By Zaldy Dandan
Variety Editor

What a surprise

THE Saipan mayor says his office is suspending its “services” because he can’t pay for the fuel of his office’s vehicles. He blames the finance department for not paying Mobil on time.
This announcement is surprising for two reasons: 1) Not a lot of people are aware that the Saipan mayor has other tasks besides marrying people and chaperoning students to Japan and South Korea; and 2) the mayor, apparently, is the last CNMI official to know about this bankrupt government’s failure to pay any of its suppliers and vendors on time.
The mayor, however, is also trying to make a point in suspending his “services.” And his point is that his office should be considered “critical” because it actually performs public services. The unintended consequence of his announcement, however, is to remind taxpayers, once again, about the widespread duplication of efforts in this bloated and wasteful government.
These, according to the mayor’s press release writer, are his office’s services: water truck deliveries, quarry operations and coral deliveries, road repairs, junk car removal, site preparations for wakes and funerals, village cleanups and beautification projects.
What among these tasks cannot be, or is not already being, performed by private companies, private individuals, DPW, DEQ and volunteer groups?
And we all wonder why this government continues to sink into the financial swamp of its own making.

Limit competition and cheaters get ahead

CUC has yet to explain why it wants firms interested in the power privatization procurement to pay $76,000 in nonrefundable fees just for the privilege of being pre-qualified.
This requirement doesn’t help the CNMI’s reputation abroad, and it tarnishes the reputation of the new executive director of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. as well. CUC officials may be hoping that other urgent issues like minimum wage, immigration, and the government’s bankruptcy will distract the public from the obscene scenario it has prepared for competitors in the power project. It won’t.
As CUC, of all agencies, should know, bad procurements do not go away. These transactions are a matter of official record. As CUC plows ahead without regard for these considerations it is saddling itself and its officials with the consequences of an irredeemable loss of reputation and credibility. This, in turn, places a high toll on the cost of doing business in the CNMI, and will inevitably cost ordinary power users.
Less business means less competition, which means higher costs for consumers. Less business means fewer competent and qualified firms, and this translates to substandard service at a higher cost. If CUC does not — and it should — reverse its decision to impose the pre-qualification fees, it is dooming its consumers to fewer choices…and higher costs. These will be the results of the CUC management’s decision, and it is important that the public know where the responsibility lies.