PM says 'Alisi resigns for misleading Cabinet

PM fires ‘Alisi to protect the King - Sione A. Mokofisi:
Prime Minister Dr. Feleti Sevele has now fired two very smart and strong-minded women from their government posts. The latest victim was the former AG/MJ, Ms. ‘Alisi Taumoepeau.Besides the lame justification for sacking Ms Taumoepeau, it illustrates to me that Dr. Sevele might have a problem working with “smart” women. I don’t buy his justification for the firing one bit because of the contradictory rationalizations I find in his explanation …

Dr. Sevele confirmed that Ms. Taumoepeau was appointed by His Majesty the King. However, he did not confirm that it was the King who fired the former Minister of Justice (MJ). Where did the PM get his power to terminate Ms. Taumoepeau’s portfolios? Does the PM still take orders from the King (as Terminator), or is he supposed to be independent (three independent branches of government)?

Challenging Male Authority

There was no mention of a Parliamentary Court where Ms. Taumoepeau was tried, and found guilty of the charges Prime Minister Sevele leveled at her. Ms. Taumoepeau was “asked to resign” for challenging the males’ authority in government, in my opinion. If she refused to follow her conscience and professional governance, she would have been treated like a “good obedient fefine Tonga.”

How can Tonga attract more “smart” women to top government positions if their organizational skills and ingenuity are interpreted as threats to Tonga’s feudal, male-authority syndrome? Ms. Taumoepeau claims that PM Sevele did not like her legal opinion. Meanwhile, Dr. Sevele claims she was fired for questioning the King’s constitutional authority, and that she intentionally misled Cabinet.

Checks and Balances

Dr. Sevele is in fact protecting the King’s preference to appoint the Chief Justice, and other judicial appointments. The PM must challenge this undemocratic practice instead: The King must not appoint justices without confirmation of the Legislative. Judicial appointments must not be the sole privilege of the Administrative Branch. The people must have a say in the process, otherwise we are back to the old system again.

Congratulations, Ms. Taumoepeau! You had the brains and the guts to question the “King’s constitutional authority.” Aren’t there “law review” procedures to clarify these complex constitutional questions? Secondly, you challenged the Tongan feudal, male-chauvinistic rule in government.

Bravo! We need more “smart” women like you in government. Unfortunately, you may have been unfairly branded and cast out as a warning to Tongan women: Toe the line with the male authorities or else … - Sione A. Mokofisi

Tongan men classifying Tongan women - Daniel Kimball Fale:
Mr Mokofisi's recent letter to the editor concerning the former Minister of Justice once again presents all of us with an almost perfect model of confusion and illogical reasoning. In addition to providing us with the foregoing model, Mr. Mokofisi has also simultaneously disrespected and belittled many of Tonga’s proud, hardworking and intelligent women.

Demeaning to Tongan Women

Tonga, like many other countries in the world and like many of us as individuals, has much room to improve on eliminating gender discrimination and on improving opportunities for any disadvantaged or underprivileged members of our society. However, the claims asserted by Mr. Mokofisi in his most recent letter are extremely disrespectful and inappropriate in light of the many intelligent women who live and work in Tonga.

In a nutshell, Mr. Mokofisi submits to us readers that the Prime Minister of Tonga and other leaders of Tongan society “have a problem working with “smart” women … ” and that in Tonga, “smart” women are fired and not tolerated.

This preposterous claim is demeaning and improper. If we accept such a nefarious accusation, Mr. Mokofisi’s logic would then lead us to surmise that Tongan leaders have a problem of working with “smart” women, who in such case should only be fired and not tolerated, and therefore, we must conclude with this train of thought that where a woman is able to work with Tongan leaders, but is not fired, such woman must then be dumb, or at least not “smart.” I myself have worked with, learned from and come to love and respect many tremendous leaders here in Tonga; leaders that qualify as “smart” in every sense of the word, and leaders that may also happen to be female. These experiences that I have had, lead me to believe that Mr. Mokofisi’s statements and train of thought are not only inaccurate, but also offensive on many levels. Accordingly, I cannot and will not accept Mr. Mokofisi’s claims regarding Tongan women.

Again, I agree that improvements can always be made in all nations or countries - not just Tonga - in regards to all issues of equality and not just those concerning gender, but more importantly, I strongly believe that such improvements can be developed and even implemented without the demeaning assertions made by Mr. Mokofisi.

