23% of Tonga's people living a difficult life, survey shows [1]
Thursday, June 19, 2008 - 19:34. Updated on Tuesday, July 28, 2015 - 16:27.
From the House, an English translation summary from the Tongan vernacular, by Pesi Fonua.
Highlights from the House, June 12:
- An Asian Development Bank survey showed that 5% of the Tongan population live below the poverty line, that is less than $2 per person per day. Another 18% were considered to be "faingata'a'ia", living a difficult life. The ADB report then concluded that 23% of the population are poor.
- Afu'alo Matoto said that government would finance the buying back of Shoreline by selling its shares in Westpac Bank of Tonga; it will also negotiate for the settlement of money owed by Shoreline to government and by government to Shoreline. The public enterprise that has been established to manage the power generation could borrow to pay the balance.
Tonga Legislative Assembly, Minute No. 5, Thursday June 12, 2008.
The Speaker announced that they had got a new Clerk who started today.
The Clerk made the roll call. The Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Labour were away overseas, so was the Noble Tu'ipelehake. Noble Lasike was away sick, and Clive Edwards was coming late and anyone who did not answer his call was, possibly, coming late.
The Clerk read a petition that was presented by People's Representatives 'Akilisi Pohiva and 'Isileli Pulu. The petition with 31 signatures requested for some of the $6 million that is allocated in this year's budget to be spent, fixing a 2-km road through the middle of the village of Houmakelikao.
The Speaker called for votes and the petition was accepted 21-0.
The Deputy Prime Minister called on members to be considerate of the kind of petition they present to the House. With regards to the $6 million that has been allocated for road works, meeting had been held with town and district officers and plan had been made on the roads were to be repaired. He warned that the House could be littered with letters of petition, begging for roads to be fixed.
People's Representative 'Etuate Lavulavu said that there were six letters of petition from Vava'u. He asked for $1.4 million from the $6 million for road works to go to Vava'u.
Sunia Fili told of complaints from 'Eua about the new duty on imported vehicles which is based on the cc capacity of the engine. He said that people found it more expensive than the old rate. The other complaint was how the Consumption Tax is charged. CT is charged when the goods arrived from overseas than another CT is charged when the vehicle is loaded on the ferry for 'Eua.
The Speaker said that the Regulation for the Act on cc is with the House as part of legislation that will have to be passed together with the budget.
Budget
The Speaker dissolved the Legislature and the Chairman of the Whole House Committee, Samiu Vaipulu took his chair. He stressed for the Committee to get the budget passed before the end of the month.
The Speaker made a point that he hoped the House would not have to work overtime to pass the budget.
'Etuate Lavulavu said that the main government expenses in this year's budget were - the Coronation, the buying of Shoreline and road construction.
He tried to make a point that budgeting was a foreign concept introduced by foreigners who work in ministries. He said that the figures presented were an academic exercise and unrealistic because Tonga has no money and is a poor country. He said that Tonga is simply survives on love. After stressing that Tonga was surviving only on Love, he wanted to know who is going to run the power generation after government buys it back from Shoreline?
'Akilisi said that Shoreline was making a $12 million profit annually. He suggested that government go ahead and buy Shoreline, then employ the same staff to keep the power generation running.
Teisina Fuko pointed out that there had been no public account for Tonga since 2004.
The Minister of Finance Afu'alo Matoto reminded 'Etuate Lavulavu that love and hope go together.
With regard to the Public Account he said that the 2005-06, and 2006-07 had not been audited. He said that the 2007-08 accounts should be with the auditor early next year.
Clive said that it had been mentioned a number of times that the budget was drafted with the alleviation of poverty in mind. He wondered if the Minister could be specific.
The Minister said that there were a number of specific areas, such as the exemption of duty on fuel for public transport; duty free for imported meat; the fixing of roads; and the constructing of a drainage system for Nuku'alofa.
Teisina Fuko expressed his concern over an increase in taxation, while at the same time there are no definite sources of income for the people. He wondered if there are countries in the Pacific that adopt such taxation systems.
The Minister of Finance said that all Pacific countries are adopting the same system. With regards to the duty of vehicles based on cc, Tonga was behind others.
The Minister also told the House that an unpaid loan from Germany for the MV Fuakavenga and the MV Olovaha had been written off.
He said that following 16/11 Australia and New Zealand gave financial assistance to people who lost their jobs and whose work places were affected by the riot. Following that Australia and New Zealand also gave $3 million, subsidising the interest of loans by businesses that were affected by the riot. In addition Australia and New Zealand also made available $16-17 millions for businesses that were gutted during the riot to borrow from at 5% interest rate.
Noble Luani asked the Minister of Finance for his interpretation of the word masiva, poverty.
Afu'alo Matoto said that according to a survey that was carried out by ADB some 5% of the Tongan population live below the poverty line, that is less than $2 per person per day. So 5% are considered to be poor. An additional 18% were considered to be faingata'a'ia, living a difficult life. The ADB report then concluded that 23% of the population are poor. He said that those who were considered to be living a difficult life were those who did not have access to hospitals, nurses and doctors, transportation and other services.
Afu'alo said that the budget for the current financial year had been difficult because there was no increase in the votes of ministries while at the same time prices of goods have gone up. For the budget for the coming financial year Afu predicted a surplus, and he said that government will table into the House a Bill for the establishment of a Reserve Fund, where surplus funds could be deposited so that in time of an emergency government will have some funds to fall back into.
The Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Viliammi Tangi commented on the concern about poverty in Tonga. He reminded the House about how Tonga was rated 53 among more than 160 countries in the Human Development Impacts ranking by the World Bank and the United Nation.
He said that the decision by government to exempt duty from imported meat would mean a loss in revenue of $4 million, but it was for the welfare of the people.
'Akilisi said that poverty is relative. If the society sets a certain standard, and some people can't attain that standard then naturally they feel poor. He wanted to know where the government will get the $US26 million from to buy Shoreline.
Afu'alo Matoto said that government will sell its shares in Westpac Bank of Tonga, negotiations was also ongoing to settle money owed by Shoreline to government and by government to Shoreline. He said that there was a hope that at the outcome of the negotiation the price will come down. In addition, a public enterprise that had been established to manage the power generation could borrow to pay the balance.
'Akilisi then started talking about issues which were more related to the political reform than to the budget.
Noble Ma'afu Tukui'aulahi asked the Chairman to remind 'Akilisi that they were debating the budget and not on Political Reform.
The House was closed until 9.30 a.m. Monday June 16.