A message to the world

Greetings from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. To all of you who may be considering investing in or moving your business to the CNMI, the newspaper headline stories of the last few days bring you reality!

In case you missed my three-part “Economic Ruin of the CNMI” series a few months ago, I would like to bring you up to speed: In short, it is all coming true and on the timetable I laid out, too. Garment sector is down by 30 percent, with more to come; out of work alien workers are now capsizing our ship; airlines and hotels are going away; ancillary businesses are laying off workers and business is down to a trickle; CUC cannot keep the lights on, the Ports Authority is now predicted to lose nearly 5 percent of its income base every year for the next five years (that’s 25 percent—hello!) and the government is out to lunch (election year) with nearly $400 million in debt.

This message is being brought to you in large measure to highlight the antics of one government agency that just about everyone wishing to invest in the CNMI must navigate. That is the Marianas Public Lands Authority or MPLA. Have you been reading the papers lately? It seems that this once semi-autonomous government agency has now mutated into an autocratic government agency. It is single-handedly destroying the economic future of the indigenous peoples of the CNMI (never mind the non-indigenous, they will simply leave) while touting themselves as protecting indigenous rights. If this is protection, then I think it may be better to take your chances in the wild.

Every single potential investor that has knocked on MPLA’s door in the last five years has given up in disgust and left. Now, hardly anyone even bothers to knock on the door (except for the lawyers). Could it be that in the world—outside the CNMI—of high finance, risk venture capitalization and investing, there really is honor, ethics and adherence to moral standards and that these business moguls really do talk to one another after all? Or do they simply read our online newspapers while shaking their heads in disbelief?

Evict and sue a new telephone company while negotiating new and/or old land use contracts and, at the same time, preparing a 50-page legal document complete with exhibits and exempting other companies from paying the same fees? Seems that this art of negotiating is a ploy oft used (and abused) by an agency out of control. I can just see a multitude of legal actions down the road (Prediction number 47 and I’m batting 46 to 0 so far!). Sorry about those scary exclamation points, Mr. F. Matthew Smith, but I think now’s the time to use a few.

So now I ask you, what company in their right mind would want to do business in this maelstrom? It is time for some changes.

Dr. Thomas D. Arkle, Jr.
San Jose, Tinian