MAJURO — An independent review of the Marshall Islands legislature, the Nitijela, has called for significant reforms to improve government accountability. But a majority of its 33 members didn’t show up last week for a review of the draft assessment that was funded by the United Nations Development Program as part of a Pacific-wide “good governance” program.
Long-term political stability, popular participation in influencing legislation and freedom of speech all contributed to the Marshall Islands receiving a more positive legislative review than a number of its Pacific neighbors, according to UNDP consultant Jon Fraenkel, who drafted a 103-page legislative needs assessment for the Nitijela.
“Despite this enviable record of political stability and strengthening political life, the Marshall Islands government faces serious and widely acknowledged problems of accountability and transparency,” says Fraenkel, a professor at the University of the South Pacific in Suva.
Only nine of the 33 Nitijela members, including President Kessai Note, turned out for the beginning of a two-day legislative consultation with the Nitijela to review ways to improve its operation. By later in the session, the number had swelled to 15—still two short of even the normal quorum needed for a regular session of the Nitijela.
Despite the small turnout, Speaker Litokwa Tomeing and Note opened the proceedings with remarks that highlighted the need to strengthen the operations of the Nitijela as an essential ingredient in developing “good governance” throughout Marshall Islands government operations.
Noting annual audits and government reports that listed poor accounting standard, misuse of funds and persistent non-reporting by government agencies, state-owned enterprises, local governments and ministries, Fraenkel’s assessment said there is “an urgent need to strengthen the oversight and enforcement role of the legislature, and in particular to revitalize the links between the Nitijela’s public accounts committee, the auditor general, the attorney general and Finance Ministry.”
Fraenkel also endorsed Note’s point that the executive branch cannot bring about government reform without legislative participation. “It’s very important to activate the Nitijela as a check and balance,” Fraenkel said.
Among his recommendations, Fraenkel urged the Nitijela to:
• Enhance the role of the Electoral Office, particularly in improving the quality of the data produced from election results.
• Create a “culture of openness, transparency and accountability” to move to a more acceptable style of running government operations.
• Understand that the parliamentary opposition has a primary role to play in the operation of a democracy. Opposition parties have been “treated negatively” here, Fraenkel said. But acceptance of an “official opposition” helps the legislature to run better.
• Increase women’s engagement in national politics by eliminating an apparently negative attitude about women in politics.
After Fraenkel’s opening remarks, Sen. Maynard Alfred asked what “kind of a monster are we dealing with? Was the report prepared on the basis of Nitijela needs or on the basis of standardizing our (legislature( with others in the region?”
UNDP’s Mose Saitala, who is the interim secretariat for the newly renamed speakers organization known as the Forum of Presiding Officers in the Pacific, replied that the Marshalls assessment focused on basic legislative functions of the Nitijela while applying the test of “good governance” as defined by speakers and heads of state in the Pacific region.
