Business as usual
Aunty Mau back at work,and unhappy with Henry
By Charles Pitt, Political Editor

IT’S as if the election never happened. At her Nikao office next to the Golf Club, Minister for Sport Aunty Mau appeared fresh and her usual busy self.
This after meeting with Cook Islands Sports and National Olympic Committee (CISNOC) chief executive Bim Tou to discuss progress plans for the 2009 South Pacific Mini Games.
In the general election on 26th September, the Democratic Party’s Aunty Mau Munokoa was returned as member for Nikao/Panama. She polled 333 votes in preliminary figures, compared with the Cook Islands Party’s Tangee Kokoaua, who polled 244.
Her majority was slashed to just 88 on the night compared with 269 in the 2004 election. But Aunty Mau is confident she will hold the seat after special votes are counted.
KNEW
Aunty Mau told the Times, on Friday morning, that she knew it would be a hard battle. She acknowledged that some people in the village were not happy with her.
There were more than 200 new people in the area that she didn’t know well. However, she is grateful for the help she received from her grandchildren and also her campaign committee.
She said Tangee ran a strong campaign but that he focused too much on problems and not solutions.
DEPLORED
She deplored the outburst on live television by Cook Islands Party (CIP) Vice President Nick Henry. This was when he reacted to the news that the Demos’ Mama Ngai Tupa, at 72 years of age, had defeated CIP’s younger businessman candidate Mark Brown.
Aunty Mau said she knew what Mama Ngai was going through because it also happened to her. Aunty Mau said someone had once said of her, “What does a donut maker know?”
WELLINGTON
Not one to sit around her office waiting for Parliament to resume, Aunty Mau is off to Wellington, New Zealand, on Saturday to speak as a guest at a women’s meeting. The trip was arranged before the election and is funded by the meeting organisers.
Aunty Mau also plans to hold a meeting of the community at Nikao Hall at 7pm on Wednesday 11 October to discuss the Mini South Pacific Games in 2009.
With the National Stadium being in her electorate, she wishes to get the community mobilised to prepare for the games.
Her aim is to have local facilities prepared and upgraded to cater for overseas athletes.
She says if local schools and sports grounds can be utilised then locals will benefit from overseas money being spent in the area.

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