The Tongan government says the Pacific Games Council needs to work through the Tonga Amateur Sports Association so as not to be seen as interfering in sovereign affairs.
Team Tonga at the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby. Photo: RNZI / Vinnie Wylie
The Council says the sacking of the head of the local organising committee by a government Authority doesn't stand because it contravenes the 2019 Games hosting agreement.
However the government said Tonga and its people is the recipient of the Games and it will be the government's decisions that ultimately implement the event .
The Deputy Secretary 'Eti Teumohenga said the Council has been out of line with its communications with the Prime Minister.
"As a matter of protocol, the Council's agent in Tonga is TASA. It should be the mediating body between the Council and the government and would avoid a seeming intererence of a foreign body in the sovereign affairs of Pacific island states of which Tonga is included."