No response to hard questions in the House. [1]
Thursday, October 4, 2018 - 22:01. Updated on Friday, October 5, 2018 - 09:52.
From the House by Pesi Fonua
The Tongan Parliament closed today, at the end of this week’s sitting, without making a definite response to sensitive issues that were raised by members.
The Speaker, Lord Fakafanua said he would respond to some of these sensitive issues before the end of the day, but when the House closed today there was no response from the Speaker.
PM’s health
Top on the list was a verbal motion by Lord Tu‘ilakepa and Tevita Lavemaau for the House to send the Prime Minister, Hon. ‘Akilisi Pohiva, overseas for a health check-up and report on the state of his health.
The Speaker responded that he had received a letter on the issue and he would inform the House.
Call for impeachment
There was also a query by Lord Tu‘ivakano about the petition that had been tabled into the House for the impeachment of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers, and that an Auditor’s Report on these Cabinet Ministers was supposed to have been completed today.
The Speaker responded that he would give his response in the afternoon. But he didn’t.
Riots
There was also a verbal motion by Lord Tu’ilakepa and Tevita Lavemaau for a Commission to investigate and report to the House on the riot that destroyed Nuku’alofa on the 16 November 2006.
The riot issue came up again because Lord Tu’ilakepa told the House that Tongans overseas had identified some Cabinet Ministers in social media, who were directly involved in the riot that destroyed Nuku’alofa’s Central Business District.
Tevita Lavemaau, a former Minister of Finance told the House that the Tongan government made the first payment of its $USD119m loan from the People’s Republic of China for the reconstruction of Nuku’alofa, last month, September and he also called for a Commission to investigate the riot.
There was no response from the Speaker to this motion.
There was also no response to a request by Siaosi Sovaleni for a report from government on aid that they had received after Cyclone Gita, and the restructuring works that had been completed.
The Speaker, however, agreed to delete from the Minutes of today’s proceeding a comment by the Chairman of the Whole House committee, Hon. Veivosa Light-of-Day Taka of what might happen to two Tongans overseas who are revealing the names of Cabinet Ministers they said were involved in the Nuku’alofa riots - if they return to Tonga.