Marshall Islands: Changes Coming to Postal Service
Postal Service operations in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) are being restructured and new equipment purchased to upgrade capabilities, according to RMI Chief Secretary Casten Nemra. Yesterday’s meeting of the Marshall Islands Chamber of Commerce featured a presentation by Nemra, who is also Chairman of the Board for the new RMI Postal Authority.
In August, Nemra and the Majuro Postmaster, Danny Note, attended a postal meeting in Palau, where it was announced postal services in the FSM and RMI would return to US domestic rates. “I expect to see a USPS circular published very soon that you can review. We’ve been informed that the change back to US ‘domestic rates’ will occur as early as the end of this November or at the latest by January 1, 2008.”
Opening the meeting, Chamber President Jack Niedenthal said the announcement of concessions was a great victory for the Chamber. Many in the Marshall Islands’ business community had been actively lobbying for these changes for several years.
The Chamber, which has been hosting various government agencies and reps in monthly forums throughout 2007, invited Secretary Nemra and Postal Service Officials to update the Chamber.
Speaking of changes being made by the new Postal Authority, Nemra said they were in the process of hiring a full time accountant and several mail carriers, as well as providing training for current executives and clerical workers.
At present, there are 50 employees, three of which are in Ebeye, with the remainder serving in the Uliga and Delap locations on Majuro.
The Board has decided to work closely with its counterparts in the United States Postal Service (USPS), said Nemra. Mr. Leo Tudela, USPS, came to Majuro and met the Board in July, 2007. A USPS inspection team, based in Hawaii, will review the Marshalls’ financial situation and operations in March, 2008.
Many of the questions from the Chamber floor focused on general management issues, such as requesting that the Majuro Post Office be open through the lunch hour.
Nemra said there were personnel constraints that prevented them from opening during the lunch hour at the present, but the Board would consider it after hiring new people.
The lack of change for Post Office transactions during the first hours of operation was mentioned as an on-going problem. One Chamber member said that when they go to buy stamps, they are told that the person who has the key to the stamp drawer has not come to work. He was told the Board is now starting to work on management issues such as these.
Two years ago, after serious internal control problems were identified by USPS investigations, the Marshall Islands Government, under the Office of Finance, began corrective measures and restructuring. Audits of the system were to be forthcoming.
Regarding audits of the RMI Postal Service, the Chairman said that the new Board temporarily decided to keep postal financial matters with RMI Finance until the hiring of the new accountant.
In conclusion, Chief Secretary Nemra thanked the Chamber for the invitation to speak and noted that the private sector represents the Post Office’s customers.
