Transcript
MO'ALE FINAU: I think this is a very wise move, not only initiated by the Prime Minister but I think the whole cabinet, who finally decided not to permanently stop the project but just to stop temporarily while we make an investigation into the use of the fund that has been contributed by the World Bank for this project. So I think to me it is wise that we have finally come to make this decision because we have to do it and to make sure that the money is spent in the right way.
KORO VAKA'UTA: So who has been in charge of the project?
MF: To my understanding it is a project funded by the World Bank through the Ministry of Infrastructure, so the Ministry of Infrastructure is the one that is in charge of this project regarding the control of the funds and how it is distributed.
KV: The Prime Minister has said that there is something like over one million pa'anga unaccounted for, is this surprising to you or you had concerns about this?
MF: Honestly I have heard rumours a long time ago but this is the first time we kind of officially declared that there is some funds that are unaccounted for.
KV: You were saying that it is the Ministry of Infrastructure who has been leading this project so there could be an issues within government?
MF: The project is under the control of the Ministry of Infrastructure but there has been a committee under the Deputy Prime Minister. He has a ministry, it is called MEIDECC, for disasters so I can say that ministry and the Ministry of Infrastructure, they are the ones that should come up now with an answer for this issue.
KV: And that is a lot of money, that could be really used to help the people of Ha'apai, give us an example or a picture of how many homes are still needed to be built. How many people are still waiting to be helped?
MF: So far there are about 75 houses that are left to be built and of course this is a large number of people that are still waiting for their houses to be completed. But I think we have made these people understand the issue and how important it is for them to wait because we have to take care of this issue before we continue with the project.
KV: So you are hoping this won't affect the rest of the people that need help?
MF: I hope not because there was an over-payment from this fund and the World Bank they knew it very well so I don't think this issue at the moment will affect the recovery project because the project will continue. So I think the World Bank will be very supportive of this move by the government of Tonga because we all have to work honestly to make sure that every fund being donated for the development of our nation, should be taken care of.
