Tsiamalili resigns

PETER Tsiamalili Jr has resigned as executive director of the Papua New Guinea Sports Foundation (PNGSF), to run for president in the upcoming Bougainville election.
PNGSF chairman Ian Chow made the announcement following a special board meeting in Port Moresby on Saturday.
Tsiamalili’s resignation is effective on June 8 and while the board was shocked at his decision, they wished him well in pursuing his political ambitions.
“I have now made a conscious decision to tender my resignation to be with my family in Bougainville but also take this opportunity to put my hand up for the upcoming Autonomous Bougainville Government election,” he said.
“It was not an easy decision to make but a decision I strongly feel I must take for my family, people and Bougainville.”
PNGSF now has the task of appointing an acting executive director.
“I have been privileged and honoured to serve this great country as the executive director for sports,” Tsiamalili said.
“In my tenure as executive director, I have served three sports ministers – two of them being former prime minister Peter O’Neill and his successor James Marape.
“I have also had the honour and privilege to work with two admirable board of commissioners.
“When I took office in late 2013, I inherited 13 years of unaudited financial reports, weak administrative controls, low staff morale and an ineffective organisational structure.
“I immediately instituted a compilation of 13 years of financial statements for 2005 to 2013 which went through the Auditor-General’s Office. They issued a qualified audit report for the 13 years.
“Since then, under my administration, PNGSF has implemented all recommendations made by the Auditor General’s Office.
“I am pleased to announce that our audit reports for 2019 and 2020 will show a significant improvement from prior years.
“Our current organisational structure is now compatible with modern day advances to serve the public and private sectors.
“It has been a monumental task to rectify these compliance issues but none more significant and rewarding than what was an array of national, regional and global events with unprecedented infrastructure worth K1.5 billion.”
Events staged during Tsiamalili’s tenure include the 2014 sixth PNG Games, 2015 Pacific Games, 2016 Fifa Under-20 Women’s World Cup, 2017 PNG Games, 2017 Rugby League World Cup, 2018 Oceania Swimming Championships and 2018 Fiba U15 Oceania Championships.
“I have been overwhelmingly blessed to have served the organisation to lead these developments and for the first time contextualising the exponential growth of sports though a refined sports policy,” he said.
“The reviewed national sports policy has a 30-year roadmap that calls for reviews every five years and is in line with the PNG Vision 2050.”
The policy is in its final drafting and will be launched later this year.
Tsiamalili said the Covid-19 pandemic had “impacted greatly on us, including all our stakeholders in sports”.
“In ensuring PNGSF with all its stakeholders return to the ‘new normal’, I have developed a return-to-sports Covid-19 protocol which sets the benchmark for organisation and stakeholders,” he said.
Tsiamalili thank the board and their stakeholders “for the extraordinary confidence you have accorded me as the executive director”.
“The value of teamwork, collaboration, sacrifice, and humility I will treasure for a long time,” he said.