Editor's Comment by Pesi Fonua.

When the Prime Minister told the House this week that the Reserve Bank should tell the commercial banks to reduce their interest rates and to reduce their profit to not more than $2 million pa’anga per annum - one wonders if the Prime Minister had discussed the issue with his Minister of Finance?

The Minister of Finance is responsible for the selection of the Governor of the Reserve Bank, and the members of its Board, who can set the interest rates and negotiate with the commercial banks.

Is it a sensible proposition for Parliament to set the interest rates for the banks? I don’t think so.

When the Prime Minister was aggressive in his calling for the House to do something about what he referred to as “neo-colonialism”, and for the commercial banks to either reduce their profits to $2 million pa’anga per annum or leave, he hinted that Tongans could pool together their resources and start up a new bank. He pointed out that the Public Service Retirement Fund has accumulated $115 million. To start a commercial bank, one has to deposit $2 million with the National Reserve Bank of Tonga.

One wonders if there is a conflict of interest in the case of the Prime Minister, because he has also told the House that he is a member of the board of the Public Service Retirement Fund?

A motion has been presented to Parliament for the impeachment of a Cabinet Minister, and a Standing Committee on Privileges is deciding if there is an impeachment case to be heard. When the Cabinet Minister in question presents a motion for the House to dismantle the Privileges Committee and to replace it with a committee of his own choice - one wonders if the Minister realised that he is corrupting the impeachment process?

When the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister’s Office are blaming each other for agreeing to and signing a contract for a two-pages advertorial of the Prime Minister in Forbes magazine, telling the world that Tonga would be attractive to foreign investors “because of its simplicity” - it cost Tonga USD$130,000 to tell the world how simple we are.

One wonders why the Prime Minister did not stop the verbal slinging match and tell the country who approved the interview and the payment?

When a Cabinet Minister tabled a motion/resolution into parliament, for parliament to tell government to buy three tractors for Vava’u - one wonders why the Minister did not tell Cabinet himself, rather than having the House and its Standing Committee on Privileges spending days haggling over the motion?

When there was a public reaction to the cutting of the trees and the clearing of Pangai Si'i for the construction of St George's Palace, the Prime Minister told the House that they were against it, but they just let it go. 

One wonders if a government doesn't want it, then why allow it to happen?

All these wonders appear to reveal a lack of communication between the Prime Minister and some of his ministers, and a government that can't stand firm on its own feet.

It has been nine months since the Prime Minister and his new government came into power before Christmas 2014. It is Tonga’s second government under our new system of government that was introduced in 2010. The major change was the taking of the executive function from His Majesty in Privy Council, and giving it to the Prime MInister in Cabinet.

Understandably, we are still trying to get our new system of government to work properly, but an apparent shift in the decision-making process of this government is that when Cabinet can’t make a decision on issues, they are being thrown into the House, instead.

What is apparent now is that a Cabinet, unable to make decisions on some of these complex issues, in desperation is telling the parliament and the people to deal with it.