Politics
Trim Spending and Stop Eating Into Savings
DPM Terepai Maoate warns Cook Islanders
Cook Islands deputy prime minister and finance minister, Dr Terepai Maoate says government spending will be closely monitored during the 2003 fiscal year.
While the Cook Islands economy is not in dire straits, Maoate, in a cabinet address on the country’s economic position, which was fully endorsed by other cabinet members, said that last year’s budgetary projections were overly optimistic.
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"There is apprehension that revenue growth has levelled relative to previous years," Maoate said.
"The signs are saying that we need to trim our spending to match our earnings and that we need to stop eating into our savings."
He foresees from these indications a need to set aside cash reserves for national emergencies such as natural disasters.
Prime Minister Dr Robert Woonton had earlier sacked his former deputy, Cook Islands Party leader Sir Geoffrey Henry, replacing him with opposition leader, Maoate, who has taken on all of Henry’s portfolios.
The change brings to six the number of governments formed within a period of four years.
The current government unites the two Democratic Party factions, one that Cook Islands Prime Minister Woonton emphatically states isn’t a coalition but a "Democratic Party with 16 members and one independent forming a government." Following a 15-year division, the cohesive Democratic front, said Woonton, offered a more effective working platform as the country heads towards a general election in July next year.
As interconnected as the world now is, Maoate points to the threats of a war between Iraq and the United States as imposing further pressures on the country’s fuel consumption with foreseeable fuel hikes.
Ministry of Finance and Economic Management financial secretary Kevin Carr sees a correlation between government spending and tightening on employment. While he sees a need to control the country’s operating expenditure, it isn’t as straightforward "since the increase in operating expenditure largely involves people, and therefore difficult to correct in the short term.
"Obviously we need to control the employment of new staff in the public sector. We do not want a repeat of 1996 (some 50 percent of civil servants lost their jobs). But if revenue falls too far for whatever reason, whether it be as a result of the war or other events, staff reduction becomes an inevitable result."
Carr said: "We must control government expenditure and employment and concentrate on policies and capital expenditure that will further the growth of the economy.
"We also need to look at our present industries and develop them. For example, how can we create more income from tourism without a significant increase in visitors? How can we add value to our industries like black pearls, fishing and agriculture?"
Meanwhile, there have been repeated calls from lobbyists and members of the public for political reform.
Elizabeth Ponga, of the Group for Political Change, has continuously lobbied against the movements in the Cook Islands government. Ponga’s campaign for stability and political reform has taken the form of accumulating signatures from the Cook Islands populace in favour of a reform process. The petition will be presented to parliament.
On the interactive Karangaranga, a talkback show aired Wednesdays on Cook Islands radio and hosted by the Group for Political Change, Ponga said reactions from the phone-in public is one of dissatisfaction.
Ponga said: "People are saying that they are not happy with the continuing political changes. Reform is needed and politicians have been singing the same old song: ‘Yes we support reform,’ but they don’t have the political will to carry it through. Empty words over and over again.
"When we submit our petition, we are going to say that the people who have endorsed it are not happy with the political fiasco.
"In 2001 parliament sat for only 11 days. In 2002 it sat for 18 days. They have a lot of work to do—about 64 papers (Bills and Reports) are waiting to be enacted. So far, they haven’t set a date for a parliamentary sitting to debate and pass these papers."
The new government lineup had indicated a commitment to reform looking at measures such as reducing the term of government and the number of MPs. Other issues to be addressed include outer islands development, completion of existing projects and an examination of its immigration policies.
