From the House,

Minute No. 15, Wednesday 23 June 2004.

Minute No. 16, Thursday 24 June 2004.

- The $300,000 that was passed by the House to pay for the allowances of students at the Teachers Training College, was spent by the Minister of Education to send the Tongan contingent to the South Pacific Games last year, some members argued that he was disobeying a decision that was passed by the House.

- Minister of Police contends that 50 petitioners did not understand the content of the petition, and he blames the people representatives for influencing the people to write their signatures.

- Member calls for Minister of Education to resign

- Minister of Education speaks of plan for Tonga to have its own university by 2006, with the first degree program for a Bachelor of Education.

Vote No. 17 Public Servants Commission, passed 16-1. Against was 'Uliti Uata.

Vote No. 18 of the Auditor Department, passed 18-0.

Vote No. 19 of the Ministry of Education.

'Isileli Pulu reminded the House of the letter of petition that had been read in the House about a $300,000 allocation for the allowances of students at the Teachers' Training College that was approved by the House last year, but this amount was taken by the Minister of Education and used for something else. He asked the Minister to explain what happened.

The Minister of Education - said that what was passed by the House last year was a motion and not a resolution. He said that when a motion is passed by the House then it has to be presented to Cabinet, and on this issue it was not approved by Cabinet and that was the end of that motion.

Fineasi Funaki said that the House passed a resolution and not a motion. The House passed a resolution and an allocation of $300,000.

The Minister of Education insisted that it was a motion.

The Speaker reminded cabinet ministers that a decision passed by the House must be honoured. He also said that the $300,000 allocation was spent on sending the Tongan sport contingent to the South Pacific Games in Fiji last year.

Minute No. 16, Thursday 24 June 2004.

After Prince Tu'ipelehake took his chair as the Chairman of the Whole House Committee proceedings continued with Vote No. 19 of the Ministry of Education.

Minister of Police wanted to clarify the decision made by Cabinet regarding the usage of the $300,000 allocation which was earmarked for the allowances of diploma students at the Teachers Training College, to finance the sending of Tonga's contingent to the South Pacific Game last year. He insisted that what the House passed was a motion, leaving it for Cabinet to make the final decision, and that the practice of paying diploma students was a practice that should be discontinued.

'Isileli Pulu reminded the Minister that the House passed the allocation last year, and it was recorded on Page 72 of the Minutes of that day's proceeding.

Sunia Fili reminded the House that the constitutional right of the House to make the decision, allocating $300,000 for the allowances of diploma students at the Teachers' Training College is stated in Clauses 176 and 75 of the Constitution.

Minister of Policesaid that the member was talking about a different issue, he said that they were talking about the petition and not the right of the House to pass allocations.

Noble Vaha'i said that the final decision had to be made by the court, whether a decision was constitutional or unconstitutional, and he reminded the House that government was still scratching their heads because of some of the decisions made by the Court.

Minister of Police never, and never they should dictate how this country should be run. Their responsibility (the Court) is to interpret the law, but not to dictate policy what should be done and what should not be done, that is for government and the House to do, but if they think that the law is wrong then that is fine, but to interfere in what government is doing for the country is wrong. He reckoned that the 50 people who signed the petition did not understand the content of the petition, and he blamed the people representative writing the letter and influencing the people to write their signatures.

Chairman called for the committee to return to the Vote 19 of the Ministry of Education.

Minister of Education gave a break down of his budget, and told the House that his budget for the coming financial year was $100,000 less than last year's, from $16.4 million last year to $16.2 million this year. He said that 79% of his budget, $12.9 million is for salaries and 72% or $11.8 million is for operational costs. He said that there was also a cut in grants to Secondary Schools by $180,000 and the allocation to vocational training by $500,000.Continued below

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'Etuate Lavulavu expressed his concern that despite the millions of pa'anga that is given to the Ministry of Education the unemployment figure continues to grow and he is blaming the Ministry of Education for that.

Minister of Education told the member that the responsibility of the Ministry is to provide education and training, but not to find jobs.

'Etuate Lavulavu wanted to know if $8,000 that was borrowed by two top officials at the Ministry to plant squash had been repaid.

Speaker told the member that if he had any specific queries then he should write a letter to the minister.

'Etuate Lavulavu reported to the House that the fishing boat Takuo which was designated for a fisheries training program was now carrying out commercial fishing, and it had left to sell its catch to a cannery in Pago Pago. He wanted to know where the earnings from this fishing project wereinvested.

Minister of Education said that the people who run the Takuo received a daily wage, and its income and expenditure was handled by the Ministry of Finance.

'Etuate Lavulavu blamed the Ministry of Education for the thousands of students who left school incapable of getting a job or earning a living.

He called on the minister to resign within 30 days, and if he did not resign he would impeach him, and he would also file a civil case in the Supreme Court seeking $30 million for the brain damage that he had caused to so many people in Tonga. If after 30 days he had not done anything he would have an audience with the King to fire him. He thought that the Deputy Prime Minister should be the Minister of Education.

'Isileli Pulu noticed that there were 27 new vacant posts in the Ministry and he figured that the more the vacant posts the more money wouls be available for the proposed salary rise of the heads of departments and Cabinet Ministers.

Minister of Police told the member to stop guessing, because it may land him in court.

Trevor Guttenbeil thanked the minister that a government Side School would be established in Vava'u this year.

'Etuate Lavulavu expressed his surprise that only 30% of primary school students who sit entrance exams to secondary schools passed. He said that this kind of statistic showed that a high percentage of children who left school had not learned any skills to enter the work force.

Minister of Education explained to the House about how the Ministry was trying to provide well-trained teachers for non-government schools.

He also told the house of a plan for Tonga to have its own university by 2006. He said that the first degree program would be for a Bachelor of Education.

The House then was closed for the day.