From the House, By Pesi Fonua

A parliamentary tour report presented by 'Akilisi Pohiva to the House was thrown out on October 5 after a majority concluded that the report was irrelevant, unreliable and not clearly representing the views of his constituency, Tongatapu 1. The decision was unprecedented in the history of parliamentary tours.

The Tongan parliament voted 13-9 on October 5 to "gracefully throw out of the House" the Constituency no. 1 report.

The report was one of the reports of the 2011 annual parliamentary tour by members of parliament from July 4-18 that were presented to the House in early September.

After days of debating Pohiva's constituency report, they concluded that the report was irrelevant and unreliable, and it was not clear whether it reported the views of those who attended the meeting or it whether it was just what the member had in mind.

Some of the People's Representatives accused the Cabinet Ministers and Nobles' Representatives as being fa'ala kutu or "lice picking" over the report.

But the Prime Minister, Lord Tu'ivakano pointed out that the report was irrelevant because it referred to a concern over the Land Act to stop the nobles from being selfish and wasteful. "But Constituency 1 is a government estate, there are no nobles in Constituency 1."

He reminded members that that they should have consulted the town officer and the district officer of their constituency, as they know the urgent needs of their communities. Through them, the members could formulate a community program that could eliminate those needs.

Wrong constituency

Another factor was that the report referred to a concern over an increase in the land lease of Tupou College by the noble estate owner. But Tupou College was in another constituency, many kilometers away from Constituency 1.

The one community project that was mentioned in the report was a recommendation for the reconstruction of a burned down primary school at Longolongo, which could benefit from a $30 million aid fund that government was supposed to be holding on to. That part of the report also became unreliable after the Deputy Prime Minister told the House that the Longolongo Primary School had been rebuilt, funded by the members of a Kava Club that he belonged to.

Another reason why the report was unreliable was a discrepancy in a vague mention of "mineral ore" that could be "excavated" to raise money for the government. It was pointed out that the person who was named as the source of the information in the report, who supposedly knew the location of the mineral, had died some time ago.

'Akilisi Pohiva's response to the criticisms was that the report was written by a woman who accompanied him, and as far as he was concerned, the issues that were raised were what the people were interested in.

Thrown out

After spending so many working hours on 'Akilisi's report, finally Lord Vaea moved for the House to "gracefully throw out the report " and for the member to go and do something about it before resubmitting it to the House.

The decision was unprecedented for the House and it appeared to have stunned the member who, after the result of the voting was announced, asked if he could take his report home. The Chairman of the Whole House Committee, Siosifa Tu'utafaiva, reminded 'Akilisi, yes, that that was what they had voted for, for him to take his report home.

The nine members who voted against the "graceful throwing out" of 'Akilisi's report were Samiuela 'Akilisi Pōhiva, Semisi Sika, Sitiveni Halapua, 'Aisake Eke, Sione Sangster Saulala, Sione Havea Taione, Fālisi Tupou, Semisi Tapueluelu and Mo'ale Finau.

The reports of the parliamentary tours are not read in full in the House and copies of the documents presented to the House are not available from Parliament's Office.