The provisional results from Samoa’s general election has the HRPP and FAST political parties head to head, holding 25 seats each in the 51 seat Parliament.
The Faatuatua ile Atua Samoa ua Tasi party leader, Fiame Naomi Mataafa, told reporters the number of seats her party has won in a media conference last night while the office of the Electoral Commission was still counting the preliminary results.
Fiame Naomi Mataafa thanked party supporters Photo: RNZ Pacific/Tipi Autagavaia
An independent candidate, Tuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio, who won the seat for Gaga’emauga number one is now the king maker for both parties to form a new government.
But FAST party leader said the process of negotiating with the independent candidate would be carried out soon.
Voters outside a polling station in the Samoa 2021 general election Photo: RNZ Pacific/Tipi Autagavaia
Meanwhile the HRPP party leader and caretaker Prime Minister was the first to call a media conference held at his party’s headquarters last night where he thanked everyone involved in carrying out a peaceful election.
But he was not able to reveal the number of seats his party has won.
The FAST party has won 15 seats on the island of Savai’i, and 10 in Upolu including the unopposed seat of Lotofaga electoral constituency held by the party’s leader.
Four women have made it to the new Parliament as a result of yesterday’s election including two for FAST party.
Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi spoke to media last night Photo: RNZ Pacific/Tipi Autagavaia
They are Matamua Vasati Pulufana, who defeated the caretaker Minister of Finance, Sili Epa Tuioti, and Mulipola Anarosa Fonoti, who has won the seat for Palauli number one from a former HRPP MP.
A female candidate who competed under the HRPP party banner for Falealupo constituency, Leota Tima Le’avai, has also won.
The caretaker Minister of Health, Faimalomatumua Kika Stowers, Ah Kau, has been re-elected.
The fifth woman in the new Parliament is the leader of FAST party which means the threshold under the constitution for five seats for women will not apply.
Lilieta Tu’itupou, 30, was found guilty after willfully and without justification hit with the flat side of a machete the left back side of her own mother Mahetani Tu’itupou, 54.
She also without lawful justification hit with a wooden board the back and thigh of her daughter Sisi ‘Upolu Houa.
The prisoner was sentenced in a Magistrate Court to four months’ imprisonment.
The sentencing Magistrate said that Tu’itupou had a previous criminal record and this was part of the reason for not suspending any part of her sentence.
The charge against attacking her mother under section 112 (a) of the Criminal Offences Act is for a minor assault where no major injury is caused liable to a fine of $5000.00 or 12 months’ imprisonment. The attack by a daughter of her mother is much more serious, a court document said.
In allowing the appeal, Supreme Court Justice Tevita Tupou said the Police record shows that Tu’itupou did not have a criminal record.
For this reason, the prosecutor at the Supreme Court did not oppose the appeal and submits that there should be a partial suspension of the sentences as this was her first criminal offence.
The prosecutor also did not support a full suspension because of the use of a weapon for the assault.
Justice Tupou replaced Tu’itupou’s original jail term with three months’ imprisonment with a 12 month’s suspension of her final month in jail. Justice Tupou also reduced the three month’s imprisonment by seven days for the days Tu’itupou was in prison until released on bail on 2 March 2021.
The attacks
The appeal court heard that on 15 February 2021 in Fātumu, the prisoner was with her mother and her four-year-old daughter Sisi ‘Upolu Houa.
Tu’itupou told her mother that there was a funeral in the family of her father. Her mother did not want to take any part in the funeral as she did not like the family of her father.
Tu’itupou was very angry by the attitude of her mother so she went and got a machete to hit her.
Her mother ran outside calling for help from the neighbours and Tu’itupou hit her bottom with the flat side of the machete before help came from the neighbour and stopped the assault.
Her mother went to the Police Station and lodged her complaint about the attack.
At the same time, she lodged a complaint on behalf of Tu’itupou’s four-year-old daughter Sisi ‘Upolu Houa who showed bruise marks on her body and leg.
Medical evidence showed that these bruises were caused by a wooden board which was in the Court room with the machete.
A Qantas plane which arrived in Tonga this morning has experienced what appears to be a mechanical failure.
Qantas plane breakdown in Tonga. [Inset: the passengers can be seen leaving the plane} Photos/SuppliedPalu Aviation CEO Tevita Palu told Kaniva News his company was assisting the aircraft.
“I don’t have any details on the defect now. Palu Aviation engineers are providing the support for Qantas now,” Palu said.
The flight QF6034 TBUADL was scheduled to depart the Fua’amotu International Airport at 10am with more than 200 Tongan workers to work on farms in Australia under the federal government’s Seasonal Worker Program.
