Ministry of Revenue & Customs

The Ministry of Revenue and Customs hosted its Annual Retreat Program for the FY 2021/22 on Friday, July 23rd 2021, with the purpose of supporting staff empowerment through strategic and operational planning to achieve its targeted outputs. The speaker of the Legislative Assembly – Lord Fakafanua, attended the Retreat as the guest speaker and addressed the participants with the theme “Drugs – our biggest problem” In his speech, he emphasized the important roles of Revenue and Customs officers in terms of revenue collection and also safeguarding Tonga’s borders to address the rising problem of drugs in the society. The program was led with a prayer conducted by Rev. Dr. Taliai Niumeitola – Principal of the Sia’atoutai Theological College, who encouraged the participants as tax collectors, to learn from the famous story Zacchaeus on the Gospel of Luke, who gave half of his possession to the poor.

After the formalities, the retreat continued with the presentations of the Corporate Plan and Budget of the Ministry for the new Financial Year, followed by highlighting the overall progress of the Ministry illustrated in the Monitoring and Evaluation progress, then later a briefing on the Annual Management Plan set out to achieve targeted outputs.

Also in attendance of the program was the Hon. Minister for Revenue and Customs – Tevita Lavemaau, CEO – Kelemete Vahe, Deputy CEOs and senior management.