Outgoing Prime Minister Pōhiva Tu’i’onetoa reportedly said the Auditor-General has conducted an inquiry into what had been described as an alleged breach of Tonga Power Ltd spending rules.
Pōhiva Tu’i’onetoa (L), Lord Lasike
Mr Tu’i’onetoa confirmed the high-level investigation to Kakalu ‘O Tonga newspaper this week and warned the media to wait until the investigation outcome was released.
Mr Tu’i’onetoa, who had been accused of refusing for months to take action against his fraudster Cabinet Minister Akosita Lavulavu claimed the investigation involved “due process” after what he described in Tongan as an independent accusation “tukuaki’i tau’atāina”.
As Kaniva News reported last week, Mr Tu’i’onetoa suspended Lord Lasike, the chairman of Tonga Power Ltd pending investigation after allegations he had misspent the company’s fund to support Sovaleni in the lead up to the premiership vote last week. Lasike denied this.
The former Speaker claimed Mr Tu’i’onetoa failed to follow due process over his suspension with pay.
He told Tnews the “due process wasn’t done”.
The king’s noble believed the due process should have involved giving him a chance to respond to his accusations before any further action.
“There is always a process for hiring and firing,” he said referring to the normal dismissal rule in which an employer may end their employee’s employment via a dismissal, but a proper process must always be followed.
“I was just ordered to leave and go home and never come back to the workplace while being investigated”, Lord Lasike said in Tongan. He said he received the letter of his suspension.
He said he has been let down by the situation and he will take legal action against the government’s sole electricity provider.
Lord Lasike was barred from parliament in 2012 following his conviction on weapon offences. The Court of Appeal overturned his conviction.
Prime Minister-Designate Siaosi Sovaleni has urged Tongan parents to embrace the COVID-19 vaccination for young children, as the latest official data shows a low percentage rate of vaccinations for this age group.
Prime Minister-Designate Siaosi Sovaleni. Photo/Fale Alea ‘O Tonga
Mr Sovaleni has urged parents on Facebook yesterday to take their children for their second jabs.
He said the vaccination rate for children aged 12 – 17 was still low.
His appeal came after the Ministry of Health officially announced on Monday that 96 percent or 73, 748 of the population aged 12 and over had their first vaccination dose done while 78 percent or 59,834 had taken their second shots.
World Health Organisation (WHO) record showed that as of 12 December 2021, a total of 130,236 vaccine doses had been administered in Tonga.
The kingdom recorded its first Covid-19 case in October after a person who was one of 215 people who arrived in Tonga on a repatriation flight from Christchurch, New Zealand tested positive.
Awaiting king’s appointment
Meanwhile, Kaniva News understands the official release of the full list of Sovaleni’s new Cabinet is awaiting the new Prime Minister’s appointment by the king.
Tonga’s constitution states the King has to appoint the Prime Minister-Designate for the election to come into effect.
The king normally appointed former Prime Ministers just before or after Christmas or on the first week of January the following year.
In 2010, after the election of Lord Tu’ivakanō as Prime Minister under the new democratic system of government on December 21 he was officially appointed by the king on December 22.
After the election of late ‘Akilisi Pōhiva to be the new Prime Minister on December 18 the king officially appointed him on December 30, 2014.
Pōhiva was re-elected on December 18 as Prime Minister after the snap election of 2017 and was later appointed by the king on January 4, 2018.
There are 28 new cases of Covid-19 in the community, and no new Omicron cases in Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ).
Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
In a statement, the Ministry of Health said of the new cases, 21 are in Auckland, five in Bay of Plenty, and two in Taranaki.
Four in Bay of Plenty are in the Tauranga area and one in Murapara, who is a household contact of a previously reported case.
One of the cases in Taranaki is linked to the Eltham cluster, while the other is linked to a case in New Plymouth.
There are 57 cases in hospital, 10 in North Shore, 25 in Auckland, 19 in Middlemore, one in Northland, and two in Waikato. Seven cases are in ICU or HDU (one in North Shore; two in Auckland; three in Middlemore, one in Northland).
