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Cruz: Muna should resign from CUC
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Posted on Dec 16 2008
The president of a local organization is asking Antonio Muña to resign as executive director of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.
In an e-mail to Muña and several legislators, Gregorio Cruz Jr., president of Taotao Tano, asked Muña to resign, citing CUC’s recent hiring of Wallon Young, a former official at the American Samoa Power Authority.
“Please do not be offended but you should turn in your resignation immediately for we now have an expert on board with the qualified and certified expertise in managing a Public Utilities (Company), and being that he was highly recommended by OIA (Office of Insular Affairs) Mr. Pula, I think he can’t afford to screw up with this rehabilitation and repair project,” Cruz said.
He pointed out that Muña’s salary could be used to pay back some reprogrammed Capital Improvement Program funds or used to cover the expenses of the Aggreko generators.
Muña could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Cruz’s request came after he questioned why CUC was hiring Young, who will earn $156,000 to $180,000 each year for a two-year contract, as deputy director of Utilities Systems Rehabilitation.
To which Muna responded, “It’s not the salary that is ridiculous. What is ridiculous is how we got ourselves in this mess. 81MW plant only producing 9.5MW, now that’s ridiculous. Do not expect that the cure is going to be cheap when the patient is already sick (very sick). What could have been prevented with proper maintenance was not—so expect that the cure will be costly. The lesson to learn here is not to repeat the mistakes of the past.”
