Letter: Prime Minister, are you catching up again?

Dear Editor, there must be something wrong with the way I read the news… I am sure in the Cook Islands News on Monday 24th June the Prime Minister said in the future tense: “I will make sure that we implement the measures that need to be taken by the police, etc…”

If the Prime Minister really does take his responsibilities as Minister very seriously, as he claims, then why is he only now beginning to address the issues that have plagued Rarotonga for years, when they could and should have been addressed years ago?

Clearly, despite the PM’s protestations to that effect, he is out of touch with reality and more concerned with where his next five-star tour will take him than staying home for a while and sorting out these serious family issues. Instead of making a superficial promise to fix the problems now – sometime in the future – he should have allocated more funding to the police service in recent years, increased their wages/salaries, and made young officers more willing to take on the challenge of becoming career law enforcement officers.

Now, by simply increasing the number of police officers on the island, problems such as burglary, runaway and illegal cycling will be better controlled.

Prime Minister, are you playing catch-up again?

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