Jacklick and Clerk Gary Ueno formally signed the 26-page plan that aims to improve operations of the national parliament.
“This document comes at a pivotal point in the history of our nation, a point at which a change in course and mindset is imperative,” he said. “Our ancestors were skilled navigators able to anticipate danger ad make course corrections by reading and taking heed of the signs given them in nature.
Like them, we must now take heed of the many indications that the course taken by our country since independence is not sustainable and puts the future of our nation at risk.”
He said the new corporate plan lays out a “radical course change” to steer the Nitijela into “a better, sustainable future” for the country.
Jacklick said the corporate plan is a culmination of a parliamentary strengthening project started under then-Speaker Litokwa Tomeing and continued by then-speaker, now President Jurelang Zedkaia with the support of the United Nations Development Program.
“We cannot continue for the next 10 years (as we’ve been),” he said. “We must make radical change to accomplish what we were born to do — develop economically, and improve our education and health standards for people to live comfortably in the future.”
The speaker has vowed to cut excess spending from the parliament’s budget, and said $16,000 in allowances for senators will be cut from the fiscal year 2011 budget that goes to parliament in August. The cabinet has also endorsed plans for trimming $2.6 million off allowances, subsidies, new vehicle purchases and other expenses for the upcoming budget.
