From the House by Pesi Fonua

The Tongan Parliament has been juggling with its working agenda since yesterday, Monday 4 March, going from one thing to another and back again. After a Petition was tabled into Parliament, the Prime Minister also presented corrections to a letter informing the House that six Bills tabled into Parliament were urgent and the House has to pass them before it continues with its proceeding.

The PM’s corrections replaced a letter he sent to Parliament last week identifying six Bills that were tabled as “urgent”. He wrongly identified the Bills as being Bills 1-6, instead of 1A-3A and 5A-6A.

But the letter of the PM was overshadowed by a public Petition that was presented to the House yesterday.

The Speaker then decided for the House to proceed with other legislations that government had tabled into Parliament, and he withheld the reading of the new letter from the PM that Bills 1A to 3A, 5A to 6A and Bill No. 4 were urgent matters. The PM wanted the House to drop  everythings else in its working agenda and address the bills.

At 2:00pm yesterday, Lord Tu’iha’angana reported to the House that the Petition had been returned to the Petitioners “for completion.”

Parliament then continue their deliberation with Legislation and Annual Reports that government had tabled into Parliament, including three Bills, a Regulation, two Annual Reports.

There were Bills to amend the Tonga Development Bank Act 2014; a Bill to Amend the Procedure for the Election of District and Town Officers, and a Bill to Amend the Public Service Commission Act.

In addition to the three bills there were also amendments on Regulations for Customs Duty Regulation and the Retirement for Military Personnel  

All of these bills had their First Reading and Second Reading in Legislature before they were lowered to the Whole House Committee for further debate, before they can be reintroduced into Legislature for their third and final reading.

There was very little debate in Legislature over all of the bills, apart from the Bill to amend the Tonga Development Bank Act 2014, which was tabled by the Minister of Finance, Hon. Pohiva Tu‘i‘onetoa, and the Annual Report of the Public Service Commission 2015-16 which was tabled by the Prime Minister, Hon. ‘Akilisi Pohiva.

Two major amendments to the Tonga Development Bank Act are that the Minister of Finance will replace the Minister for Public Enterprises, as the government Minister responsible for the Tonga Development Bank TDB;, and that 15% of the TDB shares will be  bought by the Public Servants Retirement Board and another retirement institution.

Before the Speaker called for votes after the Second Reading of the Annual Report  in Legislature, the PM reminded members that the Public Service Commission has a lot of power. “They select the civil servants and how to fire them, and also set their salaries.”

Lord Fusitu’a however, accused the Prime Minister tof breaking the law when he fired Civil Servants from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

The PM responded that he faced more difficulties when they were trying to fire a CEO for three years.

So at the end of yesterday’s session, members were still debating over who has the right to select the CEO of a Ministry - (the Public Service Commission or the Minister).

Debate in the House continued today, Tuesday 5 March over the issue of whether or not a Minister should have the final say on who should be the CEO in his Ministry.

Petition

Meanwhile, the Petition has not been tabled into the House because the report from the Standing Committee expressed their concern over what they presumed were false signatures.

There was, however, a fierce debate over the claim, because the Speaker was convinced that under the Rules of Procedure of the House Clause 121 a petition shall be signed by three or more persons.

He reminded the House that in the past the House faced the same problem, if there are three genuine signatures, the petition should be tabled into Parliament.

Hidden Bills?

Nuku reminded the House, that people are pleading for access to the Bills that Government considered urgent to be presented to the House. “The people want to see the Bills,” he stressed.

After lunch Lord Tu’iha’angana, the Chairman of the Standing Committee reported to the House that they will work with the staff of the House over the petition and report back to the House tomorrow, 6 March.t

The proceeding in the House continued in the Whole House Committee over the Public Service Commission Bill, until it closed at 4:00pm.