Politics
Soponga Confident Of Election Win
Tuvalu's PM wants cash for atoll economies
On the eve of by-elections that could topple him from office, Tuvalu's Prime Minister Saufatu Soponga was trying hard not to show any signs of poll jittery. He was more worried about his trip to Niulakita, an atoll at the southern-most end of the group.
"I haven't done a lot of campaigning because there isn't much to campaign about," Soponga told Islands Business from his Funafuti office last month.
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"The objectives of my campaign last year haven't changed, so it is simply a matter of pursuing what we had set out to achieve," Tuvalu's prime minister added.
Soponga's rivals, and there are quite a few even in this tiny island atoll, would argue that the man has been doing the very thing he had denied only a few weeks earlier. It took the form of visits to atolls to the north that included Nanumea and Niutao. Interestingly, elections for one parliamentary member each in the two atolls are scheduled for May 5.
The prime minister would, however, argue the island visit was part of his election campaign last year and that he had just found the time to take it.
Nanumea is going back to the polls after the High Court ruled null and void the election of government MP Sio Patiale. Although he polled the most votes in last July's elections, the court said Patiale's nomination was submitted late. For Niutao, the death last February of its member and late speaker of parliament, Saloa Tauia, made the by-election necessary.
Since his electoral victory last year, Sopoanga has been ruling Tuvalu with the slimmest of margins: eight MPs to the opposition's seven. But the former senior civil servant has taken the view that because Patiale and the late Tauia were from his group, the by-elections would simply endorse his candidates, not that of his rivals. Patiale as a matter of fact is contesting his seat again, this time ensuring his papers were submitted to the Elections Office well ahead of time, the prime minister told Islands Business.
While his other Nanumea parliamentary colleague Maatia Toafa is Soponga's deputy and also Minister for Works, Energy, Communications and Transport, Patiale wants to serve as a government backbencher.
"This is his first time in parliament and he had specifically asked that he serves as a backbencher for now," Soponga said. By-elections costs would be between A$70,000, paid for from the government's pool of special development expenditure.
According to Sopoanga, four main issues have been raised in his outer islands tour. These are:
- plans for a national referendum on the type of government best suited for Tuvalu.
- reviewing the local government act to incorporate traditional system of providing communal services.
- decentralisation of industries and development.
- the issue of urbanisation and development of Funafuti as the country's capital.
The tour by government boat also gave Soponga a first-hand look at the delivery of government services to his people. How would he rate that delivery? "Fifty-fifty I would say," the Prime Minister said.
"We need to work more on improving telecommunications and electricity links on our islands. People complain of frequent breakdowns in telecom caused mainly by flat batteries of solar power.
"Power has also been irregular with intermittent blackout. We need to build up the capacity of these utilities."
A subject close to Soponga's heart and a major thrust of his electoral platform is boosting the cash economies of the outer islands. One way his government has done this is through the establishment of community fishing centres on each of the islands. The centre buys fish from islanders and sells it to other islanders, the leftover shipped over to the capital.
"I would like to keep these centres going because they put cash in the hands of islanders, who can use the money to better their lives. In this way, they don't need to come to Funafuti to search for paid employment."