The passengers already boarded the plane before they were informed about the problem, a source said.
The aircraft arrived in Tonga at about 7.50am without passengers.
Some private and church high schools in Tonga still dealt with major blow to their financial position because they have yet to receive any of their frozen funds of more than a million from the government.
‘Apifo’ou College Think Tank panelists. (L-R) Falakiko Kolo, Tonga Finau, Rodney Halapio
Ex-students hold concerns about the impacts of the hold and how it can affect students’ learning outcomes.
As Kaniva News reported previously, the money was intended to top up the teachers’ pay but a government audit discovered that some of the grants had not been used according to the purpose of the funding programme.
Veteran Journalist Kalafi Moala reported in February that the Ministry of Education and Training (MET) demanded “the Catholic Schools Education Authority a reimbursement of about $500,000 before any further funds would be released to them”.
Moala claimed MET still withheld about TOP$1 million for Catholic Schools.
The Director of Catholic Education declined to talk to Moala regarding the matter.
But a Catholic school alumni think tank which is based in San Francisco, USA has recently suggested a possible solution that might help resolve the issue.
It said the government should deposit the teachers’ pay directly into their bank accounts and avoid further paying the money through the schools.
The think tank livestream programme which was weekly hosted by former teachers and top scholars of ‘Apifo’ou College said the government wanted to make sure the money was used accordingly.
Former teacher and ex-student Tonga Finau told the programme the Catholic schools have used the money for a “good cause” but unfortunately that fell outside the scope of the contract with the government.
Two other hosts of the programme, Rodney Halapio and Falakiko Kolo, agreed with Finau that it was the government’s constitutional responsibility to assist the schools.
They said the government and the churches should fix the issue as soon as possible.
As Kaniva News previously reported, the latest hold in question was revealed in February by a former Prime Minister and director of the Catholic schools Lord Sevele ‘O Vailahi in a speech he delivered during a live streamed ceremony in Tongatapu attended by the Prime Minister Pōhiva Tu’i’onetoa.
“Today only part of that money has been paid to the teachers,” Lord Sevele said.
Sevele pleaded with the Prime Minister to intervene.
The Tongan funding was supplemented by a shared grant equally donated by the New Zealand and Australian government.
In 2016 the Free Wesleyan Church Schools’ Director of Education, Dr Mele’ana Puloka, said it had been two years since New Zealand and Australian funding was held back from the church’s schools.
She said she knew there were good reasons why the funding had been withheld, but the church could not only pay its teachers and disregard other staff working outside the classrooms.
A former Adiloa Store employee in Nuku’alofa, has been locked up.
Kisione Tauvaka, 20, was jailed for three years, six months when he appeared in the Nuku’alofa Supreme Court last week for multiple counts of theft.
Tauvaka pleaded guilty to three counts of serious housebreaking and three counts of theft.
He would only serve six months after Justice Laki Niu suspended three years of his sentence.
The total value of the stolen goods was $22,934.
The stolen goods included burner oven stoves, washing machines, standing fridge, chest freezer, Chinese mats, mountain bikes, Panasonic microwave oven, tent, sewing machine, lights, and burner stoves.
In May 2020 Tauvaka took the key of the Adiloa Store’s Havelu warehouse without permission and used it to break into the building. He stole from it two stoves, three freezers and several floor mats before re-locked the warehouse and took the stolen goods to his home at ‘Utulau.
He returned the key to the Kolomotu’a warehouse without anyone at work knowing what he had done.
In June 2020, he did the same thing twice at the Havelu warehouse. The first one was on 16 June 2020, when he stole washing machines, stoves, freezers and lights. The second stealing was on 18 June 2020 when he took washing machines, stoves, bicycles, freezers and lights
While he was loading up the items on to a white truck he was using on the third occasion of these offences, a passer-by happened to notice what he was doing and reported the matter to the store manager in Kolofo’ou.
He was later identified by the passer-by as the one inside the Havelu warehouse at the time, the court was told.
He admitted what he had done and he went with the police and collected the items which he had taken. Only part of the stolen goods were recovered.
The prisoner appears to have a problem with alcohol and the court was told he stole these properties so that he would sell them “to afford alcohol”.
He was remorseful and cooperated with the police. At one stage he was beaten up by some persons, who were not the police, after he refused to tell the manager of the store where he had hidden the stolen items. He received medical attention after that beating.
Locals of Foa, Ha’apai have butchered what appears to be a sperm whale found stranded on the island’s beach.
Locals in Foa, Ha’apai have butchered a whale found stranded on a beach. Photos/Supplied
Reports said a member of the public found the whale on a beach near the Foa causeway.
