By Katalina Siasau
Tonga's new Prime Minister Designate, Hon. 'Aisake Eke has plans for his new government in 2025. He wants to tackle the culture in government, build a bridge and control the traffic, encourage fishing and invest in biogas projects to reduce the cost of electricity.
In his address in Tongan to the House this morning, as one of two nominees for Prime Minister, Dr Eke outlined some changes he would make in the Government if he were to be elected PM.
Whistleblowers
Dr Eke said one of the main things his government would do is to protect whistleblowers, “Enact a law, for whistleblowers, to give that power to civil servants.”
He said if civil servants knew of a corrupted Minister or Prime Minister, they could speak up and expose that.
He believed that currently in Tonga, civil servants don’t have the courage to speak up because of fear of losing their jobs.
Building a bridge
Looking at Tonga's congested roads, to solve and control traffic, he said there are major works that needed to be done, “to change the situation.”
He said one of those works is to build a bridge [across the Fanga Lagoon], which would be important for traffic flow, especially in times of natural disaster.
He said in his Government, he would, “postpone all projects that are funded, and take all that money and build a bridge, and build it immediately.”
Fisheries
“There is a need to have bigger fishing vessels, more fishing boats, I believe that the Government and development partners can work on, to make fish cost cheaper for people.”
Meanwhile, he noted other issues and projects that would be priorities in his Government, including investing $30-40 million pa'anga in community biogas projects, help lessen the cost of electricity, look more into the Reserve Bank and its relationship with other banks, look into the airlines, as well as combating drugs, and housing relief projects.
