Speaker of Parliament Visits Vavaʻu Electoral Constituencies

The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga, Lord Vaea, is currently in Vavaʻu to undertake visits to the island’s three constituencies to evaluate the real impacts made by the Legislative Assembly’s Constituency Funds in supporting community-driven development within the communities they are intended to serve. It is also an opportunity to directly hear the views of local district and town councils about the management challenges, community priorities, and future direction of the constituency funds. The aim is to ensure that national resources are not only distributed but understood in terms of their real outcomes for communities.

Alongside the visit, the staff of the Office of the Legislative Assembly, working in partnership with the Tonga Office of the Auditor General, are delivering focused training workshops for constituency office staff. The sessions are delivered as practical exercises designed to strengthen financial oversight and reporting, helping officers understand their roles in supporting Members of Parliment to better monitor the use of constituency funds to improve transparency, accountability, and compliance. These training sessions are a continuation of similar workshops delivered last week in Nukuʻalofa for constituency office staff from Tongatapu, ʻEua, and the Niuas.

Upon arrival into Vava’u, the Speaker met with the Governor of Vavaʻu, Lord Fakatulolo, to discuss the purpose of the visit and to hear directly about the development progress and governance priorities shaping the Vavaʻu island group.

On day 1 of the visit (Monday 23 February), the Speaker inspected the various projects funded through the constituency funds across the Vavaʻu 14 Constituency. The Hon. Minister of Education, Hon. Mo’ale ‘Otunuku, who is the People’s Representative to Parliament for the constituency accompanied the Lord Speaker on these visits. This has included site visits to initiatives at various villages in the Pangaimotu, Motu and Hihifo District. These included sighting projects at villages including Útungake, Talihau, Vaimalo, Tuánuku, Tefisi and Longomapu. In the afternoon, the Speaker visited Ovaka and Matamaka island. At all these places, the Speaker was able to observe first-hand how projects financed by the constituency funds are affecting everyday life and the practical benefits communities gain, from local infrastructure such as wharves and water pumps to renovating community halls and assisting womens and youth groups’ different development initiatives.

Day 1 of the Speaker’s visit concluded with a visit to the Office of the Ombudsman in Vavaʻu, where he was welcomed by the Ombudsman Mrs ‘Alisi Numia Taumoepeau and her staff. The Ombudsman is an office that falls under the purview of the Speaker, and the visit to their branch in Vava’u was an opportunity to gain insight into the office’s work and outcomes on the island since its establishment in 2021.

This visit reflects the Speaker’s intention in this term not only to administer the constituency funds, but to evaluate their effectiveness, ensuring they produce measurable benefits and genuinely support sustainable development across all constituencies in the Kingdom.