by Pesi Fonua
While candidates are campaigning for the November General Election, it is worth considering that to date, only three of the 22 legislations that were passed by the House during its 2021 session have been enacted and assented by the King.
Those three legislations included the appropriation acts, which are essential to keep government services running. The rest of the legislation, it has been pointed out, requires further work before it may be accepted to enter the body of Tongan law.
According to a work report of the House for the 2021 session, that was requested by the King, the House had passed 22 legislations.
However, as of yesterday, 8 October, according to the Attorney General’s website, only three of the 22 legislations that were passed by the House during its 2021 session (6 May to 16 September) had been enacted and assented by the King. These were:
- The Appropriation Act 2021, enacted on 24 June 2021.
- The Constitution of Tonga (Amendment) Act 2021, enacted on 29 July 2021.
- The Revenue Services Administration Act 2021, enacted on 29 July 2021.
The work that is supposed to be performed by the Tonga Legislative Assembly, in the House of Parliament, comes at great cost to the people of Tonga.
Therefore, it was not surprising that King Tupou VI, in his speech for the closing of the 2021 parliament (read by Lord Ve'ehala) on 16 September, stressed that it is most important that government spends wisely our tax revenues.
The King also reminded the House that although lawmakers had passed a number of legislations, but many of those needed revision.
Candidates for General Election
Parliament closed its 2021 session three weeks ago and members are continuing with their campaigns for the upcoming General Election on 18 November 2021.
When the registration of candidates closed on 28 September, 16 incumbent members were among the 75 candidates for the People’s Representative seats, including 12 women and 63 men.
To be an effective member of the Tongan Parliament is not an easy task and it has never been a more important one than now.
Government officials and experts presenting at this week's National Symposium on Illicit Drugs have called on all Tongans to pay attention to the grave problems that are afflicting our youth, our families, our health, our livelihoods, our relationships with other countries and our future.
Given the current state of the world, and the situation that Tonga is in, as a nation state, we have to make sure that we have the wisest and most capable people at the helm.
We should never forget that Members of Parliament are supposed to be our lawmakers – lawmakers who read and concern themselves with the words used in the bills to communicate the intent.
They may draft Bills for Acts, and are supposed to follow procedures, to carefully and transparently consider, evaluate and amend those Bills in order to pass legislations in parliament. After passing three “readings” the Legislative Assembly forwards the legislation to His Majesty in Privy Council for his assent before it can become law.
Three out of 22 means that the lawmaking process in the House needs to be improved.
