The findings of Tonga's National Committee for Political Reform will go to King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV before August 30, and then be presented to parliament for debate a month later, the NCPR announced today.

Prince Tu'ipelehake, NCPR chairman said in a press conference, that the reason why they were putting their conclusions to the King and to Parliament a month apart from each other was just out of respect for His Majesty before the report was put to the House and to the Tongan public to view.

NCPR are currently approaching the last leg of their meetings in Tongatapu, and they confirmed the main part of the work has been completed.

Tu'ipelehake said that on June 12 some members of NCPR would travel to New Zealand to conduct talks with the Tongan community there. They are scheduling four meetings in Auckland, one in Wellington and Christchurch before going on to Australia.

Tu'ipelehake confirmed that the round up of the committee's conclusions would not be affected by their visits overseas, because some members would remain in Tonga to complete the work so it could be ready for submission to the King and to Parliament.

New member

Meanwhile, since Hon. Fineasi Funaki, the former Ha'apai No. 2 People's Representative had been appointed as a Cabinet Minister, the committee had submitted a letter to the table of the People's Representatives informing them of the available seats and requesting that they elect new members.

The Prince said the People's Representatives had chosen both Vava'u People's Representatives Vili Kaufusi and Samiu Vaipulu to stand for the new NCPR membership, to replace Hon. Fineasi Funaki.

Dr Sitiveni Halapua, the Deputy Chairman of NCPR said that what was most obvious, "so far in Tongatapu is people are understanding the role and the objectives of the committee."

Sitiveni said that in some meetings it only took them five minutes to explain their role and objective and people understood, a contrast to the meetings held in the beginning when the committee had to spend about 20 minutes just clarifying what NCPR was actually doing and their purpose.

He also added that members were split into three different groups every evening for various meetings and he found that people were beginning to differentiate political reform from government reform.

Tu'ipelehake said that although many criticisms were being thrown at their work at present, he was confident that what they set out to do would be completed as planned.