“Their roles are different, but all bring a high-degree of accountability and action to their work, which benefits the public,” said the newspaper. “A thread that links the performance of these individuals is that each of the agencies they supervise are overseen by boards of directors that are majority dominated by non-government, private sector and community representatives.”
The standout performers recognized are:
• Saane Aho, administrator, Marshall Islands Social Security administration, whose organization since 2002 has produced nine consecutive years of audits that have identified no problems with the retirement agency’s accounting and financial reporting — a record that is unequalled by any Marshall Islands government entity ever. “There is no question about Social Security’s high-degree of accountability that gives the public confidence that its money is being handled properly,” said the newspaper.
• Heran Bellu, Marshall Islands postmaster general, who has nearly doubled the revenue generated by the PO from earlier management, made it profitable after years of losses and government subsidies, and taken an agency that was once un-auditable to produce its first “no finding” audit in fiscal year 2010, “joining Social Security as the only government agency to reach this level of financial accountability,” the Journal said.
• Carl Hacker, president, College of the Marshall Islands, who stepped into a difficult situation in early 2011 when the previous college president resigned. Hacker has not only brought stability to the operation of the national college, but he has worked with faculty and staff to roll out new training opportunities for the benefit of the public, including a new carpentry and vocational training focused program that started in August and has set in motion a plan to open a new maritime training program in 2012, the paper noted. He is also expanding educational opportunities for high school dropouts and promoting access to college programs on islands outside of the capital, Majuro.
• Daisy Alik-Momotaro, executive director of the national women’s group Women United Together Marshall Islands, which in 2011 put the problem of domestic violence squarely on the agenda of the government and the community. WUTMI has spearheaded trainings for police, health workers and other “first responders” to develop understanding and protocols for intervening and handling domestic violence. “Through the work of WUTMI, work on domestic violence, gender equality, voting rights and human rights in general has gone beyond the talking stage to action — in the community, at the Nitijela (parliament) and in the government,” said the Journal.
The Marshall Islands Journal is a weekly newspaper that has been published in Majuro since 1970.
