Editor shames Tonga’s leaders after damning poverty report

TONGA – The editor of Tonga’s Matangi News has launched a scathing attack on the Tongan government over the prevalence of poverty in the Pacific kingdom.

The latest international report from the Asian Development Bank has revealed that 22.5 per cent of people in Tonga live below the poverty line.

“That is a national shame! Shame on our government! Shame on our rulers! Shame on us as people!” writes Peni Katoa.

“Of that percentage 8456 of those people live on less than $3.10 per day. 1125 of those live on less than $1.90 per day.”

Katoa is warning that Tonga may be punished for the neglect of its people.

“In the Bible we are taught how God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

“In the Book of Genesis we are told, “then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah’ from the Lord out of the heavens.

“Many assume that God did this because they were evil people but God says otherwise. In the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 16 verses 49-50, the Lord says, ‘behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom – she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it’.”

Katoa believes God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of the people’s arrogance and haughtiness towards the poor –a Biblical event that he says should serve as a wake up call for Samoa’s leaders.

“They neglected the poor. And look at us. We can spend millions of dollars to hold a coronation ceremony. We think it is a good idea to spend $80 million to host the South Pacific Games for a few weeks

“Our government takes $100 million from China to rebuild what the wealthy lost in the riots – and never show what that money paid for and whether it was ever paid back.

“When will we demand and expect more out of our government? The only thing that we can expect from our government is scandals and corruption. That seems to be the only thing that we can truly predict. When has government actually created jobs? What is government’s plan to help the poor?

“The truth is our leadership is largely morally bankrupt. Crime is on the rise like we never thought that would exist in our land.

“But why? The answer is found in our failed government full of corrupt and dishonest men. What happened to rulers that were people others aspired to be like? What happened to Nobles who were truly noble and put the people ahead of themselves?

“If robbing from our children’s future was a crime, we would need to build thirty new prisons. Do we ever ask ourselves, ‘What chance does a young Tongan child, not born into privilege, have growing up in our land? What is the best he can hope for?’

“We need to remove the incentive for being in government. Right now the higher you go, the more you can steal. The incentive shifts from serving the people to serving oneself.

“It is time to get rid of our leaders and elect people who want to lead because they are called by God and according to His purposes.

“The Apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:10, ‘that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his suffering’.

‘What a place Tonga would and could be if we all lived that way and elected rulers who would guide us in God’s ways and not their own,” the Matangi Tonga editor concludes. - MT