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Man dies after becoming trapped in a container in Tongatapu

By
Kalino Latu
-

A man has died after becoming trapped in a shipping container at Kuini Sālote wharf this morning.

Fire and Emergency services as well as Police were called to the scene at 9.11am, a spokesperson told Kaniva News.

He said Vaiola hospital alerted Fire and Emergency Services to the scene.

The hospital told the Services a body had been found trapped inside a shipping container, the spokesperson said.

However, a reliable source told Kaniva News the man was allegedly crushed between two containers.

“Yes we confirmed there was 1 dead victim (m) this morning at Queen Salote Wharf,” the Emergency service spokesperson said.

“The fire crew responded immediately to the scene of incident,” he said.

Police investigation is underway.

Song reveals struggle to bear criticism Tu‘imala received after her daughter married prince

By
Kalino Latu
-

Tongan nightingale Tu’imala Kaho has revealed that all the many songs she composed, her favourite is Losehina ‘O Kahala or the White Rose of Kahala. 

The song, which was first titled Heimataura, was composed after her daughter Heimataura Anderson married the late Prince ‘Alaivahamama’o Tuku’aho who was later appointed to the Ma’atu title before his death in 2004. He was an older brother of King Tupou VI.

The wedding in 1980 cost the Prince his title because he disobeyed the kingdom’s constitution and the king’s prerogative after marrying a commoner. Five years later Heimataura died of cancer and the ex-prince returned to Tonga from Hawai’i.

Kaho, a well known Tongan poetess, singer and choreographer, told Kaniva News in Auckland this morning that she composed the song to depict how deeply she loved her daughter and how her decision to marry the prince has caused some of the public to criticise them.

Kaho, who turned 79 last month, said Losehina, or white rose, was a symbol of the king as the rose was the king of all western flowers. Kahala was where his daughter and the prince stayed in Hawai’i.

In the song, she wrote about her daughter and said – He ‘ofa na kuo hoko ko e mala or the love you have chosen has put a curse on us,  referring to how she as a mother felt embarrassed after her daughter has caused trouble to the royal family.

The song was not allowed on air briefly after it failed the national broadcaster’s scrutiny process.

Scrutiny

Kaho said when she started composing and singing at the age of 18 the only radio station was the government service ZCO, later known as A3Z.

She said all compositions were scrutinised by the station’s Broadcasting Commission’s committee and lyrics were strongly assessed to make sure cultural standards were not breached. This meant many songs were rejected by the committee, she said.

Kaho said this also meant only the best were aired at the time and this had made the radio station famous because the music composition and performance were of high quality.

Today’s technologies made it easier for people to record and broadcast their own composition without going through any scrutiny process.

“In my own opinion Tongan music should revert to the scrutiny process,” Kaho said.

“We are still Tongan because we have our own cultural values. Our feveitokai’aki, faka’apa’apa, respect the nobles and commoners, family respects we have to our mehikitanga and tuofafine.”

Losehina ‘O Kahala

Kaho said her song Losehina ‘o Kahala failed the scrutiny process after she recorded it in Hawai’i and sent it to Tonga to be broadcast.

The chair of the committee at the time was the late Lord Ve’ehala who contacted Kaho and asked her to change the name of the song from Heimataura.

The noble insisted that using the name Heimataura for the song was like telling the royal family that this had served them right.

One line in the song Kaho said she argued Lord Ve’ehala about was written as – “ Afioga kovi ‘eku loi”.

She said she thought Ve’ehala misheard the line from the cassette with the Tongan word ‘afio’ na which means – Your Majesty. She said she corrected the noble and told him the word was afioga, a Samoan word for residence. There was an afioga in Kahala in Hawai’i where her daughter and the prince lived and she was referring to that.

She said after refusing to cooperate with Lord Ve’ehala the song was banned in Tonga.

She said Prince ‘Aho’eiteu, who is now King Tupou VI asked her to change the name so he could be able to get a copy from the radio.

