Tonga education staff claim bullying by the PM

Transcript

A petition to revoke the appointments of Tonga's Prime Minister as Minister for Education and Training and 'Etuate Lavulavu as acting minister has been sent around Tonga and will be presented to the King on Tuesday.

The spokesperson for the committee who organised the petition says there has been huge support around the country from people who want to see 'Akilisi Pohiva and Mr Lavulavu removed from the Ministry.

Emeli Pouvalu spoke to Indira Moala about why the petition was formed.

EMELI POUVALU: They have not upheld the rule of law with regards to the Education Act, as well as the national law.  They have also failed to respect the process and procedures of government.  Third one is nepotism.  Fourth one is conflict of interest and the fifth one is the damages that they have done to people, especially those in the ministry.  They have been threatened and they are scared and they cannot function well so they are not confident with their employment and its future.  Those were the grounds that we all decided to make the petition.

INDIRA MOALA:  Are you saying that there has been some bullying going on?

EP:  That's right.  People were threatened and moved from one section to another and the reason was disobedience and non-compliance.  These people don't understand why they were moved.  They were not disobeying.

IM:  So what's the process at the moment?  Is the petition being sent around the country?

EP:  Yes, they have sent out the forms for signatures.  The palace office has agreed that they will be awaiting our petition on Tuesday.

IM:  So far, how much support is there from the public in terms of revoking the Prime Minister and Minister 'Etuate's portfolios?

EP:  We are confident that there will be a great majority because the petition is not only from teachers or workers of the ministry, it's for the whole country, including parents and former CEOs and retired teachers et cetera.

IM:  Do you think the Prime Minister and Minister 'Etuate have enough experience to be holding this portfolio?

EP:  I don't believe so.  They have been away from any educational thing for more than 30 years.  I don't think that that is adequate for the current development in education in Tonga and the whole world.  They lack the proper information.  One other thing we could see is that they are also abusing their power.  In the government structure, there are limited functions of the minister in the daily running of the ministry.  We have seen a whole lot of damage that has been done simply because he comes down to the operational level and starts administering the whole ministry.  We believe that he should maintain his PM status and leave the ministry to be apolitical and run its own mission.  What makes it worse is that he hasn't been listening to advice or comments from his senior offices.  I think, whatever happens, we need somebody else who can work together with the staff from the ministry.