Page 12 - IB November 2019

Politics Politics

Tuvalu’s new government hopes its 100-day priorities will take the country in a positive new direction. Photo: Nic Maclellan
TUVALU’S 100-DAY SPLURGE

By Samisoni Pareti PM Natano has tasked his cabinet to “open and establish new international air ser-
vice routes with other airlines to offer competition and reduce airfares and promote
An across-the-board pay rise for all government employees including cabinet minis- trade and tourism.”
ters and parliamentarians, an incentive payment for senior citizens plus an A$10,000 Islands Business believes Funafuti is looking at neighbours such as Vanuatu and Samoa
pay out to island communities top the first 100-day priorities of the new government to possibly replace the Fiji Airways service. Currently, the Tuvalu Government subsi-
of Tuvalu. dises the Fijian airline’s twice-weekly services to Funafuti from its smaller internation-
The country’s ministry of finance is still determining how much the pay rise will cost al airport in Nausori, outside the capital, Suva.
the government. The pay rise was number 14 in the government’s 21-point to-do list This ties in with the new government’s four-year roadmap that calls for the creation
and was simply listed as “abolish public service salary level 10.” of a new domestic air service in Tuvalu. Instead of building airstrips in the outer
Prime Minister Kausea Natano and his government unveiled the list during Tuvalu’s islands, the concept is to consider using a network of seaplanes as well as helicopters.
independence day celebrations on 1 October in the capital, Funafuti. Part of the roadmap includes probing the expansion of the current runway in
Islands Business has since been told that level 10 was the lowest band in Tuvalu’s civil Funafuti in order to allow for the use of jet aircraft. Funafuti airport can only take the
service salary structure, and denoted pay for cleaners and other low-skill workers. By smaller turbo or propeller aircraft at the moment.
abolishing level 10, these public employees will now be paid higher wages on level 9, Constructing a new health clinic on the outlying island of Nanumaga is priority
pushing those who used to be on this pay structure, as well those on higher bands, up number 11, while number 12 is compensation payouts for homeowners whose
to the next and higher pay level. houses were “damaged by previous cyclones.” The Natano Government said it is
The cost of priority number 2, the incentive payment to senior citizens who are completing what the previous government started.
80 years old and over, has already been calculated. This one-off payment is costing Of great interest to landowners in Funafuti is number 13 in the to-do list, that is, to
A$350,000 in total, with $3000, $5000 and $10,000 payouts for those who are aged resolve “outstanding land matters for all islands.” Owners of the land in which the
80, 90 and 100 years respectively. airport on Funafuti sits had protested about low land rentals and for one day last
A $10,000 pay out has already been paid to the five different island communities in August, closed the airport to push for their demands for a lease rate review.
the capital to help them with their independence day celebrations. The then-government of Sopoaga responded with a court order issued by then CJ
Priority eight has also been implemented, with the appointment as temporary Chief Sweeney to immediately arrest any landowner that attempts to interfere or close the
Justice of Sir Gordon Ward. He was the serving CJ until the previous government of operations of the Funafuti airport.
Enele Sopoaga did not renew his contract, Sopoaga appointing his Australian-based Seamen bound for work on foreign ships and improvement of government services
lawyer Charles Sweeney instead. and infrastructure on the outer islands also featured in the first 100 days’ priority list.
Sweeney was suspended in September pending an investigation, in one of the first Recruitment for seafarers will be outsourced to private companies and will no longer
decisions of the new Katano Government. be the job of the government. These recruitment companies will be selected through
Both senior jurists have also served Fiji’s judiciary, and both had complained about an “open tender process.”
transit difficulties when travelling to Tuvalu through Fiji, allegedly due to unspecified Cargo shipment to outer islands is also a priority, and this should improve with the
restrictions imposed by Fijian authorities. chartering of a landing barge. Improving the quality of fish exports would also be
Number nine in the to-do list is the creation of an office of the director of public boosted by ensuring that ice-making plants in the outer islands of Tuvalu are oper-
prosecutions, separating this role from the Attorney General’s chambers. This had ational. Japan is reportedly keen to fund the repairs of ice plants that have broken
become a legal dilemma under the previous Sopoaga administration, which saw law- down.
yers in the Attorney General’s Chambers acting as both the plaintiff and defendant in Tuvalu’s foreign policy is also featured in the government’s first 100 days’ to-do list,
several litigations. with the number of Tuvalu’s foreign missions to be reviewed, and as if to dismiss
New Governor General Lutelu Faavae has also taken office. His confirmation was rumours that the new government was considering a switch to China from Taiwan
priority number six in the to-do list, and although nominated to the high office by like its northern neighbour Kiribati, the final priority in the government’s list is
the previous Sopoaga Government, his appointment could not be completed as “reaffirming our friendship with Taiwan as our diplomatic ally.”
government had to be dissolved in the lead-up to the August general elections.
That the government and people of Tuvalu are unhappy about the monopoly Fiji’s editor@islandsbusiness.com
carrier has over commercial air travel is borne out in priority ten in the government’s
to-do list.
12 Islands Business, November 2019