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A story in last week’s Cook Islands Herald accusing Prime Minister Dr Robert Woonton of intervening in the outer islands infrastructure programme got it all wrong, says OMIA secretary Nandi Glassie.
The story accused the prime minister of causing extra expense and time delays to the northern islands harbour upgrade programme by ordering that the slipway at Rakahanga Harbour be shifted from one side of the harbour to the other.
Glassie says the Rakahanga Island Council asked for the slipway to be shifted – not the prime minister. And he says the newspaper didn’t even bother finding out the reasons for the shift, and didn’t talk to the Dr Woonton about it.
“What actually happened is that the island council asked for the slipway to be shifted because the site where it was originally built is prone to flooding in heavy seas. It wasn’t the prime minister but the island council that gave the instruction for it to be moved.”
Glassie was a member of an official party that accompanied the prime minister on an inspection tour of the northern islands last month and says members of the delegation experienced the flooding problem for themselves when they arrived on Rakahanga.
“You can end up with water up around your knees and the council did not think it was satisfactory because it’s impossible to work on the slipway in conditions like that. The present slipway is also too short and steep, which causes safety problems.”
While the Herald story accused Dr Woonton of causing expensive delays to the harbour improvement programme and tying up equipment for months, the decision to shift the slipway hasn’t in fact caused any significant problems - or much additional expense, Glassie says.
“Rather than shift the machinery and personnel on to Mitiaro we decided to complete the Rakahanga harbour and then concentrate on finishing the rest of the northern harbours.”
Glassie says he discussed the matter with the Mitiaro MP Tangata Vavia, who saw no problem with the change of plan.
“He agreed that we desperately need to have the harbours fully completed and that it was best to properly sort the Rakahanga slipway first. It will be moved to a position almost directly opposite the present one, but it will be much better and safer.
“It’s not going to cost a lot extra either, apart from airfares for the engineer and the equipment operator. The local people have to be fully satisfied before we move on and I am sure the OMIA staff who are working there understand that.”
Glassie says the Herald story was unbalanced and was nothing more than a thinly disguised personal attack on the prime minister. |
