Dear Editor,

The National Office of Disaster has stepped in to take the lead over the overflow of oil from Cooks into the sea and mangroves.

So here is my question. Why hasn’t the National Office of Disaster intervened and made its presence felt in other disasters?

Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of APUA and Ministry of Health. These are 3 monumental disasters. Roads are the worse in history with no apparent plan and no sense of urgency. Roads are dug up, huge tracks are dug out in squares and are left for weeks and sometimes months with no signage. The road behind WIOC is a glaring example. Massive water and fuel trucks and 40 ft containers are allowed to mash up minor roads as they take short cuts with immunity. The Cedar Valley road is a prime example of a road destroyed first by big trucks and then by APUA and then just left. Real disaster.

Then APUA. No water but they go along merrily destroying road and just leaving them. Disaster on top of disaster.

Then Ministry of Health. SLBMC is a real disaster. Again, there is no maintenance and no plan. Bringing in nurses from overseas cannot and will not solve the problem of a lack of resources, a lack of space, a lack of equipment, a lack of basic items needed for health care. And while all of this is happening, we spend millions on jump up for One Nation Concert and now hundred thousand for a stage.

But there are others. We have recently heard of judgements delayed for years going back to 2016 at the Industrial Court. That is a disaster.

At least 7 government office have been closed or transferred due to lack of maintenance. Another disaster.

And there are more. Others can add to this list.

OTTO