at the Aitutaki Hostel to help with the job of data input – recording the name of every single donor.

Or, come to the meetings to be reassured that we are a team of honest volunteers trying our hardest to help our people in Aitutaki.

We rest our case.

George George

ACA Chairman

Kata - avoiding pot-holes March 1 March 1

Dear Editor,

I have read what someone else is saying about the CICC. Tepuka land was given to the CICC, so that means that CICC owns the land which was given to them by God.

Why do people jump so quickly down the throat of the CICC without doing their homework first. Friends, if you are a Christian you would not say a thing like that. If the CICC decides to lease Tepuka land to anyone that is living on their land they have the right to lease it without anybody’s permission.

So CICC go ahead and get out of the government and those who are living on it. I am just using plain English for everybody to understand, but if I see any more comments about the CICC I will be using some English words which you have not heard it in your entire life, which we use in Law Firm.

I felt sorry for the CICC, people keep putting them down, without knowing exactly the whole background of it.

Online follower

(Name and address supplied)

Dear Editor,

While driving to higher ground on Saturday morning we were flagged down in Muri by a couple of tourists on a motorbike. They were driving towards Titikaveka, their destination – the hospital, though they were not sure where it was. They asked us a little anxiously, where we were going and if they could come with us.

Once we were settled in our safe place they told us they were staying in a privately owned villa in Titikaveka and had been alerted by a relative or acquaintance of the owner, who would be there shortly. The tourists asked where people go in this situation and were told the hospital.

Naturally, they were a bit anxious and left to find the hospital, before the owner got there. They drove towards town, through Muri but became confused as there was more traffic going the way they had just come so they turned around and started back towards Titikaveka.

I wonder how many other tourists found themselves in a similar situation. A bit lost and confused.

This story highlights the need for owners of holiday accommodation to be more proactive in making sure that their guests are well informed about the potential for serious natural disturbances, before they occur.

While it is the tourist’s responsibility to be aware of weather patterns in the country they intend to visit, e.g. our cyclone season, I believe it is the accommodation owner’s responsibility to do all they can to promote their guests physical and psychological wellbeing, once they are here.

Spend a little time explaining the warning systems, in the case of a cyclone – tell them to read pages 21 and 22 of the phone book. In the case of a Tsunami – explain what to listen for e.g. siren or tooting horns, where to go and how to get there. Provide the same information in writing and check that guests actually understand this information.

Also, with the increase in tsunami occurrences, accommodation owners should find out where there may be some suitable higher ground nearby and find out if there are any local families who would be happy for tourists to take refuge with them until the all clear has been given. There would be less anxious people driving around the island and the hospital road and grounds would be less congested.

These simple actions will go a long way in ensuring that our visitors leave here feeling that we friendly Cook Islanders actually care about them as people.

Marion Holt

Dear Editor,

Since written records began 190 years ago, there is no record of tsunami damage on Rarotonga. Why is that?

Old timers do remember the sea suddenly draining from Avaavaroa passage and Avarua harbour (before it silted in), but had no idea why. That was before we were ‘blessed’ with a tsunami warning system designed to create widespread panic.

Tsunamis require an offshore shallow slope or shelf to have a damaging impact as there is, for example, in Samoa and in some places around the Hawaiian islands. Happily, Rarotonga has none. No slope or shelf, no damage!

The possibility of enough rise to cause damage onshore is so remote as to be virtually non-existent.

We should reserve our disaster prevention credibility for when warnings and evacuations are really required, namely in advance of cyclones when life-threatening wave and flood damage is abundantly real, not imagined.

Tap Pryor

(Name and address supplied)

Dear Editor,

Common sense can sometimes be the hardest sense to find.

I am replying to the story ‘New call for compulsory helmets’ (March 1).

It amazes me that a school teacher who is helping develop the minds of young people is against compulsory wearing of helmets which may assist in saving some of those young lives.

Schoolteacher Nga Puna states that a compulsory helmet law is not an appropriate solution to the problem of deaths and injuries on the road.

