Photo: RNZI/ Koro Vaka'uta
Tongan publisher and commentator, Kalafi Moala, says a cabinet minister's resignation this week was a ploy.
The Prime Minister, 'Akilisi Pohiva, said in a statement on Wednesday that he had refused to accept the resignation of his Police Minister Mateni Tapueluelu.
The prime minister in a statement said Mr Tapueluelu, who is his son-in-law, was frustrated at the lack of cabinet support for his efforts to combat corruption in the police force.
Mr Moala said there are issues of corruption in the police but the government was using this to deflect from its lack of achievements over the past four years.
"I see it as another political ploy in a time when the country is trying to recover, in a time when key leadership decisions and government decisions need to be made on where to go from here, they are bringing up an issue that should have been fixed within the last four to five years," he said.