Ruta Mafu: The current state of leadership in the Cook Islands

Snoop Dogg is a popular hip-hop rapper named after Snoopy from the Peanuts comic strip. He is a successful marijuana businessman and now the man at the helm of the recent Paris Olympics.

He was known to be high, so the sight of him running through the streets of Paris holding the Olympic flame, which looked like a giant cigar, was priceless. He also had pins made of him blowing smoke rings in the shape of the Olympic logo. It seemed out of place for the great sporting event, yet he was paid $9 million for 17 days, but it was estimated that he increased the ratings by 79%.

His friendship with America’s sweetheart housewife Martha Stewart is another relationship you never thought about, but now you can’t get over how perfect a couple they are.

His IQ was 147, while the average was 83 to 113. He was not only smart, but also funny, 6-foot-4, and devoted to his wife and four children. He was a living caricature of himself.

Snoop Dogg is popular around the world, so it’s no surprise that others want to be like him, including the pen name “Snoop Dogg,” who wrote last week comparing me to Donald Trump while praising Mark Brown as the leader their country wants.

I am sure the writer of this letter bears no resemblance to Snoopy, just as I bear no resemblance to Trump.

The letter writer was confused and amused by Trump’s personal insults and outright lies, and I cannot make up lies or provide false information because everything I write must be fact-checked. I write an opinion column about these facts and give voice to the community I represent.

My doggy friend, you are not listening to Coconut Radio. You will not be congratulated by locals and business people in the supermarket for saying what many want to say but dare not. The irony is that the community remains silent because they will be personally attacked by your heroic PR protection brigade.

I have not said in public, in print and on social media that “water is free and we will not impose tariffs on residential properties”.

When the letter writers say they think Mark Brown is a sensible and pragmatic leader, they fail to realise that this is exactly what the PR machine wants you to see and believe.

This is the premise for all who run for office at any level. Only in America can a presidential candidate openly and publicly abuse women and admit to the abuse, have affairs with porn stars, and still be elected to the highest office in the land.

Today, being a “beggar” no longer requires wearing rags and holding a tin cup. Being fluent in two languages ​​does not make Mark any less of a beggar. Most professionals, street vendors or hustlers in the world know how to make impassioned speeches in any language. His skill in talking to influential people and convincing them that they will get their money’s worth here is excellent. That’s why we get so much and he gets away with so much. Developing us into a self-sufficient country, rather than relying on funding, would be a better use of his talents.

Is this the kind of person you want leading your country? This is the man who first taxed Cook Islands pensioners and then made them pay two years of back taxes. In 2013, without any warning, and not in their campaign, the pensions of the elderly and vulnerable were taxed. It just keeps getting worse. There was no time to budget for this, and the start date given was six or twelve months in the future.

Instead, from 2011, every pensioner owed over two thousand dollars in taxes on a tax that did not even exist in our culture or history until it was imposed when Mark Brown was finance minister.

The elderly marched in protest, but their demands were ignored and the government did not listen to them. When they did not repay immediately, their savings accounts were seized without notice or permission a week before Christmas, but there were no legal consequences.

It brought the elderly to their knees. Today, retired seniors are still struggling to pay off their debts but are being penalized for failing to pay.

In the 2020 budget, your hero gave pensioners a one-off $400 payment to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. In 2019, he gave himself a 45 per cent pay rise, an extra $400-plus a week – forever.

I am not Trump. I may peek, but I am not a dog in these situations.