A ban on selling bread on Sundays will be enforced tomorrow, Sunday July 3. The ban, which was pushed for by church leaders and supported by members of parliament, re-enforces one of Tonga’s oldest laws which forbids commercial undertakings on the Sabbath. However, the owners of Tonga’s two biggest bakeries told Matangi Tonga Online that the ban would likely result in job losses because bakeries have been trading on Sunday for over 30 years.

The resurrection of the sabbatical laws means that Tonga’s biggest food manufacturing industry – baking – could see a significant downturn in output as, according to local bakery owners, Sundays are twice as busy as normal weekdays. The worry is that reduced cash flows would impact the ability of some businesses to meet current commitments, such as loans repayments.

Some business owners who provide Sunday services in Tonga have complained that they were not consulted about the enforcement, which was announced by Minister of Police, Hon. Pohiva Tu’i’onetoa in early June.

The owners of Cowley & Sons and Ha’amoko Bakery said this week that they had not been officially notified of the reinstatement of the sabbatical law by the authorities.

Surprised

Alfred Cowley, the Managing Director of A. Cowley & Sons, Tonga’s biggest and oldest bakery, said that he had received "nothing, no direct phone call, no official letter, only what I have heard over the radio about the ban. I was very much surprised."

The business has invested heavily in modernizing its bakery production and only recently opened a new bakery production line at Fasi in Nuku’alofa. Alfred said his Sunday operation was busier than regular day operations with approximately 60 staff selling bread out of seven branches around Tongatapu. Some of those jobs will be lost.

He said that Tongan bakeries were allowed by authorities to bake and sell bread on Sunday since the devastation by Cyclone Isaac in 1982. "It was to feed the people during a period where there was a lack of food because of too much damage," said Alfred.

"I thought it would be allowed for three years then stop it again but they saw the benefit and how it is good for feeding the people. We thought they would allow it forever,” he said.

Other essential services are also affected by the crackdown. Restaurants will now require a license to operate on Sunday, but the license allocation will be decided by the government ministry. 

However, restaurants at hotels and holiday resorts may open to cater for their guests.

 Church petition

The owner of Sitani Mafi's Ha'amoko Bakery, Kennedy Penitani, told Matangi Tonga that he had learned about the ban from what he read on the internet through Facebook's social media network. 

"Before the announcement of the ban – there was a meeting with the Minister of Justice, Vuna Fa'otusia, the Minister of Police, Pohiva Tu'i'onetoa, and two other bakery owners. They wanted to discuss our views as bakery owners on a petition submitted by church leaders that the Sabbath is not kept holy. There was an agreement that bakeries will close with no trading on Sunday morning but open in the afternoon from 4:00-10:00pm.”

However, the agreement did not come to pass.

"The Public notice issued by the Ministry for Police, Prisons, Fire and Emergency Services, and Ministry of Commerce and Labour declared under clause 6 of Tonga's Constitution, that the Sabbath Day shall be kept holy in Tonga and no person shall practice his trade or profession nor conduct any commercial undertaking on the Sabbath Day, except according to law. Sabbath means Sunday. The Sabbath hours are reverenced from 12 midnight on Saturday to 12 midnight on Sunday,” he said.

With Sunday gone, bakeries are now dependent on the demand of other days to counter for the loss. "If this is not successful then I might cut off four staff members and decrease salaries," Kennedy said.

Businesses

Other business owners, who did not want to be named, said that the sudden government action undermined business confidence. They complained that the economic impact on the businesses and their staff was disregarded, but at the same time, “The churches are always coming to us with their hands out” and “Ministers of the church work for pay on Sunday.”

Parliament

In Parliament on Wednesday June 29, the Minister for Police, Prisons, Fire and Emergency Services, Commerce and Labour, Hon. Pohiva Tu'i'onetoa, reminded the members of Tonga's Parliament that there would be a restriction on buying bread starting on Sunday July 3. "Tonga is a Christian country, no business on Sunday," he said.

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