Minister for Youth and Sports Jese Saukuru says he is grateful to be reinstated to his portfolio following the completion of an independent investigation into allegations surrounding the Fiji Sports Council.

Saukuru stepped down from his ministerial role earlier this year while investigations into the Fiji Airways contra deals were carried out. However, an independent inquiry later cleared him of any wrongdoing, paving the way for his return to Cabinet.

Speaking after his reinstatement, Saukuru said he was pleased to be back and looked forward to continuing work on youth empowerment and sports development initiatives across the country.

“Just happy to be back. We have a lot of things to do as far as development and sports development is concerned and I’m thankful that the investigations have cleared out everything and I can get back to work again.”

Meanwhile, Assistant Minister for Youth and Sports Aliki Bia welcomed Saukuru’s return, saying the ministry’s operations were not affected during the investigation period and that programmes continued as normal.

“There’s no change when the Minister was there and even when he wasn’t, we continued with the work we were doing and what was already laid out by the Ministry, we had continued from where he left off. Nothing will change.”

Bia added that he is looking forward to working alongside Saukuru once again as the ministry continues its efforts to create greater opportunities for young people and athletes throughout Fiji.

“The standard has been set by the Prime Minister about how we need to organize ourselves as a Ministry going into our last year and going into the election but the standard has always been there. That the service we provide to the people out there should be efficient and we show Fijians that we can serve them in the best possible way.”

With his reinstatement now confirmed, Saukuru will resume leadership of the Youth and Sports portfolio as the ministry advances its development agenda.