Results for Editor's Comment

The resignation of Lord Tu‘iha‘ateiho as the Acting Speaker of the Tonga Legislative Assembly, on Tuesday, 27 August, is the latest fiasco in parliament, since Tonga introduced a new political system at the end of 2010. Editor’s Comment, By Pesi Fonua

When the crunch of Tonga's huge debt to China becomes critical in the new financial year 2013-14, the government, naturally, will be looking for someone to blame. ... The failure of the government and parliament to present a transparent, accountable and comprehensive report on the destruction and the reconstruction of the Nuku'alofa CBD remains the most controversial issue for the government of Lord Tu'ivakano, since he came into office on December 2010. Editor's Comment by Pesi Fonua

Tonga's democratic adventure during the past two years has been full of intrigues, revelations and challenges. Unfortunately, these goings on have distracted the attention of the Cabinet and the Parliament from the pressing issue of the day, which is to get the Tongan economy back on its feet, or we will become heavily relying on others for our livelihoods. Editor's Comment, by Pesi Fonua

We can say that: "The Battle is over and the War has started" and that is probably the best way to describe the outcome of the first round of Tonga's Parliamentary Election yesterday, as Tongans prepare for the second round of voting by the new members of parliament who are tasked with putting a new government into place within the next 28 days. by Pesi Fonua

The legality of parliament's voting on a very important motion and two reform bills legalizing Political Reform has become an issue that the Tonga Legislative Assembly has to address in order for the proposed political reform and the November 25 parliamentary general election to proceed. ...It wasn't that the House didn't know what they were doing. It is clear from the minutes that members were fully aware that they were passing an amendment that had not been drafted. They were also aware that they did not understand the bills and had not debated them before raising their hands in unison. In the Minutes, People's Reps 'Akilisi Pohiva and 'Isileli Pulu are on record saying that it was most unusual for the House to pass bills without even understanding the bills and the proposed amendment, but they both expressed their trust in the Minister of Justice and the Cabinet to go ahead and draft good bills. EDITOR'S COMMENT By Pesi Fonua.

The Tongan Parliament is making itself irrelevant to the political reform process that it set for 2010, by failing to agree on the fundamentals for a new system of government for Tonga, and at the same time has left itself out of the decision-making process of the Constitutional and Electoral Reform Commission by not meeting the July 6 deadline for submissions. Editor's Comment.

In spite of our national eagerness to embrace the economic and political reform programs that were introduced by government during the first few years of a new century, the reality was that the strong words that were used to describe the reforms and win public support were followed by the indifference and elements of uncertainty that the reforms were implemented with. Editor's Comment, by Pesi Fonua

Tension is mounting in the Tongan Parliament this week over the direction of the Political Reform that has been set in motion since the end of 2004. The drama is also a decoy by the politicians to distract public attention from the massive salary increase - backdated for two years - the Members have just taken for themselves.

FROM OUR ARCHIVES: At this junction of our quest for social, economic and political reform in Tonga, the one entity that is obviously missing is a credible opposition to form some sort of Shadow Government responsible for the drafting, presenting of demands and reform proposals, and the monitoring of their progress. Editor's Comment, by Pesi Fonua.