By Pesi Fonua

Tonga’s tense and conflicting politics were exposed when three petitions were presented to the HM King Tupou VI on 18 February, with a call to not only dissolve parliament, but also to establish a Royal Commission to investigate alleged wrong doings by government; and to appoint a caretaker government. 

Last week the Prime Minister, Hon. ‘Akilisi Pohiva, responded by calling the petitions “trouble making”.

If the King decides dissolve parliament it will be the second time that a parliament under a Pohiva government has been dissolved.

But the Prime Minister Hon. ‘Akilisi Pohiva, at a press conference he called on February 21, was convinced that the King does not have the right to dissolve his government and to appoint an interim government.

“He does not have that authority, and our view is that they (the petitioners) are pushing His Majesty to make an unconstitutional decision. … For me this is trouble making.”

The Prime Minister had with him files, that he said were the responses of four Cabinet Ministers, including himself, to claims against them in the petitions. He had not presented the files to the King, but he had it with him. 

The four Cabinet Ministers were himself the Prime Minister; the Minister for MEIDECC, Hon. Poasi Tei; the Minister for Labour, Hon. Tu‘i Uata; the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Infrastructure, Hon. Semisi Sika.

The PM admitted that there were short falls in government performance, “and I will not tell you the difficult task that I am facing and the difficult road that we are following . . . but I don’t believe that we are trying to lower the authority of the King.”

With regards to rumours that government is taking to court the former Minister of Finance and the Deputy Prime Minister, the PM said that he was not sure if there was a court case, but he went on to tell reporters about what he believed was a misuse of government money.

Domestic ferry for sale

He explained how Cabinet had approved a proposal by the former Deputy Prime Minister for the ferry ‘Otuanga’ofa, a gift from the Japanese Government to Tonga to be used as a mortgage for a harbour board (Tonga Ports Authority) loan of $8 -10 million to buy a fully air conditioned 33m long catamaran. The harbour board was now having a problem repaying the loan and the bank was taking control of the ‘Otuanga‘ofa.

The PM said that the board, meanwhile, was trying to sell the MV Tongaiaki.

However, the PM admitted that the Cabinet made a mistake by approving the mortgage of the MV ‘Otuanga‘ofa for the loan to buy the MV Tongiaki.

He said that government has to change its policy, relating to borrowing money. He said that currently if government wants to borrow more than $50,000 they have to go through a clearance process, whereas with boards, they can do whatever they want.

The Prime Minister said one of the major changes that they want to introduce, is for the Attorney General to be a member of the Cabinet.

Lopeti Senituli, adviser to the Prime Minister at the press conference, stressed the need for a legal expert to be in the House. He pointed out that debates in the House were “a joke at times” because there was no legal expert in the government to clarify some of the legal issues raised.

On the side, the Prime Minister pointed out that it had reached a situation where they do not participate in the debate; just waiting for the Speaker to call for votes.

Even though there are only 12 Cabinet Ministers in the Legislative Assembly, but Cabinet has always  been able to secure a majority of votes in Tonga's 26 members parliament.

Unused facility

Mentioning another free-hand board project, the Prime Minister referred to a “$10m Data Base” facility that had been built at the outskirts of Nukualofa, but he said it is just sitting there unused.

He said that to address these shortfalls, Cabinet has established a Cabinet Task Force to look into these problems.

Failed  State

The Prime Minister was asked if there was any truth in claims by a New Zealand official that Tonga is a “Failed State”.

The PM said that people were free to express their opinions, but he pointed out that civil servants are still receiving their salaries, and the economy has not collapsed. 

However, he was convinced that the notion that Tonga as a Failed State was because of the flow of illegal drugs from Tonga overseas, and the misuse of Tongan passports. The PM was convinced that the illegal distribution of the Tongan passports is the driving force behind all these illegal activities.

Surprisingly, in regards to the authority to issue Tongan Passports, the PM stated that “we don’t have that authority.”

He claimed that the king has that authority.

 “His Majesty and . . . I don’t think he knows what is happening. We report to the Police . . . but that is another problem.”

The PM also admitted that the Ministry responsible for the issuing of passports, was  Immigration.

Reporters wanted to know “so why is the King is involved?”

The PM talked about cases of passports being issued to foreigners on humanitarian grounds. Presumably, he meant that the King has the authority to issue passports on humanitarian grounds.

Instead of clarifying his allegations about the issue of passports, the PM started talking about a 1992 case when 400 Tongan Passport holders were given the right to reside in Tonga for five years. This particular case was the outcome of a scheme of selling Tongan Passports to foreigners, mainly Chinese at the time.The PM was not able to explain how that related to the situation with passports today.

With regards to claim that he is trying to take the power of the King, the PM stressed that they do not have such a plan.

“I don’t believe that we are trying to lower the authority of the King,”

The Prime Minister disagreed with the Petitions and stressed that the concerns that were raised in the Petitions could be addressed by existing government bodies, such as the Ombudsman, Police and others.