The ministry has also revealed that a recent returnee who left Middlemore Hospital without discharge, after being transferred from MIQ, also took their child with them.
The child was transferred in the ambulance with the parent because it meant they could not be left unattended in managed isolation due to their age.
Police are currently investigating the incident which happened early on Monday morning.
The parent tested negative twice; first on day zero in managed isolation and second in a rapid antigen test when arriving at hospital on Sunday night.
“We want to reiterate the importance of the pair returning to managed isolation to complete their isolation period and to have further testing on Day 3 and Day 6.”
There were also five cases detected at the border. They arrived between 15 and 19 December, with one from Tanzania, two from the United Kingdom, and the rest have yet to confirm their travel history. Four are in Auckland, one is in Christchurch.
Also, the latest round of MIQ room releases has been postponed for 24 hours due to the Omicron situation.
Three previously reported cases in Canterbury were reclassified as ‘under investigation’ and have now subsequently been reclassified again as confirmed cases.
Nelson-Marlborough DHB is expected to become the tenth DHB to hit the 90 percent fully vaccinated milestone later today based on uptake among its eligible population, with just 246 doses to go as of 11.59pm yesterday.
For Māori vaccinations, Wairarapa DHB has just four doses remaining to reach 90 percent partially vaccinated for its population.
Meanwhile, the Waitangi Tribunal this morning released a scathing report into the government’s Covid-19 response, finding several Treaty breaches.
It said the government’s decision to go against its own expert advice put Māori at a disproportionate risk in the Delta outbreak.
The flight for Tonga scheduled for today by Air New Zealand has been grounded due to fresh volcanic eruption reported near the kingdom yesterday.
Lord Ma’afu. Photo/Tonga Parliament
This means, the bodies of Lord Ma’afu and Fr Seluni ‘Akau’ola which were booked to be flown to Tonga this morning continued to remain with their families and kāinga in New Zealand.
Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai started letting off steam on Sunday night, around 8:30pm (Tonga’s timezone is the same as New Zealand’s), Newshub reported.
“A plume rose about 15km into the air, with varied reports on whether it contained ash or was just steam”, it said.
“The explosion could be heard up to 170km away, Volcano Discovery reported, citing social media reports”.
The body of Tonga’s Deputy Prime Minister Lord Ma’afu was scheduled to depart Auckland International Airport this morning at 9:40am on Air New Zealand Flight 1172.
Fr Seluini ‘Akau’ola
It was expected that Her Majesty’s Queen Nanasipau’u Tuku’aho and dignitaries would welcome Lord Ma’afu at the Fua’amotu International Airport VIP lounge at 12pm, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
Lord Ma’afu was farewelled yesterday from the Morrison Funeral Directors in Auckland by the New Zealand Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio and New Zealand Defence Force personnel.
“Aotearoa New Zealand was deeply saddened by the death of The Right Honourable Colonel Lord Ma’afu”, a statement posted to Facebook by the NZ High Commission office in Tonga said.
“Condolences were passed in person to Lord Ma’afu’s family by both Minister Sio and New Zealand Defence Force Commodore Williams,” the statement said.
“The farewell was a combination of military ceremonial and traditional Tongan marks of respect”.
Meanwhile, the body of the Roman Catholic priest, Fr Seluini ‘Akau’ola remains in Auckland for a couple more days.
Fr ‘Akau’ola was the first chairman of Tonga’s Pro Democracy Movement in 1992.
He reportedly died after he suffered from what appeared to be an incurable disease.
OP-ED The apparent four-five split in the nobility MPs’ vote during last week’s vote for the premiership represented a strong dislike for what the outgoing Prime Minister Pōhiva Tu’i’onetoa had done during his two year’s tenure as leader of the kingdom.
