Aggreko would be really disconnected on Sept. 10th, another CUC official said. But the Variety later learned that Aggreko will remain on island for at least 30 days, and this was confirmed by CUC.
So what’s next? Another belated disclosure that Aggreko will be on standby until, say, December?
Why can’t CUC just tell the entire truth for once?
Perhaps it was a good idea to hire Aggreko or another similar company because no one has been able to properly operate CUC for close to 20 years. No one, however, understood the procurement process by which the contract was awarded and CUC has yet to reveal the total cost, which should include fuel and other expenses, associated with the project.
Aggreko, to be sure, provided and maintained a stable power source for CUC’s customers and this was a blessing. But the administration’s inability to be completely aboveboard in its major policy decisions has tainted what could have been considered an accomplishment.
Indeed, because of the administration’s continued defiance of the Open Government Act, the governor’s grand announcement regarding “the end of the power crisis” had to share equal billing on the newspaper’s front-page with the news about the thousands of taxpayer dollars paid to a D.C. law firm for a pie in the sky lawsuit.
Speaking of which
NOW that Rep. Tina Sablan has won her Open Government Act lawsuit, what’s next? So now we know more about how the administration is paying its federalization lawsuit. But so what? What’s the point of knowing it?
This is not to belittle Sablan’s efforts, but to challenge all the people who expressed outrage about this waste of public funds, including lawmakers and other politicians seeking office, to do something about it. Where are, for example, the proposals to make the executive branch more transparent and more accountable about its expenditures? Anyone?
‘Change’ you can believe in
CUC, at least, has finally hired qualified managers. In contrast, the CNMI’s only hospital hasn’t been run by competent and experienced administrators since it opened. Every governor has appointed politicians and PR hounds that spend more time in front of the camera posing with new products or announcing new programs while running CHC into the ground. There were a few years here and there when the hospital functioned well, more or less. But those days are long gone. A handful of dedicated doctors, nurses, technicians and staff hold the place together out of a sense of community, duty and moral obligation.
Of course, back then, the Legislature conducted routine budget hearings, an opportunity to examine and evaluate agency operations and performance. But this important vetting practice has been all but abandoned. True, just before an election, lawmakers will conduct oversight hearings, but only to evaluate issues that are obvious to everyone but themselves. This gives them cover, a public display of action with no real action to follow.
But many of these legislators are afraid to evaluate problems on their own, to make decisions, to take action. They prefer the safety that inaction provides.
But they are also re-elected, time and again, by voters who always demand “change” in an election year.
There’s a lesson here somewhere.
