Editor,

I must admit that the departure of two senior judges of the Supreme Court in recent times is quite disturbing. One wonders whether the departure of these two senior judges were hasten by political forces or was it something they expected to transpire soon. Its anyone's guess, however I prefer to take it as something that was allowed to happen.

As a developing nation, this trend is a sign of an unhealthy judiciary and the state must inquire as to how this can be reversed. The Prime Minister publicly refuted allegations made by the recent departing Justice Warwick that he departed on his own free will for an overseas judicial appointment. If Justice Warwick was genuinely and purely leaving for a judicial appointment abroad, surely it didn't have to be controversial, for a senior judge to make such admissions prior to his departure. Surely there is something called "farewell tea party" prior to departure under normal circumstances. In light of these admissions and refutations from both sides, it is difficult to conclude that Tonga currently has a healthy judiciary where judicial officers serve their terms well and leave happily ever after.

My conclusion is, "are judicial officers brought in as mere tenants to serve and to be disposed at government's pleasure or are they primarily brought in because Tonga simply does not have qualified people to occupy these judicial offices? . . . at present it seems that we can practice both . . . the fact is that you really can't tell a judge that we need his expertise and experience and then later dictate to him how to do his job . . . it would be better if we didn't invite him/her in the first place.

Respectfully

Freddy Kavaha'apai

frekava2009 [at] gmail [dot] com ( frekava2009 [at] gmail [dot] com)