Tonga broadcasting Commission turns fifty and the managers of state-owned enterprises

Last week the Tonga Broadcasting Commission celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. At the commemorative dinner TBC chairperson Lady 'Eseta Fusitu'a paid tribute to her predecessors then thanked Prime Minister Tu'ivakano for appointing her to this lofty position; in fact the first woman to head a state-owned enterprise. But as is the fashion here Lady 'Eseta in her moment of fame and happiness indulged herself in a Tongan dialect that consists of standard Tongan littered with English words, English phrases and even whole English sentences. In short pidgin Tongan. It seems odd that the lingua franca of the once far-flung Tu'i Tonga empire is now considered unfit to express happiness in. Thankfully TBC general manager Nanise Fifita did not forget her mother tongue throughout her brief and eloquent speech. But Nanise is a journalist through and through; just as Mr. Timote Katoanga, the managing director of the government-owned Tonga Communications Corporation, is the quintessential telecommunication engineer. How come then that the general manager of the Tonga Water Board is a geologist in a field where the expertise of a civil engineer or a chemical engineer or a public health engineer, is required. It is not unusual to find two long queues in the TWB office, one for paying bills and the other for filing complaints. That's not quite a surprise isn't it? It is not just engineers, often confused with motor mechanics and electricians, who are slighted; most models on television ads and on billboards are Fijians. What is wrong with hiring Tongan models?