While the balloting for the new Prime Minister was kept secret, it is hard to deny the fracture happened, given the revelations before the election that Prime Minister-Designate Siaosi Sovaleni had already garnered the support of 12 MPs while the remaining five MPs stood by Dr ‘Aisake Eke. Both groups vied to get the nobility MPs’ votes so they can make up the 14 number required to win.
The nobles’ split decision marked a political milestone in Tongan history, the first time any nobles had sided with people’s representatives in a move that would not really benefit all of their nobility MPs in the House. The most interesting twist in the nobility’s split was the fact that they did not meet with Sovaleni’s group before the election as they did for Dr Eke’s group. Tu’i’onetoa said few days before the election the nobility MPs met with them and they agreed to support Dr Eke. Sovaleni’s group said they did not meet with the noble MPs.
The obvious lack of horse trading between Sovaleni and the nobility MPs appears to show the nobles’ move was not political, but a mere show of rejections and refusal of some of the second highest social class in the kingdom to allow Tu’i’onetoa to be part of the new government. Tu’i’onetoa was a staunch supporter of unsuccessful rival premiership candidate, Dr Eke. We also suggested in the run-up to the vote that Dr Eke’s government would be no different from the Tu’i’onetoa government.
The situation showed that Tu’i’onetoa’s repeated attacks against democracy by campaigning to return the country to its former political structure before the 2010 political reform was in vain. His repeated attempts to mislead the nobility into believing that the PTOA (democrats) allegedly plotted to dethrone the king and form a government without the nobles were fruitless. Tu’i’onetoa was obviously defeated on all fronts and on all counts. Before the nobility MPs’ split and moved to support Sovaleni, Tu’i’onetoa complained about being dumped by his own Cabinet Ministers. He said he just found out after the November 18 general elections that their unity was untrue.
Before the general elections on November 18 the nation was already divided politically and Tu’i’onetoa not only appeared to have failed to do anything to fix it, he appeared to have incited it. He was the first Prime Minister to have announced publicly his ambition to take revenge on the Opposition MPs by excluding them and their individual constituencies from the government’s economic and social development policies. He made it clear to Kaniva News that he would support only those MPs who voted for him to become the Prime Minister in 2019.
Tu’i’onetoa was accused of using religion for political and economical gains. Just after he announced his national fast and prayer services to protect Tonga from Covid-19, the media revealed the Tu’i’onetoa government had spent hundreds of thousands of pa’anga from the government budget while conducting the fasting services in ‘Eua. This was followed with the revelation that all the Cabinet Ministers’ spouses were paid by the government while they joined the Ministers on tour to the outer islands for the fast programme. The wide publication of the fast on radio, television and Facebook livestreams was heavily criticised as pharisaical and hypocritical, a reference to Jesus Christ’s advice in Mathew 6-16: “Do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting”.
Tu’i’onetoa was also criticised for showing no compassion after it was revealed his tours around the outer islands for his fast programmes and opening new government’s facilities mostly came with cultural obligations, which meant the poverty-stricken locals had to donate fish, shellfish, food and handicrafts. While these were normal cultural duties, Tu’i’onetoa was seen as a person who would make a change to that. His PAK Party manifesto said his mission was to “set up practical and meaningful poverty reduction programs at community levels, that meet the priority needs of the people”.
He maintained an apparently close relationship with fraudster ‘Etuate Lavulavu, who Tu’i’onetoa seemingly allowed to write his regular radio shows and response to media, even though he was not a parliamentarian or a civil servant. Tu’i’onetoa was regularly mocked by his critics when he appeared to be in difficulties in trying to read out from written documents and his slips of the tongue during live broadcasts.
Tu’i’onetoa was also accused of refusing for months to deal with convicted criminal and Cabinet Member ‘Akosita Lavulavu at the same time he acted quickly to threaten and sack his critics who appeared to have stood in his way. He has been the subject of continuing criticism over apparent cronyism in the awarding of the government’s multi-million road building contracts.
A boy under the age of 10 has become the youngest person with Covid-19 to die in New Zealand, according to data on the Ministry of Health website.
