Supa Mario
Author: Kalafi Moala
Supa Mario EPISODE 1 – NE TUFA TANGIKĒ KOAA ‘A ‘IKANI TALIAI ‘I TONGATAPU 1? Kuo hoko ‘o hangē ha to’ukai ‘o e loi kehekehé, ‘a hono fakahoko ‘i he to’ufili kotoa ‘a e ngaahi tukuaki’i ta’emo’oni. ‘Oku fakahoko angamaheni ‘eni ke fakangalikovi’i ‘aki ha kanititeiti Fale Alea pea ‘oku ‘ikai ke pehē kuo fakahoko pē meí ha fa’ahi fakapolitikale ‘e taha, ka ‘oku meimei tofuhia kotoa. ‘Oku fie puke ai ‘a e faingamālié ni ke fai ha lave ki ai, ‘i he faka’amu ke a’usia ‘e he kakai ‘o e fonuá ‘a e mo’oní. Kuo fakahoko meí he mītia…
A huge development project has been announced for Vava’u with a US$121 million redevelopment of Lupepau’u Airport as the country’s largest airport, with a new extended 2,700 meters runway, and a 8,000 square meter terminal and cargo facility. The planned new runway will be capable of accommodating long range aircraft, and would turn Vava’u as the tourism hub and destination in Tonga. The developer and project facilitator is the UK registered company Raw Mana that has a managerial team including Tongan nationals Havea Gatti (CEO) and former Tongan rugby international, Sililo Martens (CCO). Other officers include New Zealander Miriama Mahuika…
Chief Secretary and Secretary to Cabinet, Mr. Edgar Cocker is in the news again, for the wrong reasons. He has been the focus of an alleged altercation at a function recently in which he is seen in a photo being held while kneeling on the floor on one knee. He looks like he fell and was trying to get up. The picture also conveys a situation where Prince Tu’ipelehake is shown standing over Edgar with his hand being held back by a minder, and it looks like he did something to Edgar resulting in his fall. Witnesses at the scene…
A petition has been submitted to the King asking him to revoke the appointment of Lord Tavake Afeaki, Lord Chancellor, to be Acting Chief Justice for 4 months in the absence of the Lord Chief Justice Whitten, QC. The petition, submitted to the Palace Office on Monday 25 October, carried the signatures of fifteen Tongan prominent lawyers, Members of the Tonga Law Society. Heading the list is senior veteran lawyer William Clive Edwards. Others on the list are also well-known lawyers like Nelson Tupou (of New Zealand), Sifa Tu’utafaiva, Posesi Bloomfield, and William Edwards Jr. Also included are, Fatai Vaihu,…
A phenomenon of this year’s election campaigns is the emergence of a political grouping that involves independent candidates. Siaosi Sovaleni, Minister of Education, who seems to be assured of re-election from Tongatapu 3, is the apparent leader of this political group. He is not only campaigning for his constituency but also appearing prominently in campaigns of his friend and Cabinet colleague Tatafu Moeaki for Tongatapu 4. Also included in this group is Poasi Tei, Minister of MEIDECC, who is another candidate almost assured of re-election for Tongatapu 6. Both Sovaleni and Tei are Cabinet Ministers who are running for re-election…
Former Governor of Vava’u, Lord Fulivai and his wife Helen, have been ordered by the New Zealand High Court to pay back New Zealand businessman Chris Barrett $253, 370.60. This is an amount that includes a payment made by Barrett to the noble for lease of land promised him. It also includes personal loans and other payments made by Barrett to the couple. Barrett had filed a suit against the noble couple because he had paid them after being promised to arrange for him a 99-year lease on land at Pangaimotu in Vava’u. He gave them money, as well as…
The political group known as PTOA (People’s Democratic Party) continues to be deepened in their split and fragmentation as one of the two major factions announced recently their candidates in all 17 Constituencies for the November General Election. This means that the other PTOA group will announce separately their own 17 candidates, vying for votes from the same supporters. PTOA is a political party grouping founded by the late ‘Akilisi Pohiva who held strong leadership ties to all his supporters throughout the kingdom. But since his death in 2019, the group has experienced all kinds of problems mostly to do…
The third telecommunications network for Tonga was launched on Friday 3rd September in Nuku’alofa. It is called WanTok Pacific Corporation (WPC), owned by the Toko Wireless (Tonga) company and WanTok Networks (Vanuatu). The name Wantok literally means “same language” and speaks of brotherhood, sisterhood or “belonging together”. It is a Melanesian pidgin word used widely in Vanuatu, Solomons, and Papua New Guinea, in the same way the Tongan word “toko” is used locally. “The new local mobile operator will be providing a full suite of additional telecom services to the kingdom,” Dennis Fuapau, Head of Commercial at Wantok Pacific Corporation…
A pastor is using deception to mislead people concerning Covid-19 vaccination. Media colleagues have reacted with sympathy and reasonable argument concerning his views, yet bothered at the obvious arrogance and hypocrisy displayed by the controversial pastor. Barry Smith Taukolo, a Nuku’alofa pastor and TV evangelist, is adamant that the vaccination being injected to people in Tonga for protection from the Covid-19 pandemic is not only Satanic but is part of the international conspiracy for the “Antichrist” to control people. The ingredients of the vaccines according to this extremist Pentecostal pastor is made up of horrific things that would alter the…