Sitting from left, Dr Leimoni Taufu'i, Dr Tevita Havea, Prime Minister, Lord Tu'ivakano; Chinese Ambassador, HE Mr Wang Donghua and Simi Sefanaia.

Standing from left, Chinese official, Sitiveni 'Esau, William Edwards, Mosese Manuofetoa and Peseti Ma'afu. 

Rev. Dr Tevita Havea was elected as the chairman of the National Retirement Benefits Scheme and Dr Sione Leimoni Taufu'i as its Chief Executive Officer, at the first meeting of the board of directors on May 2 at the office of the National Reserve Bank.

Leimoni was initially recruited by the UNDP to assist with the setting up of the National Retirement Benefits Scheme. He played a leading role in the setting of the civil servants' Retirement Fund Scheme during the late 1990s.

He said that the civil servants retirement fund scheme to date had accumulated over $88 million. Everyone in Tonga could join the new National Retirement Benefits Scheme, and he believed that it would also accumulate millions, and if it was managed properly it could eventually become a bank of the people.

Leimoni said that so far hundreds of employers and thousands of employees had registered to join the scheme. No one is forced to join but at this stage they could write and apply for an exemption for a certain period of time until they were ready to join. The portion of contributions will be 5% of the employee's salary from the employee and 5% from the employer.

He said that a different arrangement could be made with self-employed people and older folks in villages who may want to join but their contributions could be paid for by either their children or relatives who might be living overseas.

Leimoni was optimistic about the scheme and excited about the thought of the people of Tonga pooling together their resources to support themselves in their retirement and as a source of capital to borrow from when they were in need.

The scheme officially comes into operation in the new financial year at the beginning of July, and during the first few months of its operation it will be financed by government.

Assistance to the operation started to come in straight after the inaugural meeting of the board yesterday. The Chinese Ambassador to Tonga, HE Mr Wang Donghua presented the chairman of the board, Dr Tevita Havea with 20 computers and three laptops.

The other members of the board are Mosese Manuofetoa, William Edwards, Sitiveni 'Esau, Peseti Ma'afu, Simi Sefanaia and 'Aisea Taumoepeau. Absent from the inaugural meeting of the board was 'Aisea Taumoepeau, the nominee of the Minister of Finance.