Photos shared on Facebook appear to show some men begin to hack at the animal and slicing its belly.
The event attracted comments from the online community with whale meat lovers reminiscing about the traditional delicacy.
“The best ocean meat ever,” a commenter said.
“About time for Tonga to lift the ban,” another wrote.
A Royal Decree in 1978 banned hunting and killing of whales in the kingdom to help preserve and protect the endangered species.
There were recent calls for the government to lift the ban with advocates suggesting the whale meat could help support Tonga’s fight against cheap, fatty meat and its contribution to the country’s high obesity rate.
It was proposed to kill 10 humpbacks a year to help the local meat stocks.
In 2017 the then Deputy Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni told the Changing Oceania conference in Nuku’alofa that “Since the Royal decree, which banned the hunting of whales in Tongan waters, the Tongan breeding populations have recovered from less than 50 to more than 2000 whales”.
Three countries in the world including Norway, Iceland and Japan allow commercial whaling.
Fruit, meat works and food processing industries are calling on the government to open Pacific borders to tackle what they’re calling their worst ever labour crisis.
Bruce Mitchell says there just aren’t enough workers to harvest his apples for export. Photo: RNZ / Tom Kitchin
At a media conference in Napier this morning they demanded more help.
Apples are rotting on the ground at many orchards.
Chestergrove Orchards owner Bruce Mitchell said he could not find enough pickers to pick his royal galas.
“The apple crop that you see here represents 10 to 12 months of planning, investment and work and just days before I came to pick it I had 20 pickers sign up, and at induction two pickers turned up, so we went into crisis mode.”
He said it was the worst his family had ever seen.
“My family’s been involved for over five decades and we’ve never experienced a crisis like this, where we’ve had to walk away from whole blocks of export apples. We’ve got export markets that are crying out for this fruit and we just can’t get it harvested.”
No Fruit rotting on the ground at a Napier orchard. Photo: RNZ / Tom Kitchin
Orchardist John Bostock said the government’s intentions to get Kiwis on board did not work as well as anticipated.
He called for a plan from the government – and said they wanted it sooner rather than later, ideally in the next two months so they could plan their harvest.
“We simply haven’t got enough available New Zealanders to do the job. It’s very very tough and we’re calling on the government to open the Pacific, open the borders for Covid-free countries to come and work in New Zealand for next year.”
Orchardist John Bostock says there needs to be a government plan to tackle the problem. Photo: RNZ / Tom Kitchin
In Hastings, Progessive Meats founder Craig Hickson said his company was also short of staff.
“This has been the most difficult and most challenging, worst experience with regard to having sufficient people at work,” he said.
“We in fact have been short of workers right through the peak lamb season which is a little bit longer than the apple season and we still remain short today.”
At the Watties factory in Hastings, agricultural manager Bruce Mckay said he was also facing difficulties.
“We’re having to deal with erratic supply of product coming to the factory,” he said. “We’re having to deal with staff absenteeisms on a grand scale each day.”
After the government announced a trans-Tasman bubble yesterday some have asked why borders to the Pacific Islands are not open.
“These countries are being extraordinarily hard hit by the lack of tourism but also the RSE workers who we have working in New Zealand or have been, they are absolutely crucial to the economy of these countries,” she said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the trans-Tasman bubble should open up some space in MIQ.
“Now that we don’t have the trans-Tasman bookings – about 1000 worth – we will be looking at whether or not some of those places can be taken by other low-risk travellers and specifically the Pacific,” she said today.
“So we are working on whether or not that might ease some pressure for horticulture.”
She also said it was not just a case of New Zealand wanting travel. The other side had to agree.
“Other countries, they’re not even allowing in some cases, their citizens to return, so it’s actually not just a decision for New Zealand, there are many Pacific neighbours who are part of the RSE schemes who do not want open borders at this point.”
National leader Judith Collins says there’s no reason Pacific nations can’t form part of the new travel bubble now.
National leader Judith Collins is pushing for a Pacific travel bubble. Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
Collins wants the government to move quicker in allowing quarantine-free travel from Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
A bubble with Australia had been unnecessarily put off and that shouldn’t now be the repeated with safe Pacific nations, she told Morning Report.
The government announced yesterday it would operate the bubble on a state-by-state basis with Australia from 19 April, but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern warned if there was a local lockdown tourists should not rely on the government to bail them out.
Collins said the ‘traffic-light’ system announced by the government yesterday was a reasonable way of assessing risk associated with any Covid-19 outbreak in Australia and determining whether trans-Tasman travel needed to be paused at any point.
Collins agreed any decisions on travel had to ultimately be based on health considerations and that business interests couldn’t take priority.
