Vote of No Confidence

Claims in Tonga’s parliament that there was an illegal transference of government money to Tongasat have been denied by two Prime Ministers, in a row over how a USD$75 million grant from China to Tonga was used.

A motion by the Minister of Justice, Hon. Clive Edwards, for a Parliamentary Select Committee to find out why protesters burnt Nuku’alofa on 16 November 2006, was withdrawn by order of the Acting Speaker yesterday, after ‘Akilisi Pohiva pleaded with the Prime Minister to ask the Acting Speaker to have it withdrawn. From the House by Pesi Fonua

A revelation by ‘Akilisi Pohiva yesterday afternoon that he had told the Prime Minister to dismiss his two appointed ministers, the Minister of Education and the Minister of Justice, and that ‘Akilisi wanted to be the Minister of Education, presented a new dimension to the deliberation in the House over a Motion for a Vote of No Confidence in the Prime Minister signed by 10 People’s Representatives. From the House by Pesi Fonua.

A move by ten members of the Tongan parliament to topple Tonga’s first majority-elected government with a Motion for a Vote of No Confidence in the Prime Minister, Lord Tu’ivakano, on June 18, has plunged Tongan politics into its most unstable state, since the political maneuvering by some politicians with a similar intention resulted in the mindless burning of the Nuku’alofa Central Business District on November 16, 2006. From the House, by Pesi Fonua.