Commission for political reform, a ship adrift with not a soul aboard [1]
Monday, November 3, 2008 - 13:03. Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.
Editor's Comment
by Pesi Fonua
TONGA'S attempt at producing a new and more democratic form of government is a slog.
When the Constitutional and Electoral Commission Act came into force on July 23, it was hailed as a milestone in Tonga's rush to have a new system of government by 2010.
But since July the Commission has been a ship adrift without a sail or a rudder and not a soul aboard.
Parliament closes this week. Meanwhile, members of parliament are still arguing over how they are going to man the Commission. There were even calls for the termination of the Commission before it was even formed.
Lacking proper guidelines and procedures for setting up the commission - particularly on how and where the nominations were to be registered - over three months have gone by since the passing of the Act to form the Commission but the filing of the nominations for members and alternative members has not been completed.
The Members of the Commission are to be nominated by four groups of people: the Cabinet (chair), Judicial Services Commission (2), the Nobles Representatives (1), and the People's Representatives (1) and the nominees may not be members of parliament themselves. Privy Council may then approve or decline the nominations.
At the moment the Nobles were still waiting for letters of acceptance from their nominees; the Cabinet does not have an alternative nominee; and the People's Representatives were reminded in parliament to complete the filing procedure.
The Judicial Services Commission announced their nominees in a press statement on Monday, October 27, but did not name alternative members, which was another requirement. This afternoon we we received a copy of a letter dated October 30 from the Judicial Services Commission with its nominations for alternate members addressed to "The Clerk, His Majesty's Privy Council, Nuku'alofa", but no one in the Judiciary could tell us who or where the clerk may be found.
Private Members Bill
Hopeful that the commission can be formed before the 2009 parliamentary session opens at the end of May, the House last week passed a motion, which agreed for the Speaker and the Prime Minister to ask the king to open parliament to discuss a report from the Commission - if a report should happen to be ready before parliament reopens.
More importantly, last week on October 28 the House passed a Private Bill to amend the Constitutional and Electoral Commission Act. The content of the Private Bill was unknown to the public at the time because it was not attached to the Minutes of the House and there was very little debate of its content in the House. But details of the bill were released this morning, November 3, and it contains an amendment to the Act requiring that the names of the nominees were to be filed with "the Clerk of the Privy Council" by November 1.
But the problem with that is that the bill is not yet a law and the "Clerk of the Privy Council" has not been identified, while the King's private secretary is abroad.
Only two nominations
So where are we with the Commission for Political Reform? On our weekly check with the Prime Minister's Office to find out how many more Commission members had been nominated, the response was "only the two nominated by the Judicial Services Commission", now named as Dr 'Ana Taufe'ulungaki and Sione Fonua.
On Friday the Deputy Clerk of the House Sione Tekiteki said that the delay with the registration of candidates for the Commission was because nominations of alternative members were also required along with a letter of acceptance from both the nominees.
While the Nobles and the People's Representatives have announced their nominees and their alternative nominees they have not filed the names and letters. The Nobles have chosen Hon. Tu'ivanuavou Vaea and for an alternative nominee, Noble Tu'i'afitu. The People's Representatives have chosen Dr Sitiveni Halapua and Masao Paasi.
The Prime Minister has also announced in the House that the Cabinet had made its nomination and he would be available in January. It is known that the Cabinet nominee for a Chairman of the Commission is Tonga's former Chief Justice, Mr Justice Gordon Ward.
The alternate members named by the Judical Services Commission on October 30 were Lord Tevita Tupou, a law practitioner and 'Aisea Taumoepeau, barrister (NZ) and law practitioner. In the same letter to the Privy Council Clerk the Judicial Services Commission resubmitted their original recommendations of Dr Taufe'ulunganki, and educationalist and Sione Fonua, barrister (NZ) and law practitioner. "They have all accepted nomination and are free to start working with the commission at any time."
Where to file nominees?
But where have the names of the nominees been tabled? There was a presumption that the Chief Secretary and the Secretary to Cabinet would be the registration point. But nominees were announced by the various groups without being filed with the Prime Minister's Office, because the Nobles and the People's Representatives did not want to do that.
So the million-dollar-question is: where is the registration point for these nominees? Sione Tekiteki suggested that we try the former Private Secretary for the king, Sateki 'Ahio who is with the Prime Minister's Office.
The Private Secretary for the king has been the person responsible for preparing the Agenda for the Privy Council and, presumably, Sateki would know something about it, since the King and his new secretary, the former manager of Shoreline Power, David Dunkley were away in Australia. But Sateki told us that he did not know anything about it and he had nothing to do with the registration of members of the Commission for Political Reform.
Some members thought the Clerk of the House would take the nominations but last week the Speaker told the House that the Clerk of the House was not responsible for tabling their nominees with the Prime Minister's Office and they had to do it themselves.
Unnecessary confusion
So the New System of Government that Tonga has scheduled to have ready by 2010 remains adrift in what appears to be a quite unnecessary state of confusion, simply because of an obvious lack of democratic principles and practices in the process of setting-up what has been publicly declared to be a more democratic system of government for Tonga.
The one thing that is certain and transparent is that Parliament will be closed this Thursday, November 6.