TIV Congratulates New MAV Executive

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL VANUATU (TIV) congratulates the new Executive Members of the Media Association of Vanuatu (MAV) who were elected yesterday at the Vanuatu Broadcasting & Television Corporation headquarter in Port Vila.

TIV has a well-established working relationship with MAV that has grown stronger over the years. The highlights of this partnership are many, but the most significant one was the nation-wide community consultation and the lobbying of the Right To Information (RTI) Bill.

The RTI Bill was unanimously passed by the Parliament of Vanuatu in 2016.

TIV looks forward to continuing this relationship with the new MAV leaders.

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left to right: (top) Vice Secretary Heather Maraki from FM 107, Executive Member Witnol Benko from Nak Media, Executive Member Christopher Crowby from VBTC, Executive Member Moses Cakau from VBTC, (bottom) Jonas Cullwick from Daily Post, Vice President Kevin Valea from Transparency International Vanuatu, President Evelyn Toa from The Independent Newspaper, Secretary Harold Obed Manage of the Right To Information Unit, Vice Treasurer Loic Teilemb from the VBTC. 

 

Past Year Has Been Good For Politics

TRANSPARENCY VANUATU SAYS the past year has been a relatively settled one for the country’s politics, which could be a good omen.

It’s one year since the country went to the polls to vote in a snap election called after half the previous government was jailed for corruption.

The country has been plagued by regular motions of no confidence and changes of government since independence in 1980.

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Evelyn Toa 

A board member for Transparency Vanuatu, Evelyne Toa, said many people went to those elections with a sense of optimism that there could be change.

She said the new government had been pushing for large scale reforms to bring stability, some of which have proved controversial and would be challenging to implement.

However, Ms Toa said things do appear to be more settled, but the hard work for the government was yet to come.

“One year on, but that doesn’t mean that we are strong and stable,” she said.

“After one year we’re still, you know, trying our best to have this government going on for the next three years. So that’s their aim, they always talk [about] their commitment to political stability but that will depend on our elected members.”

Source: Radio New Zealand International (RNZ)