The Board of the Papua New Guinea Sports Foundation has announced the resignation of Executive Director, Peter Tsiamalili Junior.
Chairman Ian Chow made the announcement following a special board meeting in Port Moresby on Saturday.
Tsiamalili’s resignation is effective on 8th June 2020 and while the Board was shocked at his decision, they wished him all the best in pursuing his political ambitions.
Tsiamalili Jnr advised the Board that it was his intention to contest the ABG Elections, particularly the seat for President.
“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. It was not an easy decision to make but a decision I strongly feel I must take for my family, my people and Bougainville,” Tsiamalili said.
PNGSF now has the task of initiating the process of appointing an acting executive director to fill the position left vacant by Tsiamalili.
“I have been privileged and honoured to serve this great country as the executive director for sports, but more importantly as a public servant in my tenure as executive director, I have three Sports Ministers – two of them being Prime Ministers - Hon. Peter O’Neill (former) and current Prime Minister Hon. James Marape,” Tsiamalili said.
“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’ financial statements for years 2005 to 2013 which was audited by the Auditor General’s office. They issued a qualified audit report for the 13 years.
Since then the PNGF under my administration 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 both 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 1.5 billion kina.”
Events staged during Tsiamalili’s tenure include the 2014 sixth PNG Games, 2015 Pacific Games, 2016 FIFA Women’s Under 20 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.
“The reviewed national sports policy has a 30 year implementation roadmap that calls for minor reviews every 5 years and is in line with the PNG 2050 Vision.”
The policy is in its final drafting process and will be launched later this year.
Tsiamalili said the recent health pandemic has “impacted greatly on us including all our stakeholders in sports”.
“In ensuring PNG Sports Foundation with all its stakeholders return to the new normal, I have developed the Return to Sports COVID 19 protocol policy which sets the benchmark for organisation and stakeholders.”
Tsiamalili used the opportunity to thank the Board and everyone else “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.”