On June 13, 2008, a small majority of members of the House of Ariki attempted a coup, claiming to dissolve the elected government and to take control of the country's leadership. "Basically we are dissolving the leadership, the prime minister and the deputy prime minister and the ministers," chief Makea Vakatini Joseph Ariki explained. The Cook Islands Herald suggested that the ariki were attempting thereby to regain some of their traditional prestige or mana.[19][20] Prime Minister Jim Marurai described the take-over move as "ill-founded and nonsensical".[21] By June 23, the situation appeared to have normalised, with members of the House of Ariki accepting to return to their regular duties.[22]