Puna is right in the fact that compulsory wearing of helmets will not fix the problem of people’s attitudes towards their driving behaviour. Education over time is the key to changing mindsets and the way people behave.

What helmets will do is save the lives of some people that crash. The cause of the crash may be alcohol or speed. But the cause of the death is head injuries and no protection for the head.

Helmets will not stop the crashes but they will save lives. If compulsory wearing of helmets saves one life, wouldn’t that be worth the inconvenience of wearing the helmet? Before answering, remember that it may be one of your loved ones that it saves.

Compulsory helmets are not about changing driver behaviour. They are about saving lives. It’s all just common sense.

Andrew Saunders

Kata - Tsunami surfing March 2 March 2

Dear Editor,

It is over three years since the Transport Amendment Bill was passed making the wearing of helmets by all motor cyclists compulsory. As a result of a petition led by Nga Puna, that helmet law was scrapped by parliament in June 2008.

Puna argued that helmets should not be compulsory because although they could prevent death from head injuries, there were other factors involved in motor cycle deaths, such as speed, drink driving and a loose driving licence testing system. If these problems could be solved there wouldn’t be so many fatalities from motor bike crashes, he claimed.

Well, here we are three years later and motor cyclists are still dying from head injuries, in fact they are dying in increasing numbers.

This is in spite of heavier fines for speeding, more severe penalties for drink driving such as loss of licence for 12 months and greatly increased police activity which is reflected in increased appearances in court for driving offences.

Those who speed, or drive while drunk, are not the only victims. There are also the careful, sober people that get killed by speeding and/or drunk drivers.

The compulsory wearing of helmets may seem an imposition on those who do not speed and only drive when sober, but is it too much of an imposition to bear considering the trauma caused to families and friends when yet another of our young people is needlessly killed because he/she chose to not wear a helmet?

“I probably won’t have an accident, therefore I probably don’t need a helmet” is like saying, “The boat probably won’t sink, therefore we probably don’t need to carry lifejackets”.

Perhaps the Tourism Corporation might consider changing their slogan to “Come to the Cook Islands – Die Differently”.

Survivor

Tupapa

(Name and address supplied)

Dear Editor,

Saturday’s tsunami scare highlighted that we have a problem – we have a dire need for a formal disaster recovery plan to prepare our people and our visitors for tsunami.

Proposed solution:

1. Disaster Recovery Plan at village level.

2. A requirement for all accommodators to have a plan in place for their guests and foreign workers.

3. Pre-determined official tsunami sites with trained officials present.

4. Proactive maintenance of the access roads to these sites as the majority of sites are private dwellings on private roads.

5. Installation of sirens in earshot of all homes within 100 metres of the coast.

Although skeptics and scientific research indicate that we are unlikely to be hit, panic alone has the potential to cause serious injury and criminal activity. Simply put, desperation turns otherwise rational individuals into crazy people.

Saturday morning is now ranked one of my most frightening moments, however being a home owner of a mountain property I felt that my loved ones would be safe. On making my way to our house, we found bumper to bumper cars and panic stricken people driving and parking erratically on our very steep and narrow road.

With our family business located at the end of the road and traffic not moving, I called for a bike to assist in getting me up the road to open the gate only to find that in desperation people had broken through the gate and driven in anyway.

The situation was out of control, badly parked and abandoned cars had formed road blocks, uninformed and unaccompanied hotel guests were walking up the roads after being told to simply get out of their rooms and ‘head to the hills’.

Our new house which is still incomplete had been opened and became a refuge to over 20 foreign workers sitting in fear in the dark.

Hundreds of people found refuge on our property that night even before the owner of our business and our family and employees had arrived, only because they had no idea where else to go.

I want to personally thank my family and staff and recognise all those who welcomed people into your homes and properties. Whether you took in two or 200 people you were a potential hero that night.

