CIP states its position

In response to events that unfolded over a week ago regarding the sacking and appointments of ministers within the Democratic led government under the Prime Ministership of Jim Marurai, the Cook Islands Party has declared its position in order to distance itself from rumours that it was involved in negotiating potential coalition deals with the Democratic Party.
For the record, the CIP was approached by both factions within the Democratic Party merely to consider a “political scoping exercise” to look at options and a positive way forward deemed to be in the best interests of the country. Although there are rumours that CIP was positioning itself to become a potential coalition partner with Marurai, that is simply not correct as CIP was responding to a “call for help” from its political adversaries including Sir Terepai Maoate during their time of need and provided advice as appropriate.
The CIP has and will continue to maintain an “open door policy” with government on national policy issues and this latest development was an example of political parties discussing certain issues while reserving the right to retain and make their own decisions.
Obviously one can see that government is in total disarray and in situations like this, having the numbers behind you suddenly becomes quite significant when determining who should govern. Right now, our colleagues in government are having an internal party spat with each other which only they themselves can resolve and if they can’t, the simplest solution is to do what is right and go back to the people.
The reality however, is that this rift may have gone beyond redemption and that CIP should remain neutral under the circumstances while our Democratic colleagues switch to damage control to minimize further fallout and inevitable crisis.
History has shown over the last 9 years but more so in the last 4 years, government has achieved little in order to win public support Their track record in terms of maintaining political stability and performance has been abysmal but they have managed to somehow survive. This latest incident involving ministerial sackings can only be described as political suicide for both factions and CIP is well aware of the consequences and public backlash should it allow itself to get involved.
Fortunately, it has maintained the high moral ground and has withdrawn its support on the understanding a compromise was being negotiated between the 2 Demo factions. It does however remain committed to providing support for stable leadership and will also provide support on motions of confidence and supply as appropriate.
The reality is that whoever governs over the last remaining period of this political term, their role can only be construed as a “caretaker” one. Speculation of an early election looming now seems doomed as the current minority government has every intention of taking it to the wire being September 2010 as announced by Marurai early this month.
The CIP will continue to focus its efforts for the general elections on winning at the polls next year and has set timelines for the preparatory work involved in establishing its campaign teams and election strategies. We know how hugely ambitious it is to win voter confidence in this very unpopular political environment because of the failings of this government, but we are quietly confident the tide is slowly turning in our favour said the spokesperson.
In the meantime, both our caucus and executive members are fully aware of the need to maintain consensus dialogue with each other due to the present unpredictable political nature of government. It is important that we are not seen to be “influencing” either factions but at the same time, keeping the door open for further discussions and dialogue should the need arise.

Herald Issue 463 10 June
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