Results for Government

The best countries on the 2020 Corruption Perception Index are New Zealand and Denmark with scores of 88. However, two thirds of countries scored below 50/100 and public sector corruption was deadlier than ever during the pandemic. “The results make one thing clear – corruption kills people,” stated Transparency International this week in releasing their report.

A reshuffle in the Tongan Cabinet, was approved today by HM King Tupou VI, with the appointment of a new Minister of Justice and Prisons, and a new Minister of Trade and Economic Development.

The Tonga government's infrastructure planning procedures along with the associated budget and aid management systems will be improved by the end of the year, with assistance from the Pacific Regional Infrastructure Facility.

Fifty solar street lights were donated to Tonga by China’s Dongguan Municipality, during a signing ceremony at Fa’onelua Convention Centre today.

Nine farm tractors and eight fishing boats donated by China, were handed over to Tonga today at an official ceremony at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Forests and Fisheries (MAFFF) office, Ma’ufanga.

New directors for the Tonga Government's 12 Public Enterprises have been appointed from September 1 for one-year, the government announced.

A Lapaha widow, Fonongava‘inga Soakai Kautai received a new home today, reportedly valued at $120,000. According to Siesi H. Fine, from the office of the Tongatapu Constituency No. 10, today’s handover was the first of 20,000 houses to be constructed and handed over to “the Poor and Down Trodden People of Tonga”.

Fifty volunteers from Tonga Red Cross took part in the second CoViD-19 repatriation drill yesterday in Tongatapu.

Editor's comment: On Friday we reported the government’s announcement that there would be a test/drill repatriation flight, with 50 overseas Tongans arriving on an Air New Zealand cargo flight “next week”, and quarantined for two weeks at the Tanoa Hotel. The problem with our report was that we believed what we were being told at the Prime Minister's press conference held at the Fa'onelua Centre. But the “flight arriving this week” was simply their flight of fantasy.