From the House, by Pesi Fonua

Tonga's lawmakers are struggling to agree on what kind of anti-corruption mechanism might be put in place for Tonga.

After three days of vociferous debate over three bills the Tongan Parliament on July 24 deferred the bills back to its Standing Law Committee for further amendments:

• Good Governance Commission Bill,
• Commissioner for Public Relations Bill and
• Anti-Corruption Commission Bill,

The three bills were originally tabled into the House by government in November 2012, and had gone out with three other bills for public consultations.

An intensive consultation program was scheduled to be held in 16 locations throughout Tongatapu, 'Eua, Ha'apai and Vava'u between November 2012 and January 2013.

If enacted, the Good Governance Commission Bill would mean the termination of the Public Relations Act 2008 and the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2007, and the formation of a Good Governance Commission with a number of divisions, including an Anti-corruption Division and an Ombudsman Division.

Public consultations

A report of the public consultation meetings was presented to the House by the parliamentary Standing Law Committee, when the House reconvened on Monday, 22 July, after about a month’s break which included a two-weeks tour by the People’s Representatives of their constituenciess.

The six Bills that were presented for public consultation were:

• Good Governance Commission Bill 2012,
• Commissioner for Public Relations (Amendment) Bill 2012,
• Anti-Corruption Commission (Amendment) Bill 2012,
• Legal Aid Bill 2012,
• Water Resources Bill 2012
• Bill for an Act to amend the Constitution 2012.

Armed with a strong anti-bills reaction from the public, the People’s Representatives were empowered to make the wishes of “the people” come true.

The point of contention by the People’s Representatives was that the Anti-corruption Commissioner and the Ombudsman would come under the authority of the Good Governance Commission and not be independent.

It so happened that only the People’s Representatives attended these consultation meetings, and not one Cabinet Minister had attended any of the public consultations.

The Acting Prime Minister, Hon. Samiu Vaipulu on the behalf of Cabinet, pointed out that the decision by government to introduce the Good Governance Commission Bill, came after a regional meeting that was held in Vava'u on Good Governance last year, and was based on financial considerations. He said that though Australia funded the drafting of the Anti-corruption Commission Act and would pay for the salary of the Anti-corruption Commissioner, but the Tongan government would have to pay the salary in the future.

He also reminded the House that Australia does not have an Anti-corruption Commission Act.

When the Good Governance Commission Bill was presented to the House in November 2012, the office of the Attorney General pointed out that both the proposed Anti-corruption Division and an Ombudsman Division had the same needs for investigators, enforcement, monitoring, and specialized accounting skills, and if combined "then they will all have a proper job to do, directed and supervised centrally, rather than numbers of separate offices all doing similar things at a great expense and struggling on a Tongan budget."

This week at the end of three days of debate, the three bills were returned to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Legislation for further amendments.