From the House by Pesi Fonua

The 2019-20 Annual Report of Foreign Affairs division sparked comments in Parliament yesterday, 3 August, when it was reported Tonga's overseas offices faced many problems.

Who's in charge?

The Foreign Affairs Division comes under the Prime Minister’s Office, but according to the Hon. Dr Rev Pohiva Tu‘i‘onetoa the Foreign Affairs Division is operating mostly under His Majesty the King.

The 2019-20 Annual Report of Foreign Affairs was tabled into Parliament by the Lord Privy Seal.

After it was read in Legislature, the Tongatapu No. 4 People’s Representative, Mateni Tapueluelu moved for the report to be tabled into the Whole House Committee, where he raised a few issues that were highlighted in the report:

• There's not enough money for the salaries of the staff;
• There's disconnection between the Foreign Affairs head office in Nuku’alofa with their overseas offices; and
• There's desperate pleading from the overseas offices for better connection.

The Prime Minister responded that the problems the Foreign Affairs was facing were worse at this very difficult time. For a start he pointed out that the salaries of the staff had not been reviewed since 2018, but they had notified the Minister of Finance.

There was also a need to have more Foreign Affairs offices in other countries, “but we don’t have the money,” he said.

Existing offices also needed maintenance.

Fiji relations

On a different issue, Lord Tu’ivakano suggested for government to review Tonga’s foreign relations with Fiji, and that Tonga should have a representative in Fiji.

The Chairman of the Committee Lord Tu'i'afitu pointed out that the Annual Report was all about problems, and asked: “But what has been achieved?”

He called for votes on the report, it was carried 19-0.

In Legislature, the Speaker called for votes and the Foreign Affairs 2019-2020 Annual Report was passed with 21-0 votes.