Kaho said she then changed the name of the song from Heimataura to Losehina O Kahala and the song was allowed to be broadcast.

Tongan composition

Kaho said Tongan music today was slack and out of its cultural context.

She said Tongan songs and music should be examined before they were broadcast to the public.

Kaho said she was disappointed that composition of Tongan love songs or hiva kakala today was slipshod.

She said lyrics of some songs were even disrespectful.

She said these days the young poets’ compositions were mostly hualela (humorous in an offensive or vulgar manner) and they copied others’ songs.

Kaho composed her own music and lyrics and sang them. If her composition was meant to be danced, she can train the dancers on how to do the hakas (movement of the body according to the music).

This means Kaho is one of the rare musician in today’s Tongan music community because she can compose, sing and choreograph the sequence of steps and body movements for a performance of dance. This identifies her as a real punake (poetess.)

Cultural standard

Kaho said she kept her composition to the cultural standard, making sure the social order in which the king, nobles and commoners had their respective duties, was respected.

“That is how Tongan composition should be,” she said.

She said there were kakala ‘eiki (fragrant flowers) that could only be used in music composition to refer to the king and the nobles. Those flowers could not be used if the songs were composed to a common lover.

These flowers included heilala, tuitui, maile, langakali, nukonuka, and pipi.

Non-fragrant flowers were regarded as kakala vale and they were used in songs if they were composed about commoners.

Kaho will perform to the public at the Lesieli Tonga auditorium in Mangere, South Auckland this Friday.

The main points

  • Tongan nightingale Tu’imala Kaho has revealed that all the many songs she composed, her favourite is Losehina O Kahara.
  • The song, which was first titled Heimataura, was composed after her daughter Heimataura Anderson married the late Prince ‘Alaivahamama’o Tuku’aho who was appointed to the Ma’atu title before his death in 2004.
  • The wedding cost the Prince his title because he disobeyed the constitution and the king’s prerogative and married a commoner.

New Zealand courts must deal with NZ$2 million loan dispute says Supreme Court

By
Philip Cass
-

The Supreme Court has ordered that a dispute over a NZ$2 million loan must be settled in a New Zealand court.

Princess Pilolevu Tuita and Lucy Anna Tupou  aka  Lucy Anna ‘Ilaiu sought a judgement in the Tongan Supreme Court staying an earlier judgement in favour of New Zealanders Graeme McLean Wallace and  Valerie Isobel Wallace who claim they are owed NZ$2,104,822.

Princess Pilolevu is being sued as a guarantor of the loan.

The Wallaces made a series of loans to Ms ‘Ilaiu in New Zealand beginning in 2016. In his report on the case, Lord Chief Justice Paulsen said the Wallaces charged loan fees that were equal to 84 percent of the amount lent. Fees of $1,062,180 were made on advances of $1,258,125.

Lord Chief Justice Paulsen said that when  the  Wallaces  applied for  judgment by default against Ms. ‘Ilaiu there was nothing before  the  court identifying  the loan fees.

“Had I been aware of the loan fees I would  have  refused  to enter  judgment  without first conducting  a hearing,” he said.

The loans were not paid back. When the first loan was made a mortgage was taken over Ms. ‘Ilaiu’s property  at  69C  Finch Street, Auckland.

When the second loan was made,  the Wallaces took additional security of an unregistered mortgage over Princess Pilolevu’s property at 95 Bell Road, Remuera in Auckland, personal guarantees and also from Ms. ‘Ilaiu and the Princess as trustees of the HRH SMPT Family Trust.

In a letter of 24 March 2017 the Wallaces’ lawyers made  demand  upon Ms. ‘Ilaiu for payment of  the  balance owing under the  third  term loan  agreement which was said to be  $2,011,444.

On March 27, 2017, a notice was issued by the Wallaces to Ms. ‘llaiu of their intention to sell the  Finch Street property.

A notice was issued to Princess Pilolevu giving her notice of the Wallaces’  intention  to recover any deficiency upon the sale of Finch Street from her as guarantor.