I want to encourage those who sought refuge in people’s properties to thank these people for helping you in your hour of need. It was somewhat disappointing how people simply got up and left when the warning was lifted.

Come on Emergency Management, instead of making ridiculous, comedic and low grade TV ads, focus your time and energy into better protecting our people.

Use the above solution as one of your outputs for 2010-11.

Next time we may not be so lucky and you will bear some responsibility for the consequences. If it is so easy to gain loans for a stadium, is it so hard about securing funds for disaster management.

High hopes

(Name and address supplied)

Dear Editor,

Again the imposition of a compulsory helmet law for everyone is being touted as a magical solution to the carnage on our roads.

As Nga Puna rightly points out, this is not an appropriate solution and there are many other factors that need to be addressed. Of course it is very sensible to wear a crash helmet, put on a seat belt and not drive after excessive alcohol consumption, but do we really need more laws, regulations and controls over our way of life?

There IS a compulsory helmet law in force for anyone travelling on a motor cycle over 40kph, a 50kph speed limit on all roads and drink driving laws etc which, if adhered to, would eliminate 90% or more of the road accidents and injuries.

Nearly every day of the week one sees acts of complete insanity on the roads and if these senseless and selfish individuals (who make up less than 1% of the population) could be brought to task you would see a huge reduction in the road toll.

The police need to be given far more resources and encouragement to ensure the existing laws are enforced, and the work of the road safety council needs to be applauded, but please not more laws, rules, regulations and restrictions on the way of life here in the Cook Islands.

What is really sad is that anyone who dares to go against those hell bent on the implementation of a compulsory helmet law for everyone (which the majority of the people in the country are definitely against) can be depicted as uncaring and irresponsible, which is just sheer stupidity and totally incorrect.

Sure, people have conflicting views, and it would be good if for once the CI News showed responsibility and only published letters on this subject by people willing to put their names to them.

Brian Coker

Dear Editor,

We would like to offer praise to Teava and Lisa Iro for their calm and efficient handling of us, their tenants, in the tsunami crisis on Saturday morning. Not until they were sure that we were safe at the AOG church in Titikaveka, did they continue with their rounds of other beach dwellings. Thank you Teava and  Lisa.

We would also like to say thank you to Tom, his sister and other members of the AOG church for making all of us feel welcome and serving us tea and coffee.

We visit Rarotonga every year and have since 1991. We love your Island and people. You have surpassed all expectations in the wonderful way we were treated during this emergency. Thank you, one and all.

Penny and David

Southern California

Laying new water mains in Tupapa last week – leaving speed bumps, potholes and questions about contract terms and conditions. 10022310

Dear Editor,

This letter is regarding the upgrading of our water system by the Ministry of Infrastructure and planning. The recent work in Harley street and Tupapa has prompted me to write this letter.

What I would like to know is, when the contracts for doing the water mains and pipes around the island are let, what are the terms of reinstatement of our roads, after the work has been done by the contractor?

(1) Is it in the contract that the contractor is meant to compact the fill in the trenches over the water pipes and reinstate the work to the extent where they will not sink and pothole, when the next rain falls.

(2) Is he meant to arrange to have the bitumen reinstated, or who is meant to do this?

(3) Is he meant to have all of the left over fill and dirt swept from the roads so the community does not have to suffer from dust, night and day?

(4) Is he meant to be creating speed bumps, or leave them with large potholes, when he fills some of the pipe drains that he digs across the roads, in turn damaging people’s automobile suspension?

My observation of the work being done is that the contractor doing the work does not have the correct equipment or the knowledge to reinstate the work being carried out.

Bobcats are not compactors or rollers, they cannot follow the correct contour of the roads and they do not compact.

This sort of destruction to our roads has been going on for long enough now.

When will our Ministry of Infrastructure and Planning wake up to what is happening before their very eyes, or do they not even care about it?

There has been talk that road works should be contracted out to the private sector. In my mind, there is only one private contractor on the island that is doing a reasonable job when doing work on our roads and that is the contractor who worked at Ngatangiia a couple of weeks back.

