ʻEseta Fusituʻa
Minister for Information and Communication
In office
April 2009 – 22 December 2010
Prime MinisterFeleti Sevele
Preceded byAfuʻalo Matoto
Succeeded bySialeʻataongo Tuʻivakanō
Personal details
Born
ʻEseta Fuafolau Vakapuna ʻa Ngu Fulivai

Tonga
NationalityTonga
ChildrenOne son and one daughter
Alma materAuckland University

ʻEseta Fuafolau Vakapuna ʻa Ngu Fusituʻa, styled Dowager Lady Fusituʻa is a Tongan former teacher, government official and Cabinet Minister. She was the first Tongan woman to obtain a bachelor's degree.

Early life and education

ʻEseta Fusituʻan obtained an undergraduate degree from Auckland University in New Zealand in 1964. A year later she obtained a New Zealand teaching diploma. In 1967 she married Siaosi ʻAlokuoʻulu Wycliffe Fusituʻa, a large landowner on Niuafoʻou island who would be made Lord Fusituʻa in 1981 and represented the Niuas Nobles' constituency in the Legislative Assembly of Tonga. They had two children. Her husband died in 2014 at the age of 87, from which time she became known as the Dowager Lady Fusituʻa.[1][2]

Fusituʻa was an assistant teacher at Tonga High School from 1965 to 1967, before becoming a member of staff of St. Edmunds College in Canberra as a history teacher in 1973. She stayed there until 1981, in 1976 obtaining a master's degree in history from the Australian National University in Canberra, with a dissertation entitled King George Tupou II and the government of Tonga.[1]

Civil service

Returning to Tonga, Fusituʻa served in 1982 as deputy secretary to King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV, before being appointed as senior education officer in the Ministry of Education from 1983 to 1990. In 1990, she was appointed as deputy secretary in the Prime Minister's Office and promoted to Deputy Chief Secretary to the Cabinet in 1992. In 2001 she was appointed Chief Secretary to the Cabinet, a position she held until her retirement from the civil service in 2008.[1][3]

Political career

In 2009, Fusituʻa served as Deputy Chair of the Constitutional and Electoral Commission. In April 2009, the Prime Minister, Fred Sevele, announced her appointment as Minister for Information and Communication. Under the Tongan government structure, this meant that she also became a member of the 2008 Legislative Assembly. Her term came to an end at the conclusion of the parliamentary term in November 2010.[1]

Controversy

  • In July 2010, while serving as minister, it was announced that Fusituʻan intended to clamp down on the printed media. This was widely seen as an infringement of press freedom and an attempt to manipulate the flow of information in favour of the government.[4]
  • In 2015, the government requested that she resign as chair of the Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC) because it intended to restructure the country's public enterprises in order to group the 15 enterprises under a smaller number of boards. The intention was that the TBC would be merged with the Tonga Communications Corporation, Tonga Post and Fast Print, which would all share a single board. Fusituʻa and one other board member, Lady Tunakaimanu Fielakepa, refused to resign, despite a settlement offer from the government, disrupting reform plans and starting a protracted legal battle.[5][6][7][8]

Honours

National honours

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Hon Eseta Fusituʻa". Pacific Women in Politics. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  2. ↑ ""Late Lord Fusituʻa achieved four levels of God's goodness" – Dr. Tevita Havea says". Tonga Parliament. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  3. ↑ ""Nothing is secret in this country...", says ʻEseta Fusitu'a". Matangi Tonga Online. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  4. ↑ "Tonga's Information Minister moves to clamp down on Island's newspapers". Pacific Scoop. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  5. ↑ "Offers of voluntary resignation from public enterprice board refused". Loop. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  6. ↑ "DOWAGER FUSITUʻA REFUSED OFFER OF SETTLEMENT FROM MINISTER OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES IN A CIVIL CASE". Tonga Broadcasting Commission. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  7. ↑ "The nobles win a case against the government". EIU. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  8. ↑ "Ladies Fusituʻa and Fielakepa forced to resign". Kaniva Tonga. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  9. ↑ "Royal orders presented at Palace". Matangi Tonga. 1 August 2008. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
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