The properties at 69A and 69B Finch Street were sold by another mortgagee and  69C  Finch Street was sold by the  Wallaces.  The Wallaces received $987,071.05 from the proceeds. 95 Bell Road was also sold by another mortgagee, but the Wallaces received  nothing.

On December 7, 2017, the  Wallaces filed an action against the defendants. Judgment by default was entered on  February  27, 2018. On March 1, 2018 the Wallaces applied for charging orders against registered leases of land at Neiafu and Kolomotu’a.

Ms. ‘Ilaiu sought to have the judgement against her set aside on the grounds that:

That the Wallaces failed to make disclosure as  required by the New Zealand  Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act, with the result that the third term loan agreement is unenforceable;

That the loan fees were oppressive in terms of the CCCF and were irrecoverable along with the interest charged upon them with the result that there is nothing owed to the  Wallaces;

And that

The Wallaces were not registered as financial  service  providers, making the third term loan agreement illegal and unenforceable.

Lord Chief Justice Paulsen said that in his view the third loan agreement was  oppressive.

“The loan fees were very large; bewilderingly so. I have never come across a case where such fees have been charged let alone on a repeated basis over a period of years,” he said.

In considering the nature of the loans, the evidence presented by Ilaiu and the Wallaces, the judge ordered the default  judgment  entered against Ms. Ilaiu set aside.

The judge said Ilaiu and Princess Pilolevu had applied for a stay on the ground that New Zealand was the appropriate legal forum to resolve the dispute.

“I am firmly of the view that New Zealand is the proper  and  most  convenient forum for resolving this  dispute,” he said.

“The High Court of New Zealand has strict case management procedures and sophisticated discovery rules which in my view puts it in a better position to deal with a case such as this. I note also that a commercial Judge sitting in New Zealand will have a better feel than a Judge in Tonga for the reasonable standards of commercial practice.”

Lord Chief Justice Paulsen said the case would be stayed on the condition that Ilaiu and Princess Pilolevu sign statements agreeing to submit to the jurisdiction of the New Zealand courts.

Tonga goes down 54-0 to Fiji after earlier loss to France in U20 Oceania round

By
Kaniva Staff
-

Tonga went down 54-0 to Fiji on Saturday in the Rugby U20 match on the Gold Coast.

The Tongans had been affected by injury before the game.

Tongan centre Sefa Finau was absent after he was suspended for two weeks for a high tackle.

The two teams met in December and played out two draws. with Fiji securing the region’s place at the World Rugby U20 Trophy 2018 by virtue of a try bonus point.

Tonga had already been defeated 97-0 by France on April 18.

Fiji’s win garnered them a third place in the Oceania round of the global U20 competition.

Fijian Captain Raikabula Momoedonu said before Saturday’s game they were looking forward to a victory over Tonga.

Fiji had suffered heavy defeats by Australia and New Zealand in this year’s Oceania competition.

In the 2017 U20 round, Fiji not did not win any games.

New Zealand will head to the World Rugby U20 Championship as Oceania champions after beating Australia 43-28 in Saturday’s title match.

The main points

  • Tonga went down 54-0 to Fiji on Saturday in the Rugby U20 match on the Gold Coast.
  • The Tongans had been affected by injury before the game.
  • Tonga had already been defeated 97-0 by France on April 18.

For more information  

Pride on the line for Fiji, Tonga Under 20s

New Zealand crowned Oceania U20 champions

Finance Minister denies allegations he threatened staff after leaking info claims

By
Kalino Latu
-

Minister of Finance Pōhiva Tu’i’onetoa has vehemently denied allegations on social media that he threatened his staff and ordered an investigation after information about him and government was leaked.

Hon. Tu’i’onetoa denied claims that information regarding his overseas medical expenses were leaked by the Ministry.

He said he was accused of not releasing to the public the information his critics claimed were records of the expenditure of taxpayers’ money.

