Tonga's up-hill struggle with corruption [1]
Wednesday, July 16, 2014 - 21:56. Updated on Thursday, July 17, 2014 - 06:02.
From the House, by Pesi Fonua.
The Tongan Government appears to be struggling to put in place an anti-corruption mechanism.
Since 2007, when the Anti-Corruption Commissioner Act was enacted and an office was set up, the government has not taken the next step to appoint an Anti-Corruption Commissioner.
The reason why government has not appointed an Anti-Corruption Commissioner has never been clarified.
But seven years later, under our more democratically-elected parliament, government has tabled a bill into parliament to amend the Commissioner for Public Relations Act 2001. The House was told by the Miniser of Justice, Hon. Clive Edwards and the Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Samiu Vaipulu that the move was to bring the office of an Ombudsman and an Anti-Corruption Commissioner under the management of a new Good Governance Commission that has yet to be formed.
The announcement stirred up intensive debate in the House about the independence of the Anti-Corruption Commissioner to carry out the task. Anyway, on June 25 the bill was passed by the House, amending the Commissioner for Public Relations Act 2001, by simply changing it to become an Ombudsman Bill 2014.
King Tupou VI has yet to enact the Bill, but when he does, the Commissioner for Public Relations Act will become the new Ombudsman Act.
The Ombudsman will then have the responsibility to investigate and deal with complaints against the government.
Under the Ombudsman Bill the government organizations that an Ombudsman may investigate include:
- Tonga Communications Corporation
- Tonga Power Ltd.
- Tonga Airports Ltd.
- Ports Authority Tonga
- Tonga Water Board
- Tonga Print Ltd.
- Tonga Post Ltd.
- Tonga Broadcasting Commission
- Waste Authority Ltd.
- Tonga Forest Products Ltd.
- Tonga Development Bank
- Tongatapu Market Ltd.
- Tonga Export Quality Management
- Small Industries Centre Ltd.
- National Reserve Bank
- International Dateline Hotel Company Ltd.
- Tonga Investment
- Sea Star Ltd.
- Shipping Corporation of Polynesian Ltd.
When the bill was debated in the House a point was raised that an Ombudsman (‘omipusimeni) can’t investigate the Cabinet or the Parliament. However, the Minister of Justice, Hon. Clive Edwards, pointed out that the Cabinet or the Parliament could be investigated by the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Under the new Ombudsman Bill that has been passed by the Tongan Parliament – the Ombudsman and his office shall be organized, supervised and administered as a component of the Good Governance Commission, as was intended in the Good Governance Commission Act 2012.
No act
Now, this is another twist to this whole process of government trying to put some kind of an Anti-Corruption mechanism in place, because there is no Good Governance Commission Act 2012. There was a Good Governance Commission Bill 2012 that was supposed to have been floating around in parliament, but it has not been formally tabled into the House. It is a case of putting the cart before the horse.
The House has passed the Ombudsman Bill. Unfortunately, even if the Ombudsman Bill is enacted, it cannot be implemented because the authority above the Ombudsman, the Good Governance Commission does not exist.
According to an explanatory note that is attached to the Good Governance Commission Bill – the basic idea of the Good Governance Commission is to provide an overall structure, plan and leadership to a number of government bodies that operate in the law enforcement and administration fields, to make sure they do work and that they share resources and cost as little as possible to run.
When the Ombudsman Bill and the Good Governance Commission Bill will one day be enacted, only then can the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Ombudsman become Good Governance Agencies under a Good Governance Commission.
Although Tonga has shown an intention to establish anti-corruption legislation, finding the political willpower to put an anti-corruption mechanism into place remains an up-hill struggle.