In today’s update of the numbers on the Ministry’s official website, one death has been recorded in the 0-9 age group.
That age group had no deaths listed 24 hours ago and was last updated today. The data says the child is a Māori boy, registered to the Counties Manukau DHB.
The death was not reported in today’s 1pm update from the Ministry.
There have now been 49 deaths of people with Covid-19.
The youngest age group has recorded 2201 cases of Covid-19 since the pandemic began – 16.5 percent of all cases.
The Ministry of Health says the child was tested after he died and returned a positive result.
It was not known that the child who died with Covid-19 had the virus until after his death.
The Ministry said the child was a contact of an identified case.
The death remains under investigation and has been referred to the coroner.
The previous youngest death was one person in their 30s, with four in the forties with the coronavirus also passing away.
By asiapacificreport.nz and is republished with permission.The University of Fiji at Lautoka … controversy over “whistleblower’s” allegations. Image: FBC
By Sri Krishnamurthi for Asia-Pacific Report
Allegations of corruption, nepotism and bad governance at the Lautoka-based University of Fiji have been made by a whistleblower who allegedly lifted the lid on a veritable can of worms.
However, the head of the institution, vice-chancellor Professor Shaista Shameem, has rejected the claims, describing them as “wild allegations” by disgruntled former employees.
Asia-Pacific Report has sighted a four-page document titled “The Nexus of Corruption at the University of Fiji” which lists 10 allegations, including mismanagement of funds gifted to the university.
The allegations were put to Professor Shameem who immediately established a Litany Inquiry Commission (LIC) comprising staff from the five schools at the university
She responded to RNZ Pacific late yesterday after initially sending a message “to all staff and students at the university that she will expect quality performance from all at the university pursuant to the new Strategic Plan 2022-2026”.
Although she was appointed in March, Professor Shameem took up her appointment officially on December 10 — International Human Rights Day. As a human rights lawyer, Professor Shameem believed that the date she chose for the announcement to officially take up her position was symbolic for her.
“I did not want to be the VC. It took a lot of persuasion. I was on retirement track. Then I decided I would take up the offer and that I would do it from 10 December,” she told Asia-Pacific Report.
Prasad calls for independent investigation
“National Federation Party (NFP) leader and former economics professor at the University of the South Pacific Biman Prasad told RNZ Pacific that allegations of fraudulent behaviour should be investigated, especially since the University of Fiji had received more than F$2.7 million (NZ$1.8 million) for the 2020-2021 financial year.
Opposition National Federation Party leader Professor Biman Prasad … the document reveals no academic freedom in Fiji. Image: RNZ Pacific
“Corruption allegations of this nature at any tertiary institution is a matter of serious concern,” he said.
The document’s release to media revealed there was no academic freedom in Fiji, claimed Professor Prasad.
“Academic freedom does not necessarily mean that academics can say whatever they want to say about things outside of the university, but academic freedom also means that staff in the university should be able to raise the issues with the management with respect to any suggestion that there might be corruption or bad governance,” he said.
Professor Shaista Shameem … established a Litany Inquiry Commission (LIC) to investigate the corruption allegations. Image: University of Fiji
“If the issues involve the council members, then it is incumbent upon the council to appoint some independent organisation — such as a reputable accounting firm not influenced by any state apparatus within the country — to give those who are making the allegations and those the allegations are made against … a fair hearing.
“Then any governance issue is dealt with in a proper way.”
Professor Shameem responded strongly by saying “Professor Biman Prasad should take a good hard look at his own backyard before shooting off without any evidence being presented at all in the wild allegations”.
‘Terminated over lack of performance’
“The allegations sent to Radio New Zealand were made by disgruntled and disgraced former employees who were terminated due to lack of performance or breach of Fiji’s law and others who have not performed but expect to be promoted or given permanent employment,” she said.
“The University of Fiji will not be bullied.”
“As far as I am aware, no staff member has raised any matter to do with corruption or bad governance. The University of Fiji has a whistleblower policy which keeps identities confidential and ensures that independent investigation of any allegation takes place promptly.
