10 Oct 2016

Excuses for stymied Tonga government "poor"

12:28 pm on 10 October 2016

A Tongan publisher says the prime minister's complaint that his government is deadlocked because it's being stymied by senior officials is a poor excuse for his government's failures.

Last week, 'Akilisi Pohiva said top officials were sticking to the old system in which the nobility, instead of the public, were the priority.

He said the government needs the power to ensure CEOs, government commissioners and the Attorney General do what the government wants for the benefit of the people.

But Kalafi Moala, a publisher who was Mr Pohiva's press secretary for a year, said the government does have that power.

Tonga Prime Minister 'Akilisi Pohiva.

Tonga Prime Minister 'Akilisi Pohiva. Photo: RNZ

He said the prime minister is just making excuses for his poor performance.

"The actual running of things day-to-day, the management, the structure, everything, is run by the prime minister and his cabinet. So I don't have any understanding, really, of why Pohiva would blame the so-called bureaucracy for his non-performance," he said.

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