The Morovian Telegraph

Morovia's Government Unravels

Looking at Assembly, Cabinet and King, the current operation of the Morovian government seems problematic at best.

First, the election for Royal Assembly was uncontested - itself a worrisome sign. Five people ran for five slots. The official Royal Assembly election results were posted on October 22, 2002. On November 8, 2002, His Majesty King Vincent III began swearing in the five representatives (the last, I believe, that he has posted to the board) and by November 12, 2002 four of the five new Royal Assembly representatives were sworn - Captain Christopher Anderson mysteriously having gone missing. Between November 12th and November 20th, the outgoing Speaker, the Hon. David Oatney, convened the Assembly and called for nominations for Speaker. The poll for Speaker began November 20th and concluded November 26th with the Hon. Bill Bekkenhuis elected Speaker. The election for People's Representative began on November 26th and concluded - after the resignation of the Hon. Robert Gresham from the Assembly - on December 1st.

Thus, election results were posted on October 22nd and the Assembly - at three-fifths strength - is ready to begin work some five or so weeks later on December 1st.

The attrition within the Cabinet has also been calamitous.

On October 25th Lord Marc Lanson publicly announced he was leaving saying, "A few months ago I tendered my resignation at Minister of Defense to His Majesty, and received no reply...". On November 3rd, the Hon. Thomas Cutterham resigned as Minister of Information and on November 26th James Cardinal Murphy resigned his position as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

As far as issues dependent on His Majesty's positive engagement with Morovia, a number of things seem either to be slipping through the cracks or, if the delay is deliberate, the King has not been communicating his reasons for delay to the nation.

Specifically, the treaty with the MSE has been negotiated at the cost of many hours of Cardinal Murphy's time over the past five months or more - and its status is still unknown. At least two citizen-candidates are in limbo. According to the Cardinal, "Bishop Cicatello applied some months ago. His application was approved but he never received his decree making him a citizen. Jeff Nowak applied over a month ago and emailed the palace. He has yet to receive a response from anyone." The Privacy Bill passed at the end of the last assembly has apparently died due to a lack of Royal Assent at the end of the legally mandated two week period.

It seems that government in Morovia is becoming profoundly dysfunctional and that our leadership is being leeched away to other commitments. And unless the root cause of that malady is discovered and the bleeding stopped, Morovia stands to become (at best) a nation of no consequence or (at worst) a laughing stock in the micronational community.

Bill Bekkenhuis
Correspondent, The Morovian Telegraph