Illogical

While I may agree with Mr. Mokofisi, that the former Minister of Justice is a smart woman, especially given her many accomplishments and long service for the people of Tonga, I cannot agree that this was the cause of her leaving her ministerial post. Mr. Mokofisi’s conclusion that being a smart woman was the root cause of vacating the ministerial post in question is not supported by any facts whatsoever. Indeed, Mr. Mokofisi does not present a single fact that might support his conclusion. If Mr. Mokofisi was present at any of the Cabinet meetings relating to this specific topic, he should share these facts with us before he asks us to consider his claims. I submit, that a conclusion that is made without any underlying facts is a poster-child for the definition of illogical.

Confusion

I believe it is a professional courtesy when a person is asked to resign from a job, instead of going through the alternative which would then make the term “sacked” or “fired” more appropriate. The person resigning always has the option of not resigning and seeking redress in Court. I believe that there are enough examples of the Tongan Judiciary finding against the government to support a conclusion that the Judiciary is quite independent and capable of applying the law in a fair and equitable manner. In fact, I believe that the Judiciary has been a very effective check and balance in Tonga’s government.

I do not understand how Mr. Mokofisi arrives at the conclusion that the resignation of the former Minister was merely an effort by the Prime Minister to protect the King’s prerogative to make judicial appointments. I believe such prerogative is wholly unrelated to the underlying matter. However, there are many issues at stake, including the actual sovereignty of Tonga, and these must be considered when appointing judges in Tonga. Overall, Tonga’s judiciary has been a success story and has proven to be independent and an effective check and balance in Tonga’s government as a whole. All this has occurred while the King has been at the helm of executive power in the current set-up for the entire past century. Where the current proposals for governmental changes in Tonga give more executive power to the Prime Minister and other branches of government, I believe that now, perhaps more than at any other time, it may be very well be wise to continue to allow royal appointment of those serving in our Judiciary.

In conclusion, I believe that Mr. Mokofisi has jumped the gun on a number of issues and that most of his claims, if not all, are unfounded. - Daniel Kimball Fale

Brother Sione, come home - Kitione Mokofisi:
I feel that I must take issue with the comment made by my brother (Sione A. Mokofisi) who is based in Salt Lake City in the US. Sione has been out of Tonga for over ten years and is obviously relying on secondhand information when he makes the statements that he has in his letter.

He seems to be under the impression that the 1875 Constitution has already been repealed and replaced, but as residents of Tonga are aware, this is not the case. He also appears to be getting somewhat hysterical about a non-existent gender issue over the resignation of the former Minister of Justice, Ms ‘Alisi Taumoepeau. Ms Taumoepeau’s resignation was requested for misleading Cabinet and exceeding her authority, not through some gender bias on the part of the Prime Minister.

Ms Taumoepeau saw fit to release both the confidential Prime Minister’s letter to her, requesting her resignation and her reply to the request, to the Kele’a newspaper. Kele’a printed both letters, which are now a matter of public record. In paragraph five of the Prime Minister’s letter he settles the issue of gender bias, I quote from that letter:
“I had strongly recommended you for appointment to your present position, despite the advice of many against it, because I had faith in you and your ability.”

I rather think that sentence settles the issue of any gender bias on the part of the Prime Minister, Ms Taumoepeau’s downfall was entirely of her own making. It is obvious when one reads the Prime Minister’s letter that he was attempting to settle a contentious issue amicably and with a minimum of embarrassment to all parties. Ms Taumoepeau, in her wisdom, decided to air her ‘dirty linen’ in public.

Sione also questions the right of the Pirme Minister to terminate Ms Taumoepeau. This right comes from Dr Sevele’s position as head of government and overall head of all government departments, and the Justice portfolio certainly comes within his control. As a responsible head of government the Prime Minister could not allow a member of his Cabinet to deliberately mislead her colleagues and to act contrary to government policy, so Ms Taumoepeau had to go.

