Members of Parliament were reminded of their constitutional role to effectively represent their electorate and voters at the opening of a three-day induction program on 27 February. 

Parliament reported that the by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Lord Fakafanua, said that MPs represent the interest of the people “therefore legislators should always be prepared to carry out their legislative duties at all times for the people and the constituents they represent.”

This is through their duties when they debate and vote on legislation, approve the budget and their best approach to represent the voters in Parliament.

The educational program is part of a continuing professional development effort for the MPs and aimed to familiarise new MPs with the work of Parliament and also to enhance their understanding of the parliamentary system.

“Tonga's MPs have different professional backgrounds, qualifications and expertise in different walks of life. However, they should also be mindful, Parliamentary work is different. It has its own convention and procedures and MPs have a constitutional duty to comply with its law and convention.

“Parliament has a crucial role to provide professional development training for the MPs, which aims at encouraging them to play an active role in representing their constituents. While at the same remain in closer partnership with voters who elected them into Parliament,” stated Lord Fakafanua.

Question Time

The Clerk of Parliament, Gloria Pole’o said as time evolved, MPs faced many challenges, including new innovations such as modern technology, impacts of climate change and the worldwide pandemic,COVID-19. 

“Therefore, there is a need to upgrade the MPs knowledge and understanding on these issues,” she said.

In session one, the Clerk explained the three main objectives of the MPs induction training. The legislators will consider best practices to adopt in order to effectively carrying out their legislative duties, and provide an opportunity for the MPs to raise issues and share new ideas on ways forward to better execute their responsibilities as parliamentarians.

The induction program has 14 main sessions involving various speakers. 

They will learn about the core functions of Parliament, Bills, process, motions, an overview of Tonga’s parliamentary system and governance framework, parliamentary democracy and parliamentary privilege as well as the House Rules Procedure and Standing Orders.

The Clerk told MPs one of the effective means of Parliament’s oversight role of the Executive is “Question Time”, which is widely used in overseas Legislatures, where Cabinet Ministers respond to questions from MPs. It is considered an effective tool use in the Legislature to scrutinise the government’s work.

This program is supported by the UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji through the Pacific Parliamentary Effectiveness Initiative funded by the Government of New Zealand.