Moans from the House over new taxes [1]
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 - 22:23. Updated on Monday, May 12, 2014 - 23:42.
From the House, an English translation summary from the Tongan vernacular, by Pesi Fonua.
Tonga Legislative Assembly, Minute No. 20, Tuesday night July 22, 2008.
Highlights:
- Tongatapu People's Representative Clive Edwards expressed his concern over heavy tax on their Weekly Allowances.
- Tongatapu PR 'Akilisi Pohiva had not read the Bill for the Constitutional and Electoral Commission Act, but he was very touched with the blank Page 10.
- The five-members Constitutional and Electoral Commission to include a nominee each from the Nobles' and the People's Representatives, two nominees from the Judiciary and a Chairperson from the Cabinet.
- Tongatapu Noble Tu'ilakepa expressed a strong opposition by the Nobles' Representatives to the proposed Commission. He expressed his belief that the Cabinet and the PRs had made a deal in secret.
- All the Nobles' Representatives, four Cabinet Ministers and PRs Clive Edwards, 'Etuate Lavulavu and 'Akilisi Pohiva abstained from voting on the Bill for the formation of a Commission for Political Change. The Bill was passed 17-0.
- $US17.7 million was the amount that government has to pay to Shoreline to have the Power Generation Utility back.
Roll Call.
The clerk told the Speaker that those who did not answer their calls were possibly coming late.
PR Clive Edwards expressed his concern that the weekly allowances of members had lowered by the new income tax that was introduced at the beginning of July. He queried the practice that they raised the weekly allowances in 2005 but then they have lowered it again, below what it was before the rise in 2005. He felt that their salaries had been lowered, particularly with the cost of living spiralling upward.
The Minister of Finance suggested for the concern of the member to be presented to the House's Finance Committee for their deliberation.
Ha'apai PR Teisina Fuko pleaded with Clive and the Minister of Finance to drop the issue, since during the past few days they had been passing bills to increase taxes. He felt it would be in bad taste to suddenly start talking about increasing their salaries while imposing heavier taxes on the rest of the country.
Clive did not think that for the House to fix their depressed weekly allowance it would have any negative impact on government operations.
The Minister of Finance told Teisina that his staff were working on the matter and he would report back to the House.
Vava'u PR 'Etuate Lavulavu said that he supported the concern expressed by Nobles' Representatives over their lower weekly allowances.
Noble Ma'afu corrected 'Etuate that it was not only the Nobles' Representatives who were concerned about the drop in their weekly allowances, but all the members of the House.
The Speaker dissolved the Legislature and their Chairman of the Whole House Committee took his Chair.
Constitutional and Electoral Commission
The Chairman called for debate on the bill for the formation of the Constitutional and Electoral Commission to prepare for political reform and the Election of 2010.
'Akilisi said that it was a pity that he had just seen the Bill for the very first time and he was concerned by the fact that they could hold a convention.
[The A5 size bill has nine pages in English and nine pages in Tongan.]
The Minister of Justice, 'Alisi Taumoepeau said that it was so unfortunate that 'Akilisi had never seen the bill before, considering that it was widely distributed and there was clarification and it had been read twice in the House. There were meetings by the Law Committee on the bill attended by Nobles' and People's Representatives.
The Minister went on and gave a brief summary of the Bill. The number of commissioners had been increased from four to five. The Judiciary appointed two members, one each from the Nnobles' and the People's Representatives and for the Cabinet to appoint a Chairman for the Commission.
Clive supported the Bill. He pointed out that whatever the Commission agreed to would still have to come back to the House for approval.
Noble Tu'ilakepa expressed his doubt on the value of passing such a bill for the formation of a commission to go out and do the same task that had already been done by the late Prince Tu'ipelehake and his committee.
The Chairman of the Committee, told the noble that he was a member of both the National Committee for Political Reform and the parliamentary Tripartite Committee for Political Reform, and the new Commission would be looking at their views.
Blank
'Akilisi again admitted that he still had not read the Bill. He said he had mixed feeling about the Political Reform but he said that when he walked in and 'Isilelil Pulu pointed out to him what was on Page 10, he felt peace of mind and happy. [Page 10 of the Bill is blank, so no one knows what he saw.]
'Akilisi praised the king by saying that he must have mandated for the commission to hold a Convention. There was also a clause about an opposition. ['Akilisi should read the Bill, because there is nothing in the Bill about the formation of an opposition.]
Noble Tu'ilakepa warned for PRs to make up their mind or they would end up like what had happened in the past, after agreeing in the House they then went and formed something else.
'Etuate Lavulavu disagreed with the Bill because the concept of a Commission was foreign.
Why the hurry?
Noble Ma'afu expressed his wonder why the house appeared to be in a hurry to pass the bill. He called for government to present a terms of reference for the commissioner.
The Prime Minister Hon. Dr Feleti Sevele pointed out that the objective and the working agenda of the Commission had been outlined in the Bill.
Noble Tu'ilakepa wanted an answer from the Cabinet Minister, if it was the wish of the king for the House to pass this Bill for the formation of a commission.
The Prime Minister said that Cabinet Ministers looked carefully at the idea then it was presented to Cabinet. The Cabinet gave it their approval, then it was presented to the Privy Council and it was accepted by the Privy Council.
Noble Tu'ilakepa requested for the House to close to enable them to prepare for their obligations for the coronation celebration.
