Tonga’s national sporting body, TASANOC, has proposed a compromise to end the standoff between the government and Pacific Games Council.
The two bodies have been at loggerheads over the government’s decision to remove Lord Sevele of Vailahi as Chief Executive Officer of Tonga’s Games Organising Committee.
Tonga is due to host the Pacific Games in 2019.
Lord Sevele’s removal was approved by a majority of members of the government’s Audit and Governance Authority.
In a statement released yesterday, TASANOC said Lord Sevele’s removal was not done for personal reasons.
The national sporting body said it wanted to settle any doubts about the games so that it could get on with preparing Tonga’s athletes and building the Games facilities.
TASANOC has proposed a 45 day performance review of the Tongan Games organising committee as a way of ensuring the committee met the requirements of the 2012 Host Contract and the Pacific Games Organisation Act 2013.
It said this would ensure the committee was fully accountable and transparent.
A statement from TASANOC, attributed to Acting President/Senior Vice President ‘Ahongalu Fusimalohi and Interim Chief Executive Officer/Executive Member Emeline Tuita, said it was necessary to bring the focus back to Tonga’s national sports interests.
The statement said the Games facilities would be completed in time regardless of whether the Games were hosted in the Kingdom or not.
“TASANOC fully supports the Authority’s position that it is intolerable for them to accept that their attempts to ensure good governance, accountability and transparency of the Organising Committee, a role that is legislated to the Authority, is being perceived by the Pacific Games Council as political interference and implied to be a material breach of the Host Contract,” the statement said.
It said that while the Pacific Games Council retained overall control of the Games, the host country and its organising committee were responsible for staging the Games.
“It is our fervent hope that the Pacific Games Council will view our joint efforts as being the optimal solution to protect the integrity of organization and staging of the Games,” the TASANOC statement said.
“The status of the Organising Committee as an independent statutory body is not and has never been in question, but its decisions and activities must stand on the principles of good governance, accountability and transparency and this must be demonstrated to the Authority as the legal overseer of the Organising Committee.”
The main points
- Tonga’s national sporting body, TASANOC, has proposed a compromise to end the standoff between the government and Pacific Games Council.
- The two bodies have been at loggerheads over the government’s decision to remove Lord Sevele of Vailahi as Chief Executive Officer of Tonga’s Games Organising Committee.
- In a statement released yesterday, TASANOC said Lord Sevele’s removal was not done for personal reasons.
- The national sporting body said it wanted to settle any doubts about the games so that it could get on with preparing Tonga’s athletes and building the Games facilities.
For more information
Sports Minister breaks silence over Games row, tells RNZI loss “would be a blow” (Kaniva News)
Government would welcome losing 2019 Games if PGC supports Lord Sevele (Kaniva News)
