Nobles united in opposition to Cabinet's bill for reform commission [1]
Thursday, August 28, 2008 - 16:31. Updated on Monday, May 12, 2014 - 23:41.
From the House, by Pesi Fonua
The nine Nobles' Representatives to the Tongan parliament showed their united opposition to a Bill that will allow Tongans to take the first constructive step towards the reshaping of the parliamentary system of the Kingdom.
The Nobles abstained from voting when the Bill for the Establishment of a Constitutional and Electoral Commission had its final reading in the House on July 22, before the House closed for the Coronation celebrations.
The Bill was passed 17-0, by eleven Cabinet Ministers and six People's Representatives. Abstaining from voting were all of the nine Nobles' Representatives, four Cabinet Ministers and three People's Representatives, 'Akilisi Pohiva, Clive Edwards and 'Etuate Lavulavu.
The House held an evening session to specifically deal with the two issues: the releasing of $26 million from the Ministry of Finance's budget to buy back the national power generation utility from Shoreline; and to pass a Bill for the formation of a Constitutional and Electoral Commission for political change.
Proponents of the Bill urged that it "must be passed before the Coronation Celebrations."
Split
But the Tongan parliament appeared to split in half over the move for the formation of a Commission whose task will be to report to Parliament and to the Privy Council on the formation of a new system of government for Tonga.
Noble Tu'ilakepa at point blank told the House that the Nobles Representatives did not support the formation of the Commission and were opposed to the bill.
He reminded the House that the desire for political change had been well documented by the late Prince Tu'ipelehake's Committee, the National Committee for Political Reform and he considered it a waste of government funds to form a commission to do what he believed was the same task that had been done before.
He considered that the $350,000 that overseas aid donors gave to the NCPR was a waste of money. He pleaded for the House to defer their voting on the Bill until after the Coronation.
Heated debate
During the heated debate two factors became clear.
The Nobles' Representatives were convinced that the Cabinet Ministers and the PRs had made a deal and that they were forcing the Royal Family to give in to their demands.
Noble Tu'ilakepa questioned who wrote the speech given by the Princess Regent Princess Pilolevu, when she opened parliament in May. The Princess Regent had said that she was opening the last session of the Tongan parliament under the current system of government, because when parliament opened in 2010 it would be under a different system of government. The noble did not believe that the Princess wrote that speech and he wondered who wrote it.
Cabinet and PRs
Further expressing his suspicion that the Cabinet and the PRs were putting pressure on the Royal family, Noble Tu'ilakepa again wondered why they could not defer the debate on the Bill to another day instead of pushing it to be passed that night, so that two ministers could take the Bill for the king to give his consent, and meet the deadline that has been publicised, for the Bill to be passed before the coronation.
The Deputy Prime Minister, the Prime Minister and Teisina Fuko tried to change the mind of the Nobles' Representatives, but they could not make any impression on them.
Noble Tu'ipelehake's position was that if the House would not defer the debate on the Bill until after the Nobles had had an audience with the king, then they would not support the formation of the Commission.
The Bill was passed 17-0 then the House was closed until September 1.
No Commission?
So can the commission function without the support of the Nobles? Well, it can't, particularly since the Nobles' Representatives are united and if they don't nominate a candidate to the Commission, it could mean no Commission unless the Act is amended to create a different composition.
At this junction it appears that there is a realignment of alliances in the House. The Nobles' Representatives since the 1920s have been accused of siding with Cabinet, but now it appears that the People's Representatives are the Cabinet's best buddies and not the nobles.
But how serious are the Nobles in their opposition to the formation of a commission? At the end of the day it was the Speaker of the House himself, Noble Tu'ilakepa who called for the third reading of the Bill for a Constitutional and Electoral Commission Act, before it was passed.
Eleven Cabinet Ministers and six PRs voted for it.
Abstaining from voting were all of the Nobles' Representatives, and four Cabinet Ministers.
Stranger still was the abstaining from voting of 'Akilisi Pohiva and Clive Edwards who were both vocal in their support for the bill during this debate.