Transcript
In a ruling delivered earlier this month, Lord Chief Justice Paulsen said the Tonga Rugby Union "failed to comply with clear provisions in its constitution," at a meeting in May 2016, "as a result of which unlawful decisions have been made which are significant and affect the rights of the members". Among those was an amendment to allow changes to the constitution by a majority vote, rather than by 75 percent of representatives at the meeting. Former Tonga Rugby Union CEO Fuka Kitekei'aho says the judge ruled that threshold was not met and any subsequent amendments, including the appointment of the Prime Minister 'Akilisi Pohiva as TRU President, were deemed unlawful.
"The interim CEO, Fe'ao Vunipola, was the chairman of the meeting at the time and I think he was confused when he was hosting the meeting that the 75 percent required by the initial constitution that's how they would pass the amendment first, before they used the requirement of the second constitution. They just went ahead and passed the amendment without the 75 percent majority".
The positions of the TRU Board, CEO and President have therefore been declared void. The 'Ikale Tahi coach Toutai Kefu says there are still some office staff at the Union but in the absence of senior management, they're being looked after by the powers that be.
"World Rugby have been kind of escorting myself and a couple of key staff members in getting prepared for this tour and obviously with their funding they pay for all our needs on tour, so whenever we need anything they've been very helpful and they've been assisting and guiding us in preparation for the tour, so they've been great".
Fuka Kitekei'aho says a new administration should be sorted by the end of the year.
"Because we have a parliamentary election coming up on November 16 and I think everybody is kind of busy. The meeting is pushed back to December - some time early December - we should have a meeting and that's the role of the (Acting) Attorney General to come and do".
The Acting Attorney General, Aminiasi Kefu, previously served as Interim Executive Director of the Tonga Rugby Union and has acted as a representative of World Rugby on the TRU Board.
