Govt newspaper stalls during take-over [1]
Sunday, February 8, 2015 - 23:37. Updated on Monday, February 9, 2015 - 12:01.
Confusion over changed ownership of the government newspaper, the Tonga Weekly, has left the publisher-editor Faka'osi Maama and his staff deeply concerned over their jobs and the future of the paper.
Faka'osi said that uncertainty over the ownership of the paper became an issue at the end of December 2014 when there had been no communication from the new owner, a news organization owned by David Edwards and the Ministry of Information and Communication.
David Edwards is the chairman of the Tonga Forest Products Ltd., a government-owned company.
Prior to December, negotiations were underway for government to sell shares and for a new company to be formed to take over the ownership of the Tonga Weekly.
Faka'osi said that in early December there was a Cabinet Decision for 250,000 shares to be sold at .50 seniti per share, and the major shareholder with 70% was the private news organization, and the other 30% was held by government. The shares were originally valued at $1 pa'anga each but negotiated down to .50 seniti.
Faka'osi said that they had several meetings with David in early December and there was an understanding that their final print run under the old ownership was to be 19 December 2014. However, since then although there had been no formal communication with the two new shareholders, Faka'osi and his staff had continued to publish the weekly paper.
He said that they had not been paid since 1 January, and that the print run for 6 February was the last they could do. On Friday he wrote to Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni, the new Minister of Information and Communication and asked him to explain what was going to happen to the Tonga Weekly.
Faka'osi pointed out that the former government budgeted for the Tonga Weekly until the end of July, and if government allowed them to manage the finance and run the paper until the end of the current financial year, they could do it.
His staff wanted to know if they still had jobs or not. "What are we going to do with the equipment when we leave and who are going to give the key to?" asked Faka'osi.
Faka'osi believed that the idea for government to be a minor shareholder of the paper was not very attractive to the new government.
Attorney General
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Information and Communication confirmed that the issue relating to the sale of the Tonga Weekly was with the Attorney General.