Afuʻalo Matoto

Who is Afuʻalo Matoto?

Afuʻalo Matoto, Lord Matoto of Tuʻanekivale, is a Tongan political figure.

Having obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Auckland, he became an assistant teacher at the Tonga High School in 1968. He later obtained a Master of Arts degree from the University of Durham in 1971, and was appointed Assistant Secretary at the Tongan Ministry of Finance that same year. He was Secretary of Finance from 1977 to 1983, then became the Bank of Tonga's Manager for Development and Planning. From 1999 to 2006, he was Managing Director of the Tonga Development Bank.

In October 2006, King Taufaʻahau Tupou IV appointed him Minister for Public Enterprises. In July 2007, he additionally became Minister of Information, heading a newly established ministry.

Matoto was also Treasurer of the Tonga Rugby Football Union from 1975 to 1982, and Chairman of the TRFU Referees Association "from the early 80s to the early 90s". He is the current President of the Nuku'alofa Rotary Club, of which he has been a member since 1974. He is, in addition, an ordained Minister of the Free Church of Tonga.

In December 2010, he was one of the first people to be named a Life Peer in Tonga's heretofore solely hereditary nobility, by King George Tupou V. As a Noble of the Realm, he is known as Lord Matoto of Tuʻanekivale.