Tongatapu 5 MP Dr ʻAisake Eke has warned that Tonga’s worsening government audit performance could undermine the confidence of overseas partners providing budgetary support to the Kingdom.
Eke raised the concern in Parliament after reviewing the Government’s overall audit results for the 2024/25 financial year, which he said were significantly worse than those recorded in 2023/24.
He said the decline extended across government ministries and departments, many of which had allegedly failed to respond adequately to findings and questions raised by the Audit Office.
“Looking at the overall audit results and comparing them with those of the previous year, I can see that they are extremely poor,” Eke told Parliament.
“The results for 2024/25 are worse than those for 2023/24.”
Foreign Funding Confidence at Risk
Eke said Tonga’s overseas partners could become concerned if they saw public institutions repeatedly failing to address audit findings while continuing to receive foreign financial assistance.
“We must remember that the money we administer belongs to our own people and also includes budgetary support provided by our overseas development partners,” he said.
“It is important that we maintain their confidence. If our overseas partners observe this pattern of declining performance, I believe they will also become concerned.”
Audit findings allegedly ignored
Eke questioned why ministries and departments appeared to pay little attention when the Audit Office asked them to respond to its findings.
“When the Audit Office releases its findings and asks ministries and departments to respond, there appears to be little or no attention given to them,” he said.
“The responses received are also inadequate.”
The MP warned that failing to answer audit concerns could weaken confidence in how public and donor funds were being managed.
Public boards also deteriorating
Eke said similar problems had been identified among Tonga’s public boards, with the latest audit period revealing more concerns than in previous years.
“Their performance is unsatisfactory, and the problems identified this year are considerably greater than those reported previously,” he said.
“We can therefore see that our overall performance is declining.”
He said the deteriorating results reflected broader weaknesses in the Government’s compliance with the law.
Eke also acknowledged that Parliament was not exempt from responsibility.
“This also includes the Legislative Assembly—we are part of the problem,” he said.
Call to restore confidence
Eke urged ministries, departments, public boards and Parliament to act on the findings during the 2025/26 financial year and reverse the continuing decline.
He said addressing the problems was essential not only for protecting taxpayers’ money but also for maintaining the trust of countries and international organisations supporting Tonga’s national budget.
“We must reverse the graph so that it no longer continues downwards but begins moving upwards,” Eke said.
No evidence was presented that any overseas partner had already reduced or threatened to withdraw budgetary support. However, Eke warned that continued deterioration could cause them to question whether Tonga’s public funds were being managed responsibly.
