In The Event That You Missed It...(6)

Tuesday June 17, Number 6

In The Event That You Missed It...

…RMI Ambassador-designee Benjamin Graham's appointment has been on hold with the US State Department. There are two-folds to this issue, the first being that Graham is a dual citizen of both the US and the RMI. The second is the lack of communications between the RMI and the US on the appointment.

…It is common practice throughout the diplomatic community that before a confirmation of a country designee is made and a dipnote is issued to the host country, background negotiations and discussions are held between government officials to agree or otherwise on the appointment.

…In the case of Graham who was very obvious would run into a roadblock, the RMI Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Presidential advisers failed to soften the groundwork before the appointment and Parliament confirmation.

…We found out that during Minister Tony deBrum's meeting in Washington, the Graham appointment was raised. However, congress has informed deBrum that it cannot weigh in on the administration's acceptance or rejection to the appointment.

...With regards to the LUA, we learned that Minister deBrum, Ambassador-designees Graham and Phillip Muller raised the issue during their meetings. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs release last week on the Washington meetings failed to point out that Minister deBrum is proposing that the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) project be linked to the LUA.

…deBrum asked that the US fund a 750,000 thousand dollar study for the OTEC project and possibly fund this project. In turn, the landowners will agree to a 17 million dollar LUA.

…However, the current LUA will pay landowners 15 million annually and will increase to 18 million and an additional 4 million plus allocated to Kwajalein development projects.

…deBrum's proposal made us ask several questions (1) How will the OTEC project benefit the community on Ebeye; (2) Have they already selected a possible contractor?; (3) If so who?; (4) Why is the Kwajalein leadership now lowering their original 19.1 million demand; (5) It seems that the Kwajalein leaders will lose money by agreeing to a 17 million LUA including the OTEC project; (6) Did the majority of Kwajalein landowners agree to this proposal?; and (7) Did the Cabinet and government as a whole form this position?

…We've learned that the US position is that the Military Use and Operations Agreement (MUORA) will not be open for discussion. A dipnote on this issue was recently received by the RMI Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

…Also raised was Bill 1756. When asked about the RMI position, Minister deBrum said that the RMI government is still working on its position.

…Bill 1756 is not likely to be reintroduced since the Congress will now refocus its efforts in the upcoming US elections in November.

…The Cabinet members of the Litokwa Administration will now be able purchase with a government issued credit card with an unspecified amount of spending. How does this work and how do you make sure there are no personal spending towards the card? Is there a reason why this was discontinued by former President and Iroijlaplap Amata Kabua?

…The previous government did not allow credit cards for Cabinet members. All official spending had to go through regular government Purchase Orders.

…While this is happening, MEC is facing its biggest problems since customers are forced to use less electricity and most of the customers are disconnected for outstanding debts.

…It is still unclear if the major landowners are paying for their electricity billings like any regular customers.

…Our sources in Springdale, Arkansas are telling us that Speaker Jurelang Zedkaia is still in the area. Zedkaia traveled to Springdale more than a month ago to take part in the annual Constitution day celebration along with President Tomeing.

…We've noticed that President Tomeing's house is the only one with power during Rita village power outages.

…After digging into this issue, we found out that once he became President, Tomeing had his house hooked up to the Marshall Islands High School distribution lines.

…When did this policy come into effect? If we recall correctly, this policy was not in place during the last three Presidents' era.

…A very reliable source informed us that Education Minister Nidel Lorak is not happy with the way this government is handling its agenda, or the lack of it.

...Minister Kramer and MISSA Attorney David Strauss recently met with MLGOV Acting Mayor Titus Langrine to bargain a deal that really doesn't reflect the interest of Majuro community. Or does it? You be the judge. Rumor has it that in return for dropping the appeal (a day before trial) on the so-called "unConstitutional" judgement of receivership, MISSA would lower its monthly collections...hogwash, they should have offered to dump the receiver.

Quote of the Week: "I DO NOT BELIEVE IN RUMOR"

…And from a reader and subscriber: "Islandrumors is another site to blow hot air without subatance but to me it is a site to create rumors and confusion. Get greative and list your ideas to improve this country. Every problems we are facing now are inheritance from you know who. If you were part of that you know who, then it is high time you put your thinking cap and come up with solutions and not rumors."

…Islandrumors say: We were not or are a part of the "you know how." Our findings are not rumors, rather facts that have never been disputed. This is our 6^th Edition and following the last edition, the RMI government press releases confirmed that our findings are right on the money, although they've omitted several facts.

And Finally This Week in RMI History…

…In June 1998, the RMI received a shipment of food during the severe drought that crippled the economy and and the lives of 22,000 Marshallese. FEMA, US Red Cross and several other agencies delivered 30 days worth of food and water supplies to the islands.

… In 2004, Senator Pete Dominici, former Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Senator Ted Stevens, former Chairman of the Appropriations Committee gave former RMI President Kessai Note assurances that they will hold hearings the following year on the CCP after the Administration released its report.