Loss of judges and magistrates a concern in Tonga [1]
Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - 17:59. Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.
FOR a month now Tonga's Supreme Court has been running with only one judge, Justice Robert Shuster following the departure of former Chief Justice Anthony Ford and former Justice Warwick Andrew in August.
A new Chief Justice Michael Dishington Scott who was appointed on August 27 is now expected to arrive in Tonga on Saturday, September 25. However it has not been confirmed when he would officially start.
Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court Manako Vi said on September 21 that, understandably, there would be delays of cases in the Supreme Court, as the result of the waiting period for the new judges.
She said the accumulation of cases should not become a major problem if the situation was managed properly.
Solicitor General 'Aminiasi Kefu said that from their side there was no problem, as their criminal cases are still running.
Justice Shuster had been consistently hearing cases at the Supreme Court. He is currently presiding over a criminal case and just last week passed down a 14 years imprisonment sentence for manslaughter, on a husband who killed his wife.
Meanwhile in the Tongan Parliament, Tongatapu People Representatives PRs, 'Akilisi Pohiva and 'Isileli Pulu have filed a motion for the impeachment of Acting Chief Justice Shuster for being incompetent. They claimed that Justice Shuster was incompetent because of the great number of his Supreme Court decisions between 2008 and 2010 were overturned by the Court of Appeal.
The House however on September 13 decided to pass on the Impeachment Motion to the Standing Law Committee of the House for its recommendation. There was a strong opposition to the motion, particularly by the Minister of Justice. He argued that if the House was to proceed with the impeachment case, the Tongan Parliament would be interfering with the Judiciary.
The Tongan Parliament will be closed on September 30 and with the problem of the House not being able to proceed because it could not get a quorum because of members not attending the sessions, meanwhile there is a mound of work for the House to go through. There is a chance that the impeachment case of Justice Shuster may be forgotten in the Standing Law Committee.
Huge workload for magistrates
Manako Vi said the greater concern is for the Magistrate's Court with the sudden loss of Chief Magistrate Samiu Palu at the weekend. The late Magistrate Palu was effectively working as a sole Magistrate since others were either on pre retirement leave or study leave.
"The workload there is enormous," she said.
She confirmed that she herself has been drafted in as relieving magistrate to help on a limited basis sitting only one and a half days at the lower court.
It is understood that Paula Tatafu, the magistrate in Vava'u, would be called over to Tongatapu, leaving no magistrate for either Vava'u or Ha'apai.
Another magistrate Pita Soakimi is also expected to be recalled to take over in Tongatapu.