By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

KIMO Mafnas Rosario has changed his mind and will remain the NMI Republican Party’s spokesman.
He says he’s hoping that his party will remain united.
“I really don’t want to be a part of it if they continue the fighting,” Rosario said, referring to the rift between the GOP’s central committee and the Precinct 4 club leaders.
“I am for unity. And in my view, what’s happening now in the party is embarrassing,” he said.
Rosario, who graduated summa cum laude upon completing his bachelor of science degree in criminal justice administration at the University of Phoenix in Arizona, said although he was exposed to politics when he was still a child, it is his first time to serve as an officer of a political party.
Rosario, 35, is a nephew of former Senate Vice President Jose P. Mafnas and the late Vice Speaker Jesus P. Mafnas.
Rosario said it was the GOP’s first vice president, former Rep. Bennet Seman, who called him on Friday and asked him to reconsider his decision to resign.
He said the members of the central committee and the Precinct 4 club are his friends and this is why he is always ready to listen to any of them.
Rosario, who is also his party’s secretary, said he thought about what Seman told him before reconsidering his resignation.
He said there are three factors behind his decision to remain with the party:
1) The party needs to reach out to the youth, which comprises a significant percentage of the CNMI’s voting population.
2) It is in the best interests of the party’s membership to remain united.
3) His party mates still wanted him to be their spokesman.
Rosario has kept on good terms with both the Precinct 4 club and central committee.
He said he’s hoping that he can help resolve the problems between the Precinct 4 club and the central committee.
“If we are still like this when all the candidates have been selected and the campaign has started — then I don’t know what’s going to happen to us,” he said.
The dispute started after a meeting held by the club in January resulted in the selection of Sylvestre Iguel and Barbara Yamada as the party’s House candidates for Precinct 4.
Candido B. Taman, the incumbent Republican representing the precinct in the House of Representatives, said he will seek re-election even without the GOP’s endorsement.
Rosario last week blamed the “poor and inexcusable reporting practiced by…so-called professional journalists” for his decision to resign.