It has  been alleged that Hon. Tu’i’onetoa was only working half of each day since he returned from his medical treatment in Australia and that office work had been delivered to him at his home. The Minister has denied this.

The Minister received a surgery for a slip disc at St George Private Hospital in Sydney early this year after a spinal cord injury.

He returned to Tonga on February 28 and began working fulltime on March 1. He said he had sometime worked overtime to prepare the 2018 – 2019 government budget.

Hon. Tu’i’onetoa has dismissed the allegations, saying they were made by those who held a grudge against the government.

Transparency

Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pōhiva’s government is  seen as a government which strongly upholds transparency, accountability and good governance since these were the standards he had been campaigning for decades since he was in opposition.

Hon. Tu’i’onetoa said transparency must be practiced under a code of conduct.

He said the king, ministers and civil servants had the right to keep their names out of any information regarding any financial entitlements to which they were entitled.

He said he held a normal meeting with his divisional heads during which discussed transparency and the importance of releasing information to the public according to the code of ethics.

He said he told his staff they could not release any information about anyone without following the code of ethics.

King and government ministers

Hon. Tu’i’onetoa said if critics wanted information about his overseas medical treatment to be made public then the same scenario should be applied to all the Cabinet ministers and the king.

He said he told his heads of department during the meeting it may be unwise to release to the public the cost of His Majesty’s overseas travel. This would include the kind of hotel he stayed in and the number of people escorting him.

He said he asked his senior staff to consider whether it was wise to release the king’s overseas’ travel expenses to the public because of the claim that it was taxpayers money?

He said this would allow the public to form their own views and some might criticise the king.

This would damage the cultural honour Tongans had for the king, he said.

Make public

Hon. Tu’i’onetoa reminded department heads that information regarding the cost of overseas could be made public, but was generally described in the government’s External Financial Reports or Public Accounts. However,  the names of spenders were not included.

He said one Prime Minister in the past was bedridden for about a year and travelled overseas constantly for medical treatment.

He said he told his heads of department he was the one who audited the former Prime Minister’s  financial spending while he was the government’s Auditor General.

He said he asked the meeting whether  it would be wise to release that information and the name of the Prime Minister to the public.

He said the policy of the government was to release the types of expense, but not the names unless required  by a court order.

Body recovered from Waikato River 

By
Kaniva Staff
-

Police searching the Waikato River for a missing 36-year-old man have recovered a body.

The body was located about 10.30am today.

A formal identification process will now take place.

Police are unable to provide any further detail at this stage.

Family have lucky escape from house fire in Tongatapu

By
Kalino Latu
-

A family were sleeping inside a house in Tofoa shortly before it was destroyed by fire on Monday 2 at 12am.

They escaped unharmed after someone kicked the door open and woke them up.

Fire trucks were called to the blaze. No one was injured.

The fire broke out at the lounge. It has caused an estimated loss of TOP$37,500.00

The cause of the fire was “undetermined” and still under investigation, a Fire Service spokesperson said.

However, a family member said the blaze was allegedly caused by lighting candles.

The house belonged to Lomu, late Samuela Felemi, one of the king’s matāpules.

His son Lositika Felemi told Kaniva News the blaze was believed to have been caused by lighting candles.

MP Losaline Ma’asi new Minister of Internal Affairs, no replacement announced for Lord Ma’afu

By
Kalino Latu
-

Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pōhiva has nominated MP Losaline Ma’asi as his new Minister of Internal Affairs, a government spokesperson told Kaniva News this afternoon.

The Tongatapu 5 MP has replaced outgoing cabinet minister MP Akosita Lavulavu.

The spokesperson also said no one has been nominated to replace Lord Ma’afu after the noble resigned as Minister of Lands and Survey as well as Minister of His Majesty’s Armed Forces in March.

Ma’asi, a former senior civil servant and CEO of the Ministry of Agriculture, unseated former MP and Finance Minister ‘Aisake Eke after last year’s snap election.

She and Lavulavu were the only two women elected after the king dissolved Parliament in 2017.

