Government Briefs
Government Briefs
Nov/Dec 2006
NORTHERN MARIANAS ISLANDS
Lieutenant Governor Tim P. Villagomez has requested the Office of Public Auditor (OPA) to lead an audit of private sector jobs in an effort to cut back on non-resident workers and replace them with qualified local residents. Public Auditor Mike S. Sablan told Pacific Magazine that he would prefer the study be led by the private sector to identify initially 500 jobs being held by non-resident workers that could be filled-in by resident workers. He said he will be contacting the Saipan Chamber of Commerce to form a committee. The Department of Labor issues more than 30,000 work permits a year to non-resident workers. — FSR
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Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has accepted an invitation from the Papua New Guinea government to visit the country later this year. Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare invited Clinton when the two briefly met in late September in New York where Somare was attending the United Nations General Assembly. Somare briefed Clinton on PNG’s strive to halt the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and promoted his initiative on carbon trading and climate change that was being promoted by a coalition of rainforest nations including PNG. — AR
A government-sanctioned investigation into the burning of a popular passenger ship has blamed negligence for its demise. The PNG National Maritime Safety Authority, which investigated a fire on board MV Sealark in April that led to its sinking in waters of Papua New Guinea’s Lae City, concluded in its inquiry that the blaze was triggered by “safety systems not being implemented and enforced by the vessel owners.” The authority has directed the stricken ship’s owners, Bismarck Shipping Ltd., to remove the sunken wreckage as it posed a danger to other vessels. — AR
SOLOMON ISLANDS
Taiwan Ambassador to Solomon Islands Antonio Chen in September delivered SB$10 million (US$5.7 million) for micro projects in the country, reported the Solomon Star. Chen provided the funding to Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare. “I would like to see the funds properly administered by the relevant authorities to ensure assistance goes down to the core of the rural areas,” Chen said. The micro project scheme started in 2005 with initial funding of SB$10 million distributed equally to 50 constituencies, the Star said. — GJ
NEW ZEALAND
The rise in youth gang related violence in the heavily populated Pacific communities in South Auckland has prompted the New Zealand government to hatch a multi-million dollar action plan. The new scheme takes a preventive approach by looking at pathways to better support at-risk young people. Police officials in the Counties Manukau district have been swamped by a series of homicides in a three-month time span starting in May. The scheme will also focus on the area’s 100 most at-risk young people and their families. To facilitate these plans, the government plans to increase the number of youth workers. — PR
FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA
The Federated States of Micronesia’s gross domestic product grew 1.5 percent to $213.2 million in fiscal year 2005, according to a statistical bulletin issued in August by the FSM Department of Economic Affairs. Yap reported the greatest gain among the country’s four states, with a GDP growth rate of 10.7 percent, while Kosrae and Pohnpei rates both decreased. In the last five years, according to the bulletin, Yap has also consistently reported the highest nominal GDP per capita in the country. — JC
A recently issued report of the FSM National Public Auditor’s office indicates significant shortcomings in the administration and oversight of the country’s Compact Trust Fund. “These actions resulted in a lower than expected income for the first years of the Trust Fund,” it details. The trust fund was established in order to assure ongoing financial assistance to the country upon termination of the Amended Compact in 2023. The trust fund committee is composed of the same U.S.-FSM membership as the Joint Economic Management Committee, which oversees Compact spending in the FSM. — JC
GUAM
In early September, 78 soldiers from the Guam Army National Guard were deployed to Arizona for three months to help patrol the U.S.-Mexico border. The soldiers will be participating in Operation Jump Start, which was initiated earlier this year after President George Bush ordered up to 6,000 members of the National Guard to support the U.S. Border Patrol’s efforts to control illegal immigration along the border with Mexico. — FW
After several months of administrative chaos, the Guam Public School System attained a measure of stability on September 11, when the Guam Education Policy Board selected longtime administrator Luis Reyes to be the education superintendent. Two days later, Governor Felix Camacho announced that the U.S. Department of Education was preparing to release $37.5 million in grant money it had been withholding until it believed the money would be spent properly. “It has everything to do with the confirmation of Mr. Reyes,” said Camacho during a groundbreaking ceremony for the first of four new schools that are to be built using Compact Impact funding. — FW
MARSHALL ISLANDS
The Marshall Islands will spend nearly one-third of its national budget of $124.5 million on its poorly performing public school system. Education-related spending is set for about $40 million. Seventy percent of the Marshall Islands budget is funded by United States, Taiwan and other donor grants. An education report issued in September confirmed the learning crisis in Marshall Islands schools. Results of a test given to all fourth graders in the country showed that 68 percent failed math and 60 percent failed English, while only about 50 percent managed to pass in their own language, Marshallese. Educators said that as problematic as these results are, they are actually a modest improvement from previous test results. — GJ
The Marshall Islands Social Security Administration is paying out more than it is collecting in taxes, a situation that is putting the agency on “the brink of a cash flow crisis in the very near future,” according agency officials. From 2000 through last year, MISSA generated more revenues than its retiree benefits and administrative costs combined, allowing it to inject money into its local and U.S. investments. But all that has changed in 2006. In response, MISSA has hired more compliance auditors onto its staff and is stepping up audits of dozens of local businesses in an effort to identify companies that are under-paying Social Security benefits. — GJ
AMERICAN SAMOA
Governor Togiola Tulafono signed into law on September 2 legislation that increased benefits for the vast majority of retirees of the American Samoa government. The measure provided a 2 percent cost of living allowance increase for retirees of the government who retired on or before September 30, 2004. Retirement Fund executive director Filisouaiga Pili Ta’afua said about 88 percent of the current 1,400-plus retirees benefit from the increase that is retroactive to Sept. 30, 2004. Recipients started seeing the increase in their benefit checks in October, 2006.— FS
SAMOA
Samoa is looking to appoint a new Attorney General after the sudden resignation of Brenda Heather-Latu who had occupied the post for the past nine years. Personal reasons have been cited as reasons behind the resignation, but it came hot on the heels of a controversial court case that saw Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) government stalwart and Minister of Telecommunications Mulitalo Siafausa lose his seat in Parliament after an election petition was filed by former Chief Auditor and Samoa Party leader Su’a Rimoni Ah Chong. A letter written by Deputy Prime Minister Misa Telefoni criticizing the Attorney General’s office and its role in the trial was leaked to the local media. Assistant Attorney General Daryl Clarke also resigned just days after the verdict was delivered. Heather-Latu will remain as Samoa’s AG until November 3 while the government seeks a replacement. — PR
Contributors: Peter Rees, Giff Johnson, Frank S. Rosario, Jessica Chapman, Frank Whitman, Fili Sagapolutele and Alex Rheeney.