If the contractor doing the present water works contract in Tupapa cannot make sure that there is very little inconvenience caused to the public, then he should not even tender for the contracts and stick to what he knows best, that is harbour work.

Enough is Enough, wake up the people who draft these contracts and please make sure that the taxpayer gets value for their hard earned, ripped off tax payments.

Kevin Cook

Tupapa Heights

Editor: The Ministry of Infrastructure and Planning has been asked for a response.

Dear Editor,

The helmet issue has now reared its ugly head again, due to several accidents on motor bikes that have caused death or serious injury.

The Tereora school teacher that lead the petition that helped sway the MPs on the Law and Order Committee, along with those MPs who changed their minds and recommended the Transport Amendment Bill be scrapped (this was for their own self agenda), should be ashamed of themselves.

If they had the welfare of the nation at heart, these MPs would not have even taken notice of that petition.

One just has to look at a caring nation like NZ, in the way that they are changing the driver’s licence age, even though there is criticism they are still doing it, this is being done to stop the carnage on their roads.

If our Government is serious about the welfare of the people of our country, then they would not take notice of some self interest guy, who had a lot of under age persons sign his petition.

They should just reintroduce the helmet law and stop mucking around.

Kevin Cook

Tupapa Heights

Dear Editor,

I would like to respond to the article that was published in Cook Islands News on February 4 concerning Sir Terepai Maoate and his Member of Parliament son, Terepai Maoate Jnr. My name is Emi Marsters and I am the manageress of the Paradise Cove, the Aitutaki company owned by the Maoate family.

It’s sad to see how good intentions can be twisted to mislead the public for personal and political gain. It’s no secret that businesses in the outer islands have been suffering for some time. Aitutaki is no exception. The situation has come to a point where there was a need for financial assistance to help these businesses stay afloat.

Paradise Cove, as a tourist accommodation business, provides employment to five workers. It also provides other opportunities for other businesses such as tour operators, restaurants, shops and rental services. As you can see, the survival of Paradise Cove or any similar business is in the interest of these workers, local businesses and of course the overall economic survival of Aitutaki.

It should also be in the interest of government to ensure the economic survival of Aitutaki.

Creating jobs should be government’s first priority. Government should be encouraging and supporting businesses that are providing and creating employment. We can’t all work for government.

People like the Maoate family, in particular Terepai Maoate Jnr, and Teina Bishop, who own businesses, also provide employment to many and should be given encouragement – not trialled and sentenced through the media by those who don’t appreciate how tough it is in the outer islands.

Yes, they are also Members of Parliament for Aituaki, but I’ve never heard of nor seen either using this to advance their business interests. These men deserve respect regardless of their political affiliation. There are also many others that deserve that same support because they too work hard at their businesses to try and make Aitutaki succeed.

I believe it is unfair to single out the Maoate family in Aitutaki who have been one amongst many businesses who were approved for a business support loans through the BTIB economic stimulus package. We had to qualify the same as others for the support loan and I can verify there was no favouritism.

This support loan has been much needed to survive the current economic climate – even more so now that we have suffered the devastating effects of Cyclone Pat. I hope those in government who are wrongly accusing the Maoates of manipulating the system to their own advantage will await the outcome of the audit report before jumping to conclusions and making accusations. That includes the media. Please don’t run people down before you give them a chance to defend themselves or a fair hearing through proper processes.

We know what will happen if Paradise Cove decides to close its doors to business. Even more of our people will move overseas and will continue to migrate at an even faster rate due to no jobs on Aitutaki. That possibility is made even much more real after the cyclone.

Like any other businesses that pay taxes to the government, Paradise Cove needed the business support loan fund. It met the policies and criteria as set by BTIB to receive the loan. On behalf of my co-workers and I, we are ever thankful that we still have a job to go to. I also thank BTIB for understanding our need in this economic crisis. God helps those who help others.

Emi Marsters

Aitutaki

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