Lavulavu was dismissed last month after she refused to resign voluntarily at the request of the Prime Minister.

She and her husband ‘Etuate, a former cabinet minister, are expected to appear in court at the end of this month after they were charged with three counts each of knowingly dealing with forged documents and three counts of obtaining credit by false pretences.

No place for Nobles in Parliament, CEC said, but admitted most people wanted no change

By
Philip Cass
-

Eight years after it was submitted to Parliament, Kaniva News reviews the Constitutional and Electoral Commission Report of 2009 and looks at one of the issues considered by the CEC: The place of the Nobles in Tonga’s Parliament.

“Measured against current perceptions of democracy in much of today’s world, there can be no justification for the presence of the nobles in the Assembly.”

That was the judgement of the Constitutional and Electoral Commission when it reported in 2009.

The Report said that there was a general lack of opposition to the retention of the Nobles in Parliament in submissions to the Commission.

“The presence of the nobles in the Legislative Assembly has long been accepted and is still regarded by a substantial number of members of the public as essential when considered against the traditional structure of Tongan society and the importance  of the ties of kainga  and  ha’a,” the Report said.

However, there was a widespread wish for the Nobles to be elected  by the whole electorate.

Some of the later submissions presented well articulated  and  sometimes,  powerful arguments against the Nobles’ continued presence in Parliament.

The Commission said it would not matter whether the nine Nobles were elected by their own numbers or by the whole electorate.

Under the existing situation a small group of Nobles would be voting to put an even smaller group of Nobles in Parliament.

There would be no point in letting the whole electorate  vote for the Nobles when they would still be chosen from the same pools of 29 people.

The Commission recommended that the number of Nobles in Parliament and the  method of electing them stay the same.

“The decision to retain them will be seen by many outside our borders as a failure to grasp a chance to achieve democracy,” the Report said.

“We define democracy by more than the right to elect a representative parliament. Much that truly defines democracy is already enshrined in traditional Tongan values.

“We feel the continued presence of the nobles in the new and untried representative parliament will be accepted by most Tongans as a sensible and, possibly, necessary influence.”

Elections

At the last election the nine seats set aside for nobles were voted for by the hereditary nobles and five life peers.

A late change to Tonga’s electoral law meant that life peers could stand as noble candidates in the last election.

Before then life peers were able to vote for noble MPs but they were not allowed to stand for election.

The main points

  • “Measured against current perceptions of democracy in much of today’s world, there can be no justification for the presence of the nobles in the Assembly.”
  • That was the judgement of the Constitutional and Electoral Commission when it reported in 2009.
  • However, there was a general lack of opposition to the retention of the Nobles in Parliament in submissions to the Commission.
  • The Commission recommended that the number of Nobles in Parliament and the method of electing them stay the same.

For more information

All but two nobles re-elected in Tonga

Tonga’s life peers now able to become noble MPs

Two suspects arrested in US following murder of Sosaia Finau

By
Kalino Latu
-

Anchorage Police in Alaska, United States have arrested two suspects in the killing of 22-year-old Tongan Sosaia Finau last month.

Mickee Thompson, 19, and Robert Smith, 18, were taken into custody without incident this evening Thursday 3 at 7:29 after police received a tip that they were in a residence in Anchorage’s Spenard area, police said in an alert.

Thompson and Smith were each charged with first- and second-degree murder.

They were accused of murdering Finau at an apartment complex in the 4200 block of Mountain View Drive on the morning of Thursday, April 12.

Thompson allegedly used to date the victim’s girlfriend, and the shots rang out after an argument ensued at the girlfriend’s home, Anchorage news media reported.

Thompson and Smith fled on foot, according to witnesses.

Eleven days after the shooting, a caller reported a suspicious person at Valley of the Moon Park included a possible sighting of one of the suspects. The call prompted a large police presence at the park in Midtown. APD later said the report was unfounded.

Read more

Alaska’s Tongan community plead for gunmen to come forward after fatal shooting

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