Cabinet fires leader of its Reform Technical Task Force [1]
Thursday, November 14, 2019 - 17:49
The Tongan Cabinet yesterday, 13 November cancelled the appointment of Piveni Piukala “to lead a Reform Technical Task Force for Planning, Budgeting and Aid at the Ministry of Finance. . .”
Piveni was appointed by the former government on 30 January 2019 to lead the reform, which included the processes of E-Government, and Digitization planning across government.
In a statement today, the Prime Minister's Office regretted that it had to rescind the appointment
“It came to the present Cabinet’s attention that the proposed appointment of Mr Piveni Piukala was hand- picked and without proper due processes.
“In addition, there was no agreed Terms of Reference in place. Furthermore, Mr Piukala did not meet the set criteria of the World Bank, the funding agency for the project i.e. the educational and professional work achievements stipulated by the World Bank policy that the Lead Consultant should have.”
“This World Bank project is so important for the government and the future of Tonga, and this decision has to be regularised,” the PMO stated.