“No one has so far made such allegations through the whistleblower process. Evidence of bad management practices were certainly present at the University of Fiji in the previous administrations, but a clean-up has since taken place and we are back on the right path”, Professor Shameem said.
She claimed Professor Biman was out of date on the issue.
“Politicians should get themselves up to scratch otherwise no one will have any faith in them come next elections,” she said.
‘Issues had been resolved’
“Over a two-day period of inquiry, the LIC was informed by the staff who had expressed similar views internally that at no time had they sent either Radio New Zealand or a third person their views because their issues had either been resolved by the university administration or they had understood why the university had made the decisions that it had on all the issues they initially found difficult.”
The 10 allegations are about an online learning and teaching software (Top Hat) as used mainly in in American universities, such as the University of Alabama, Rutgers University, and the University of Iowa; purchase of four new cars at a time when staff bonuses and benefits had been suspended and some staff were alleged to have their salaries cut; and a $500,000 donation by the Rajendra Sahay Trust in 2019 for the establishment of a health centre; and issues over the opening of a second café.
However, the document claimed this was the “tip of the iceberg” at the privately owned university, which is run by the Hindu religious organisation Arya Prathinidhi Sabha of Fiji.
The university is based in Lautoka and has a campus in Suva. It has about 1000 students and 100 staff.
New Zealand has recorded another 39 community cases of Covid-19, the Ministry of Health says.
Four new cases of Omicron have been detected in recent international arrivals.
Of the new community cases, there are 25 in Auckland, 11 in Bay of Plenty, 2 in Lakes and one in Taranaki.
There are 49 people in hospital with five of these in ICU or HDU.
The ministry says today’s case numbers do not cover a full 24 hour period due to the change in reporting times to a midnight-to-midnight cycle from 9am-to-9am.
Of the new Omicron cases, two of these were passengers on the international flight with New Zealand’s first Omicron case. Of the other two Omicron cases, one arrived in Auckland from Singapore on 13 December and the other arrived in Christchurch on 13 December from Singapore.
The total number of Omicron cases is now eight.
The ministry says two of the Omicron cases are in a bubble but the other six cases are unrelated to each other suggesting no cross-contamination or cross-infection either in-flight or within MIQ facilities.
All passengers on flights with Omicron cases are now required to complete ten days in MIQ. Other arrivals spend seven days in MIQ and three days in self-isolation.
“We are well placed to manage Omicron cases with isolation and testing requirements for all new arrivals, robust infection and prevention control and PPE measures at airports and MIQ facilities, and frequent surveillance testing of staff who have any contact with recent international returnees,” the ministry said in a statement.
Whole genome sequencing is undertaken on positive cases at the border to identify if these are the Omicron variant.
A boy under the age of 10 became the youngest person with Covid-19 to die in New Zealand, data on the Ministry of Health website revealed yesterday. The data said the child was a Māori boy, registered to the Counties Manukau DHB.
The cases are now isolating at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland while the first case has been transferred to an MIQ facility in Christchurch.
Three new cases of the Omicron Covid-19 variant have been reported in New Zealand’s managed isolation system, with none of them connected to yesterday’s first case.
This evening the Ministry of Health confirmed in a statement that whole genome sequencing has detected three further Omicron cases in recent international arrivals.
“The cases arrived in Auckland from Dubai on December 11 and were transported to a Rotorua MIQ on a bus chartered for international arrivals.”
The Ministry said one case travelled to Dubai from London, the second case travelled to Dubai from Spain and the third travelled to Dubai from Nigeria. All three then boarded the same flight to Auckland.
The cases are now isolating at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland.
All passengers on the flights with the cases will now have to complete all 10 days at a managed isolation facility, instead of spending the last three days of their isolation period in self-isolation.
The Ministry said the detection of further Omicron cases was not surprising given its rapid spread around the world.
“Our health and MIQ teams around the country have been planning for Omicron cases at the border, and will continue to manage all arrivals cautiously.