Considerations
The Chairman reminded the Nobles' Representatives of the three important factors that the commission must take into consideration during their deliberation were firstly that 98-99% of all Tongans in Tonga and overseas wanted the king to remain as their king; secondly, the same percentage of the population still wanted to have their nobles; and thirdly, the same percentage of the population did not want any change to the land tenure system. Those were the findings of the National Committee for Political Change that the Commission must take into consideration.
Noble Tu'ilakepa said he appreciated the issues raised by the Chairman, but he wondered who wrote the speech for the Princess Regent, which stated that the political reform would take place in 2010. He was suspicious that the PRs and the Cabinet had made a deal, without the knowledge of the nobles.
Teisina Fuko thought that the noble had got it all wrong, and that the PRs and the Cabinet had made a deal. He agreed there had been meetings attended by members from the three tables of the House and the consensus was to try and find a way forward.
Noble Tu'ilakepa requested for the debate to be postponed and to give them (the Nobles' Representatives) an opportunity to have an audience with the king. He did not think there was a need for a commission and for the government to spend more money. But if it was the wish of the King and the people for a political change then they should go ahead and have political change.
Noble Lasike said that they no longer had any trust in the rest of the House on this issue.
Happy Coronation
The Chairman called for unity in the House, he reminded members that they were about to embark on the coronation celebration and they should try and make it a happy one.
The Governor of Ha'apai wanted to know what the commission had to do with the coronation. The commission was for 2010.
Noble Tu'ilakepa again pleaded for the debate on the bill to be postponed, allowing them to continue with their preparations for the coronation. He wondered why the rush. He presumed it was so that once it was passed two ministers would approach the king for his signature to honour their objective for the Bill to be passed before the coronation celebrations.
'Akilisi expressed his surprise that the Nobles' Representatives found it very difficult to have an audience with the king and that they had not had any discussion with the king about the Bill.
Noble Tu'ilakepa said that they had had an audience with the king but not as frequently as the Cabinet Ministers who had a weekly meeting with the king. He said that if the Chairman would call for vote they would not have anything to do with the commission.
The Minister of Justice reminded the noble that the deferred debate on the Bill three weeks earlier allowed for further consultation and there were meetings with the Nobles' Representatives and the People's Representatives.
Noble Tu'ilakepa wondered if the minister could tell the king that there was no need for a commission. The wishes of the people had been made known by Prince Tu'ipelehake's report.
The Minister of Justice told the noble that the commission was approved by the king.
Shoreline funds
The Prime Minister pointed out that there were two important issues that they had to deal with, the releasing of the fund from the budget to buy Shoreline; and to pass the Bill for the formation of the Commission. Since there were conflicts of interest over the Bill he suggested that they deal with the Shoreline money issue then return to the Bill for the formation of the Commission.
The Chairman asked the Minister of Finance to tell the committee the latest about the $26 million that was passed by the House in the 2008-09 Budget to purchase the power generation utility from Shoreline.
$26 million
The Minister of Finance said that the allocation was $26 million and one million was for the purchasing of shares in other enterprises and $25 million was for the purchasing of the power generation utility.
He said that the fair market value of the utility when they decided to buy it back was $US26 million. Deducted from this was money Shoreline owed the Tax Department and government and the total amount that government had to pay Shoreline was $US17.7 million.
He said that government had sold its shares in Westpac for $US10 million and Tonga Power Ltd had already raised a loan to pay for the balance.
The Minister said that from the $TOP25 million that was allocated they might need only $TOP23 million to buy back the power utility from Shoreline.
'Etuate Lavulavu suggested that they should pay only the two Ramanlal brothers and not the king, which he argued was culturally wrong, because how can the children repay what they owed their father. The king is the father of the country.
The Minister of Justice told the member that they were dealing with a Private company and not individuals.
Clive suggested that they should vote, and get it over and done with.
'Akilisi said that the $US17.7 million was still too high. On a different matter he said that it was a crime of the nation and of the House to allow Sefo Ramanlal to behave in such a manner that it damaged the image of the Crown Prince now the king. He said he had told the crown prince to stay away from Ramanlal brothers.
The Minister of Justice pointed out that this kind of debate lowered the standard of the House.
'Akilisi did not think that the king would get any money out of the sale, and he did not like the thought that Sefo would get all the money. He said it would be a crime against the nation if he agreed for the government to pay out this kind of money. He wanted to know the view of the Prime Minister on the payment.
Board went bankrupt
The Prime Minister responded with a question, asking where were they on the day when the Power Utility was up for Public Tender. He reminded the member that Clive had already related to the House the episode of how the the Board went bankrupt then the Power Utility was tendered. He said that where they had got to was the nature of doing business, but they should move forward.
'Akilisi proposed for the total valuation of the Power Utility to be dropped from $US17.7 million to $15 million.
The Minister of Finance said that Shoreline could easily tell them to forget it, they would go and look for another buyer, then the moaning and groaning would continue.
The Chairman called for vote on a motion by 'Akilisi and amended by Teisina Fuko for the House to approve the purchase of the Power Utility from Shoreline for $US17.7 million with a mandate for the Minister of Finance and Justice to bargain with Shoreline to drop the price by $US2 million.
The motion was carried 20-3. Against were 'Akilisi Pohiva, 'Isileli Pulu and 'Uliti Uata.
The Chairman called for votes on the Bill for a Constitutional and Electoral Commission Act. It was carried 17-0. Abstaining from voting were 'Etuate Lavulavu, Clive Edwards, and 'Akilisi Pohiva. All the Nobles' Representatives and four Cabinet Ministers abstained.