Editor's Comment

by Pesi Fonua

Tonga's process of law making at the moment is a matter of great concern.

The recent overturning by Chief Justice Webster of the conflicting media laws, means we have to take a closer look at how laws are made in this country.

On the surface, without going any deeper, the Tongan parliament, whose main duty is to make laws, has but one, and only one, qualified lawyer in the whole 30 member house.

If that is not alarming, then think about the fact that while there have been more Bills tabled into the House this year by elected members than in any other year since 1994, when they were first given the privilege to table Bills, that most of these Bills were incoherent and did not survive their first reading.

The law making ability of the House during these few past weeks was further impeded following the sacking of the government's two top lawyers, the former Attorney General 'Aisea Taumoepeau and the former Minister of Police, Clive Edwards. They were formerly the architects of almost all government Bills that were presented to the House and were looked to as the legal authorities during any legal debate in the House.

Their ungainly departure from the House made the debate on some of the Bills that they drafted an impossible exercise. No one could clarify the legal twists in the Bills, and sometimes even why the Bills had been introduced. Debates on some of these Bills, particularly the Bill for the Qualification and the Accreditation Board, the Bill trying to introduce the death penalty for drug offenders, and the Order in Public Places Act relating to work on Sunday, left the House wandering like a blind man trying to find the entrance to Talamahu Market on a Saturday morning.

To improve the situation we should have more experienced lawyers involved the drafting of Bills, and more lawyers in the House to help promote intelligent understanding of Bills before they are passed.