The Public Service Commission (PSC) has picked the Ministry of Labour and Commerce CEO Edgar Cocker as Tonga’s new Chief Secretary and Secretary to Cabinet, reports said.
The news came after the Prime Minister reportedly told local radio station FM 87.5 that Cocker has been elected by a PSC panel.
However, the Prime Minister’s media spokesperson Lōpeti Senituli told Kaniva news this morning the PSC has yet to officially inform the PM’s Office.
In an email, Cocker did not deny the news but said he has yet to receive the “official endorsement.”
The post became vacant in July 2018 after the former chief secretary and secretary to cabinet, Dr. Palenitina Langa’oi Tiueti, resigned to join her husband who was being sent to California by the United Methodist Church.
Cocker was appointed as CEO for the Ministry of Commerce, Consumer, Trade, Innovation and Labour on 30 October, 2017 and was expected to end in 2021.
