overstayers

Manuofetoa was hired under the Recognised Seasonal Employment (RSE) programme to work on an orchard in Hastings.

He failed to make it to Hastings when he arrived in New Zealand last month.

Kaniva News reports Manuofetao has now been declared an overstayer and if he is caught he will be deported to Tonga.

Manuofetoa’s disappearance as well as that of 15 other Tongan seasonal workers is of grave concern to Tongan authorities.

Kaniva News reports Fijian and Chinese labourers are among the biggest offenders.

Now a Fijian community leader has asked for an amnesty and the Tongan government says it is considering changing the current policy for migrant workers and asking the Fijian authorities to make sure Fijian workers go home when their contracts expire.

The secretary of Tongaʻs Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vaʻinga Tōnē, said there were 300 Fijian overstayers in Tonga.

The Tongan owner of the controversial organization Americans Helping America made the threat, which he called a “Raid announcement” on his PNT television programme yesterday (January 13).

He said his office would hold a meeting on January 31 for its clients in California and demanded they all attend it.