Coup Master Fights Off Coup

Chief of Staff Piho Rua slides into the wooden pew behind Islands Business, quietly motions over a policeman, and hands him a post-it note.

The policeman walks to the lawyers' bench in the gloomy number one chamber of the Cook Islands High Court, hands the flimsy note to Norman George.

"Your Honour," George begins a few minutes later, "we would request that the court grant us two hours during lunch to allow us to attend to important business."

It took longer than two hours. George, a lawyer, is better known as the leading OEcoup' master in the Cooks.

His important business? Fending off another coup' from former political partners, which saw the former master turned coup fighter.

Unlike Fiji, Cook Islanders do not need guns to trample all over parliamentary convention. By simple force of character, George has managed in the past to manipulate other members of parliament into crossing the floor.

Not once. Four times, in as many years, in search of prime ministers who would give the controversial MP exactly what he wanted.

This time, however, George was fighting off a challenge from within, not starting one. Deputy Prime Minister Dr Terepai Maoate moved a motion of no-confidence against the man who replaced him, Dr Robert Woonton.

Speaker Pupuke Robati promptly suspended parliament. In the space of an hour or so, George and Woonton were able to cobble together a counter attack.

Parliament resat and, once again, Maoate found himself outwitted by the merry and increasingly Machiavellian PM.

Maoate resigned and, in his place Woonton appointed "Aunty" Mau Munukoa, the parliament's lone woman MP as the country's first woman deputy prime minister.

Why not George? Because, government's media relations section later explained, George is under court scrutiny and could not be considered for a position that might place him in a conflict of interest. Before attacking Woonton in parliament, Maoate had approved an application for a declaratory judgement on alleged double dipping as an MP, George had charged for legal advice to environment services and the office of the prime minister. Is this, the application queried, prohibited under the country's Electoral Act?

The court still has to answer but, in the meantime, it was clear Maoate's one-two punch against George and Woonton had gone horribly wrong, something like a boxer who lands two solid blows on a training bag only to be knocked out by the back swing.

Reaction to Maoate's motion also includes a surprise set of amendments to the standing orders of parliament.

The amendments will make it harder‹much harder‹to ambush ruling parties.

Rather than hard and fast laws, the amendments introduce the idea of "conventions" that set precedent for the Speaker to follow when he is asked to suspend standing orders in future‹to allow, for example, votes of no-confidence.

Suspension of standing orders is common enough, at least among members of parliament long famous for making up the rules as they go along.

If accepted by the Office of the Speaker, the conventions would require:

€ no motions preventing debate on any motion.
€ any minister moving a no-confidence motion must also attach his written resignation.
€ any such motion must be listed on the order paper 10 days before it is debated.
€ any no-confidence motion must not be within six months of another.

Cook Islands News pointed out that, with sitting days far and few between, it could be as much as another six months before a no-confidence motion is finally debated.

The daily newspaper made no comment on the amendments but can lay claim to a central role in the events that led up to them.

It was the daily, way back in 2000, which first raised questions about Maoate's chief of staff making payments to himself from the office of the prime minister.

Three years later, moving his motion, Maoate claimed corruption and cronyism were rampant under Woonton.

He might have been more convincing if his former chief of staff, Eddie Drollett, was not on that same day appearing in court on charges of paying and receiving US$13,000 in secret commissions, and a backdated contract to try and legitimise the crime.

After earlier changing his plea twice, Drollett was found guilty on all charges.

Unfortunate? Along with due process and extraordinary powers of political in-fighting, Woonton is also allowing unheard of levels of transparency.

Under his watch, Audit Office Director Paul Allsworth not only gunned for Drollett, but now also releases quarterly reports on misspending in government‹ direct to the public.

Sure, black holes of secrecy still remain in some ministries, like Health. The country's economic future also remains fragile when it is linked mainly to environmentally destructive tourism. And, new industries are being hobbled before they get started.

Political interference may be on the wane within government, but is still poking its ugly head into the private sector.

In fact, Woonton has been nothing short of a nightmare to the country's fledgling fishing industry. After promising support for indigenous players to grow small and slow, he allowed fat deals to be signed with New Zealand's Sealords, a company as big as their name, among others, with a total of 65 foreign boats getting licenses.

Three of those could go to a company set up by a Samoan who appears to have ignored the locals-only lessons in his homeland.