But PM Marurai still in control

Jason Brown






Stink of political corruption has never seemed quite so obvious.
  “If something smells different in the house, it’s me,” Teina Bishop told fellow members of parliament last month.
  Bishop lives in Nikao, Rarotonga, the capital of the Cook Islands, in the same constituency as parliament house.
  Like many Cook Islands residents, Bishop is short of water. Like, really short. He asked when the government would take action ‘so MPs can have a shower before going to parliament’. Cue customary hilarity in the debate chamber.
  Bishop may have been smiling, but he wasn’t joking. The crisis is real.
  In a media statement, government described forecasts for another three months of drought on top of the existing water shortage as “criticial”.
  At the same time as the drought was declared, politicians already had the knives out and plunged into one of their periodic bouts of back stabbing.
  First, as reported last month, Prime Minister Jim Marurai sacked his deputy, Dr Terepai Maoate. Three fellow ministers resigned in solidarity with Maoate, leader of the ruling Democratic Party.
  In earlier years, this might have caused the government to fall as happened in 1983 and 1999, both years featuring five different coalition governments. However, a 2007 law against party hopping leaves Marurai safely in power.
  This is despite a flurry of alarmist headlines from regional news agencies with usual talk of a constitutional crisis. So far, no constitutional claims have been lodged.
  From the academic quarter, context on calls for the head of state to call parliament to hear a vote of no confidence.
  “...to jump the gun so to speak and produce the crisis by calling parliament when he hasn’t been advised to, means that the Queen’s Representative is being more pro-active than our system of convention for the use, the very careful, restricted use of those reserve powers, the standard has not yet been reached, or rather the trigger hasn’t yet been pulled, for him to act.”
  Professor Bill Hodge, a constitutional law expert at the Law Faculty of Auckland University in New Zealand has given extensive comment over the years, noting that calling parliament would be exceeding careful precedent set by a wide variety of office holders.
  Known in the Cook Islands as the Queen’s Representative, he has been less active than some would like.
  There are hopes that “the QR” may one day be able to say yay or nay according to whether rules, regulations and laws are passed according to proper due process. That among many hopes rising in Rarotonga as ISLANDS BUSINESS went to press.
  An unexpected coalition of voices may yet see real progress.
  Back at Te Atu kura, well briefed on legalities, PM Marurai sacked his own cabinet and brought back controversial MP, Wilkie Rassmussen, one he had kicked out barely six months ago.
  Last year, Rassmussen made himself unpopular for saying no to exorbitant spending in the build-up to the September 2009 Mini Games.
  Others wonder whether his criticism as foreign minister of New Zealand and Australia led to behind-the-scenes, strong-arm aid tactics so familiar in Suva and other Pacific capitals.
  Cook Islanders have been here before. Years of drought in the early 1980s almost killed the nascent tourism industry before it got started.
  Government announced ambitious plans for new water piping systems and reservoirs. Other, shorter bouts of drought in the 1990s prompted similar promises and spending.
  Nearly 30 years and untold millions of dollars later, an island of just 30 kilometres by coastal road remains vulnerable to water shortages. Officials continue to complain that the system is unable to meet demand and is still full of leaks.
  Cause of the crisis?
  Some allege corruption, asking exactly where all those millions in infrastructure aid spending have gone. China has been a notable standout in recent years, building court houses, sports complexes and parliaments of increasingly suspicious quality—but wait, this has just come in—China has been awarded the latest roading contract. They question why a few officials seem able to afford what look like mansions; others, large 4x4 or luxury sedans. 
  Over the last couple of months, there have been a rash of audit investigations among senior officials, including the Financial Secretary, and chief executive of the state property group, the Cook Islands Investment Corporation.
  Main cause of the crisis was revealed in other news last month: that the Cook Islands had for the first time exceeded the 100,000 visitor mark.
  This came as a surprise to those who recall similar news a few years back. Boasting was muted, a few champagne corks popped. There was a press release from the tourism marketing corporation, and that was it—no further discussion.
  Not so surprising for a corporation keeping its head low. Two senior officials were investigated by audit for a million dollar fraud and given jail sentences last year.