It rather seems to me that Sione should get on a plane and come home for awhile, so he can acquaint himself firsthand with the situation here in Tonga, rather than relying on erroneous and frequently self seeking reports to form his opinions. - Kitione Mokofisi

Malo ‘aupito brother, but people deserve to think for themselves - Sione A. Mokofisi:
Please forgive our intrusion here if it seems this should have been a family matter (Brother Sione…12 Feb 2010). But my brother has criticized my temerity to challenge the Prime Minister’s Office from afar, and I must take him on. I am proud of your position as Parliament Broadcaster, Brother. But the people of Tonga deserve transparency and open debates to make intelligent decisions for themselves. Tonga is not an authoritarian regime where people are expected to accept government propaganda without asking questions. It is your duty to encourage lively debates, even inclusive of Tongan expatriates.

My trained literary eye is charged with the responsibility of critically testing questions to explain social events in an ethical, logical, and meaningful manner. I make no apologies if the conclusion is unfavorable to the Prime Minister’s Office. My readers demand honest evaluation, and nothing less. I’ve written favorable evaluations of the PM in the past; have not once heard a “cat’s meow” from the PM’s Office.

“Pure Tonganness?”

Do I need to be “purified” as a Tongan by moving back to Tonga? This is an arrogant insular attitude to think that we expatriates are inferior to Tongans living in Tonga? And I don’t need to read a Tongan “tabloid newspaper” for my information, thank you.

With the advent of the information technology (IT), the Internet, Internet-radio, the World Wide Web, e-mails, mobile phones, mobile texting, and mobile photos some of us are better informed on Tongan affairs than most Tongans living in Tonga. Information reporting is now done ubiquitously anymore, if you had not noticed.

We expatriates have known for a long time about the corruptions Commander Lupeti Vi revealed the other day at the Royal Commission of Inquiry. We have known Tu’i Uata (son of PR ‘Uliti Uata) has allegedly been bribing, threatening and intimidating people (see MTO article), and also those who are encouraging gender and racism crimes. Most local Tongans seemed either oblivious to these social diseases, or felt helpless when their leaders have lost their sense of ethical, moral, and cultural civility and decency to “fear.”

Most Laughable Quotes

It has to be the most laughable quote of the century: “Minister of Justice ‘Alisi Taumoepeau was asked to resign for questioning the king’s constitutional authority,” said Prime Minister Dr. Sevele. Who in his right mind will believe that? A child perhaps? Do I need “first-hand” information to form an opinion on such a ridiculous statement? And the PM proudly repeated it on Kalafi Moala’s TV program. This is reliable and traceable “secondary” information source, even by scientific research standards.

The People deserved the full story in a Parliamentarian Hearing and Inquiry if Ms. Taumoepeau’s actions were so egregious. Why hasn’t there been a Hearing held? Is the PM afraid that people might find out the truth for themselves?

1875 Constitution Prohibits Absolute Monarchy

‘Alisi Taumoepeau’s constitutional opinions are spot on. The Prime Minister has no role in the selection of justices (see her article), especially the Chief Justice appointment. Traditionally, the King’s appointments were “consented” (rubber stamped) to by the Privy Council. But now the Privy Council is eliminated in the new “democratic” system. The Legislative Assembly must take the Privy Council’s place in Tonga’s modern democratic transformation.

In my professional critical eye, the King will become an “Absolute Monarch” if he appoints justices without “confirmation” by the Legislative Assembly. Checks and Balances are required by the 1875 Constitution to guarantee the equal sharing of power between the 3 branches of government.

The Legislative (voice of the people) must be included in the appointment and confirmation of justices. Anything less will leave the King as sole arbiter of two branches in Government. They will rule without challenge from the people’s Legislative Assembly. - Sione A. Mokofisi

Faulty deductive reasoning a sign of male chauvinism - Sione A. Mokofisi:
Mr. Fale’s faulty deductive-reasoning attempt illustrates how pervasive Tongan male chauvinism can be. Many Tongan men cannot accept the fact that a Tongan woman could be smarter than a man.

Thousands of “smart” women prefer not to work for government. And Mr. Fale cannot deny that ‘Alisi Taumoepeau is a smarter cookie than many men to have held the Attorney General and Minister of Justice portfolios.

That’s a phenomenon in itself since women must endure inequality in the law (landownership), social segregation (male-dominated functions), traditional protocols (a stratified society), and women’s molded place in public.

If Mr. Fale surmises that all other women are “dumb,” his faulty deductive-reasoning premise shows a level of desperate contrivance. - Sione A. Mokofisi