Anti-Corruption and Good Governance Mechanisms in Tonga [1]
Thursday, September 17, 2009 - 15:11. Updated on Friday, August 22, 2014 - 10:39.
The Global Integrity Dialogue workshop held August 13 in Nuku'alofa was a robust debate over the key governance and anti-corruption challenges facing Tonga as well as a productive brainstorming session on opportunities for reform. Participants, who included a range of stakeholders from government, civil society, the media, and the donor community, emphasized several issues that could form the basis for follow-on action as "must-do" governance reforms. While these conclusions and recommendations are non-binding, they highlight what key stakeholders have identified as urgent needs.
They are:
1. Cultural and religious factors need to be prominently factored into any governance and transparency reform efforts in Tonga. Tonga's small size, close-knit community, and strong religious traditions call for a nuanced approach to governance reforms. That approach should take into account societal dynamics when seeking to implement Western "best practices." While not wanting to use "culture" as an excuse to water down important accountability and transparency reforms in the country, participants felt that any reform efforts would stand a better chance of taking root should they be designed with Tonga's cultural and religious realities in mind. This could significantly shape the design and implementation of reforms that touch on resource allocation (including the budget and procurement processes as well as decentralization of government service delivery in the outer islands), which have historically been prone to a habit of "bringing home the goods" to ones family and extended kinship network. On the other hand, participants argued that Tonga's small size and unique cultural history could potentially be harnessed to positively enhance governance reform efforts by emphasizing widely held religious values such as integrity and morality.
2. Governance reform efforts in the short - and medium-term should be framed within the ongoing Constitutional and Electoral Reform process, whenever possible. Despite what will undoubtedly be controversial and contested recommendations emerging from the Constitutional and Electoral Reform Commission in 2010, participants felt that key governance reforms stood a better chance of being implemented were they included as part of the Commission's recommendations. Despite the anticipated controversy, the Commission carries significant political weight and authority, and an opportunity to seed its recommendations with a handful of accountability and transparency reforms could be a helpful tactic for raising such reforms' profile with the public and lending gravitas to their importance.
3. In the context of implementing key anti-corruption and accountability reforms, human resource constraints are an even greater challenge than financial resource constraints. While participants all agreed that greater financial resources could only help the governance reform agenda in Tonga, participants were nearly unanimous in citing the lack of qualified human resources, particularly within key government agencies, as a major long-term impediment to reform. For example, the goal of increasing the effectiveness of key public sector watchdog institutions (such as the ombudsman, the auditor general, and a future Public Accounts Committee within Parliament) is unlikely to be fulfilled absent more qualified staff and senior leadership. In the same vein, several participants argued for making human resource management reform (including the introduction of performance-based management) across the Tongan public sector a priority as a means to professionalize and rationalize the public service.
4. Public financial management remains a significant weakness in the Tongan anti-corruption framework, and must be addressed as a priority. Global Integrity's data for Tonga highlighted troubling weaknesses across the entire public financial management value chain in the country, including a closed and non-transparent budget formulation process; weak or non-existent procurement regulations and safeguards; and poor oversight of the budget and procurement decisions by the legislature, which continues to lack a Public Accounts Committee. Participants hoped that Parliament would soon pass the Procurement Act, which could be one important step to shoring up Tonga...s public financial management system.
5. Despite Tonga's small size, participants felt the increasing citizen access to government information should be a priority. Tonga lacks a formal access to information law or mechanism, and despite the fact that citizens (and watchdogs such as journalists and civil society groups) can often obtain government information through informal relationships, participants argued that establishing a guaranteed right to government information could be a powerful reform. The challenge in Tonga would be one of effectively implementing such a right (were it passed), given the resource constraints discussed above. Nonetheless, participants felt that pushing through a right to information law could be an important complement to any other governance and transparency reform efforts.
List of Participants:
NameOrganization
Vaimoana TaukoloMLCI
Polikalepo Kefu Tonga National Youth Congress
Mavaetengi FakatuloloFakahua & Associates Law Office
Rosamond Bing Constitutional and Elections Commission
Suliana Vi ENV
Keasi Pongi Civil Society Forum for Tonga
Uikelotu VungaTonga Trust
Tuna FielakepaLANGAFONUA
RuneaupaoloACT
Kalio MoalaDistrict Officer of Lapaha
Siope Tu...ionoVaini District Officer
Sione T. TaufaTatakamotonga District Officer
Siosiua Pooi PohivaFIHRDM Inc.
Faiva TuifuaKolofo...ou District Officer
Vili VeteDSA
Lola KoloamatangiCourt Mediation
Pilimisolo L. TamouaCommissioner for Public Relations
Kave Tu'itahiS&K Performance Solutions
Sinai Tu'itahiS&K Performance Solutions
Balwyn Faotusia Aid Management Division, Ministry of Finance and Planning
Talanaivini VeaProcurement Unit, Ministry of Finance and Planning
Pesi FonuaMatangi Media
Peter NashDirector, Customs Department
Rev. Toe'umu FineanganofoAnglican Mission
Debbie ReschkeAusAID
Lilieta TakauAusAID
'Ana FonuaAusAID
'Ana TalanoaAusAID
Katrina Ma...uMinistry of Information and Communications
Melielau ManuTaimi Media Network
Nathaniel HellerGlobal Integrity
Norah MallaneyGlobal Integrity
Global Integrity, Fa...onelua Convention Centre, 13/08/09.