A bicycle and running shoes, better option for 'Akilisi [1]
Monday, January 10, 2011 - 18:00. Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.
Editor,
A new on-line Tongan news site which is unashamedly a mouthpiece for PTOA or the FIDP (can the party please make up its mind on how you want to be called) reports breathlessly that party leader 'Akilisi Pohiva, now our new Minister of Health has declined the use of the ministerial vehicle and driver preferring his own low-brow Nissan sedan to get him around more cheaply. In what has become predictable Pohivaism, the occasion was used to embarrass his other cabinet colleagues into doing the same so that they can save taxpayer dollars and also set a good example for the rest of the nation.
Honourable though this may be, it is stories like these by some of his fawning press which does little to enhance 'Akilisi's image as a nation builder either in Tonga or overseas. 'Akilisi's position on this issue is as old as his parliamentary career so if it was considered to be news, it certainly wasn't. And if it was just another image builder for the leader, well, it didn't do that either. It is clear that the party machinery and the support team are still in opposition mode.
'Akilsi's acceptance of a Cabinet post under Tu'ivakano was made out to be a politically difficult choice to make by the same news site. It was not. I think that 'Akilisi made the right political decision to accept this invite given that PTOA has called earlier for a government of national unity - and Tu'ivakano may live to regret his offer, given' Akilisi's well-honed political nose. 'Akilisi is not just the Minister of Health. He's also the leader of his party - a role he retains and it is hoped that he has not negotiated away in order to be in Cabinet. As such, he is in the inenviable position of being able to set the national agenda by being in government as well as leader of the opposition party at the same time.
As party leader he has every right to spell out his views on all things to do with the country to the party at large. Through that he will signal his intentions to his Cabinet colleagues and the Prime Minister in an open and transparent way and continue to do what he does best - to engage directly with the community in a way that successive governments have failed to do. The political point-scoring over a few dollars saved by driving his own car is therefore petty given the huge job of re-building an economy which is on its knees and the need to engage the wider community under our new political arrangement.
It is clear that Tu'ivakano presently has the more difficult job of building a team out of independent MPs and others who will bring different demands and priorities to the Cabinet table. Many are inexperienced, so marrying the national as well as the political priorities will take time. Into this void, the PTOA have several months to occupy the space with what they believe to be the priorities and how these can be achieved. In so doing, they may well give the appearance that they have set the agenda and forced the government's hand and will be credited politically with having their ideas adopted. But it will require more than the ministerial vehicle issue if PTOA wants to raise its political credibility ourside of the party faihful.
The economy is crying out for a long and medium-term outlook. Our fiscal and monetary policies are often mysterious and our foreign policy is unclear and difficult to understand even by our friends. We seem to grow the wrong crops for export and we import things that we can grow locally. Youth and employment issues loom large. On his portfolio Akilsi has a lot of obvious issues to address. Our health priorities could do with a major re-jig and given the high rate of diabetes and cardio-vascular diseases, in fact, our new Minister of Health could have done a great deal more for the economy and for his portfolio if he went all the way and traded the Nissan in for a ministerial bicycle and a pair of running shoes!
Sefita Hao'uli
sefita [dot] haouli [at] gmail [dot] com