“Our border settings means we are well placed to manage Omicron cases with isolation and testing requirements for all new arrivals, robust infection and prevention control and PPE measures at airports and MIQ facilities, and frequent surveillance testing of staff who have any contact with recent international returnees.”
Further updates will be provided tomorrow.
Meanwhile, two passengers who travelled to New Zealand with the country’s first Omicron case have tested positive for Covid-19, although one of the cases is the Delta variant.
All three people have been moved to a managed quarantine facility.
The first case reported yesterday arrived in New Zealand on a flight from Germany via Dubai that landed in Auckland before they transferred to Christchurch on a chartered domestic flight.
Currently a booster dose is offered six months after someone has received their second dose of the vaccine, however, some health experts are calling for the booster to be available more quickly.
“We want to be going into winter next year with the highest possible level of population immunity and so far in rolling out our booster programme we’ve seen at that six month interval, about half of people are booking in and having it at six months and it may well be we need a shorter interval to make sure people do get it on time,” he told Morning Report today.
He also said that the single case of Omicron did not mean it would get into the community.
“It’s by no means inevitable and we’ll continue to do everything we can to make sure we keep Omicron either out of the country or at the border if it does come on a flight.”
High vaccination rates, testing, contract tracing and isolation on top of other measures New Zealand had in place would continue to serve us well, he said.
There have been 76 new community cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand today.
In a statement, the Ministry of Health said there are 51 cases in hospital today and five people in ICU.
The hospital patients include two in Waikato, two in Tauranga, one in Christchurch and the rest in Auckland.
Today’s cases are within the new 24-hour reporting timeframe of midnight Wednesday to 11.59pm Thursday.
The new cases are in Auckland (47), Waikato (15), Bay of Plenty (10), Rotorua (1) and Taranaki (3).
Two of the three new cases in Taranaki are linked to the Eltham cluster and the third is based in New Plymouth.
The Waikato cases include six in Hamilton and six in Te Kūiti. The 10 cases in the Bay of Plenty are all in the Tauranga area and nine are linked to previously reported cases.
There were also three new cases identified at the border.
There have now been 10,129 cases in the current community outbreak and 12,947 confirmed cases since the pandemic began.
The Health Ministry said the virus has also been detected in a wastewater sample taken in Napier on Wednesday.
“This could be due to recently recovered cases returning to the region who are shedding the virus, transient visitors, or it could signal undetected cases in the community.”
There are no known Covid-19 cases self-isolating in Napier.
It said two other passengers on the international flight the case arrived on have tested positive for Covid-19 and one further passenger’s positive result is being investigated as a historical infection.
It said one of these infections was the Delta variant, while whole genome sequencing for the other two is due later today.
These three have been moved to a managed quarantine facility.
All of the passengers on the same international and domestic flights as the Omicron case are being treated as close contacts, and all are isolating in a managed isolation facility. All other passengers have returned negative tests so far.
“While the arrival of a new variant is concerning, New Zealand is well placed to manage Omicron cases with isolation and testing requirements for all new arrivals, robust infection and prevention control and PPE measures at airports and MIQ facilities, and frequent surveillance testing of staff who have any contact with recent returnees,” the ministry said.
Vaccine rates
The ministry said both Capital & Coast and Auckland DHBs are close to reaching 90 percent fully vaccinated for their eligible Māori populations.
“For Auckland DHB, just 1339 of the eligible population need a second dose to reach the 90 percent milestone, while in the Capital & Coast DHB region, an additional 1480 vaccinations are needed to reach the mark.”
It said four of the country’s smaller DHBs were also closing in on 90 percent fully vaccinated of the eligible population – Wairarapa DHB needs just 157 more doses, South Canterbury 516 doses, MidCentral 778 doses, and Nelson-Marlborough 1183 doses to hit the milestone.
Across the country, there were more than 21,000 vaccine doses given yesterday, including 2434 first doses; 8294 second doses; 726 third primary doses and 10,018 booster doses.
