'Olive and 'Akilisi's media bash over Shoreline [1]
Monday, March 13, 2006 - 18:53. Updated on Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - 16:31.
Tonga's local news media, during the past week has featured a letter writing Ping Pong match between the Talaki and Radio Nuku‘alofa, and the Kele'a over the high cost of electricity and Shoreline's highly paid executives.
A fortnight ago the Talaki in its Letters to the Editor column published a letter from ‘Olive Ramanlal, the wife of the director of Shoreline Power, Sosefo Ramanlal, who complained that she confronted a group of men who were hidden among the bushes over the fence of her home at ‘Anana, while trying to photograph her place. She discovered that these men included People's Representative ‘Akilisi Pohiva and some photographers. She was surprised and invited them to come into her property, but they declined her invitation and left. She said they made her family feel threatened.
‘Akilisi responded to ‘Olive's letter with a letter to the Talaki and an article in his own paper, the Kele‘a and said that it was his responsibility as a Representative of the People to the Tongan Parliament to find out "how the people...s money is spent". People were complaining about the expensive electricity from Shoreline while the Ramanlals were building mansions. Also published in the Kele‘a were the expenses paid by Shoreline for the education of the Ramanlal children...s education in New Zealand and in Tonga. The Kele'a also had a list of building materials for the director that it claimed Shoreline paid for.
In an antagonizing fashion the Talaki published ‘Akilisi's letter accusing the Ramanlals, but at the same time published a full page advertisement paid for by companies in which the same family has interests - Shoreline, Peau Vava...u, and Savoy Dry Cleaning - wishing Sosefo Ramanlal a happy 50th Birthday. The advertisement carried a smiling photo of Sosefo.
To get their counter message across, Radio Nuku‘alofa which is owned by Sosefo and ‘Olive, has been running their written messages criticizing ‘Akilisi Pohiva, and denying that the expenses he published in the Kele...a were correct and saying that no one knows where he got them from.
Squash loan
Apart from the Shoreline media bash the other interesting happening is that according to the Kalonikali, the Tonga Development Bank has granted the Tonga Squash Council a $3.7 million loan so that they could pay growers 30 seniti a kilo for the thousands of kilos of squash that were exported to Japan last year and they have never been paid for. How the loan was going to be repaid was not given.
In this week's Tau'ataina the newspaper reports that the Tonga Development Bank has increased their loan allocation for squash growers from $3 million to $3.2 million.
The interesting factor here is that squash growers appeared to be a blessed few who apart from being exempt from consumption tax, are not only being bailed out when they are in financial trouble but they are given more capital to have another go whenever they fail.