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.[2]
Political career
Matoto was appointed to Cabinet as Minister for Public Enterprises in October 2006.[2] He was appointed Tonga's first Minister of Information in July 2007.[3] As Information Minister he claimed that the Prime Minister was being targeted by a 'hate campaign" run by the Kele'a newspaper,[4] and drafted new guidelines for political reporting by the Tonga Broadcasting Commission.[5] In March 2008 he was appointed Finance Minister.[6][7] As Finance Minister he oversaw a series of privatisations,[8] including selling the government's 40% share of Westpac Bank of Tonga to Westpac.[9] He also oversaw an unpopular Ministerial pay increase in 2009[10][11] and a series of budget cuts in 2010.[12] He lost his position when Tonga moved to an elected government after the 2010 Tongan general election.
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.[2][13]