But she said the Pacific islands had proven they could maintain a Covid-free status and delaying a Pacific bubble would hurt those nations’ economies, as well as New Zealand’s horticulture sector, which depended on workers from those nations.
She said a date of 1 May had already been agreed with the Cook Islands, and that she was bemused the government hadn’t announced that publicly.
Collins agreed any decisions on travel had to ultimately be based on health considerations and that business interests couldn’t take priority.
But she said the Pacific islands had proven they could maintain a Covid-free status and delaying a Pacific bubble would hurt those nations’ economies, as well as New Zealand’s horticulture sector, which depended on workers from those nations.
“In the Pacific, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, there is no Covid-19. If anywhere is safe it is those countries and I don’t understand why we don’t have a Pacific bubble. That is something where the government need to move on this,” she said.
But Pasifika nations should be able to join the system immediately, both to alleviate the economic hardship in those countries and to allow Pacific workers into New Zealand to take up work in the horticultural sector, she said.
“I think it can be done very quickly. I’m very aware that the Cook Islands has been told the bubble with the Cook Islands will be open on 1 May, but for some reason the government isn’t telling New Zealanders that. I don’t understand why that is being held back.
“When it comes to Tonga and Samoa they haven’t had one case of Covid-19 in their countries and they’ve got a record of being able to keep it out altogether.
“I think it is really important that we also look at how these countries are being extraordinarily hit by lack of tourism, but also the RIC workers, who have been working in New Zealand.
“They are absolutely crucial to the economy in these countries. Fiji is another example – they haven’t had any Covid in the community for over a year. These are countries were they are crying out for help.”
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Morning Report she was confident the travel bubble was safe and that there existed a good working relationship between the countries’ health authorities to keep it that way.
She said there was an official communication platform operating between Australia and New Zealand and that system was working efficiently.
“Essentially we’ve been able to share information between us…
“We are confident enough of course and you’ll hear epidemiologists and other experts supporting this decision.
“But what we are saying to travellers is just be prepared. You will have seen that we’ve had a number of pauses in the one-way arrangements we’ve had with Australia thus far and if there are outbreaks it may happen in the future.”
If there are cases connected to border, well identified and well contained it was likely travel arrangements would continue, she said.
“If you have a question mark over what happened and how widespread, we may need to pause the travel arrangement for up to 72 hours while we gather more information. And if it’s a larger outbreak we’re likely to suspend.”
A group of ministers, supported by health officials would decide whether to suspend travel or not in light of Covid-19 outbreaks.
“We’ll be utilising the group of ministers in the same way we have for Covid-related decisions that need to be made with urgency… We will always be informed by the director-general of health for our decisions,” Ardern said.
The Cabinet subcommittee would include Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins, border-related ministers, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Nanaia Mahuta, Ardern said.
The Ha’apai governor Viliami Manuopangai Hingano’s guilty verdict last month in the Supreme Court has put Prime Minister Pōhiva Tu’ionetoa’s leadership to the test this week.
Tu’ionetoa was under pressure over calls for his Minister of Infrastructure ‘Akosita Lavulavu to resign as she is currently facing two separate serious fraud charges in courts.
In response to the calls by the Opposition, the Prime Minister said: “Let the law rule.”
Akosita and her husband ‘Etuate face charges of knowingly dealing with forged documents and obtaining credit by false pretenses, after irregularities were found in an audit of the ‘Unuaki ‘o Tonga Royal Institute in 2016 and a land lease complaint in 2020.
Tu’i’onetoa also said: “Everyone is innocent until proven guilty” implying that this was the only justification for him to sack a Cabinet minister who has serious allegations against them.
But Tu’ionetoa stopped short of answering a question from Kaniva News asking him if this meant he would sack ‘Akosita if the courts will find her guilty.
“I ask you to please re-read and re-read my first response I gave you previously the answer is there and read the constitution to understand it,” Tu’i’onetoa said in response to a question we expected him to reply yes or no.
The Prime Minister was e-mailed another question.
“Will you sack the Ha’apai governor Viliami Manuopangai Hingano after he was recently found guilty by the court of unlawful possession of (198kg) turtle meat”.
The Prime Minister has yet to reply to that question within the last 36 hours.
In convicting the governor last month, the Supreme Court judge said:
“Having heard the accused‘s background, he being a director in the Ministry of Public Enterprises, and he had been a member of Parliament representing District 12 of Ha’apai which included Lofanga, and having grown up and living in Ha’apai, I do not believe his evidence that he did not know that an approval was required before a turtle was killed”.
Tongan courts have no power to order a cabinet minister or the governors to resign. That power rests with the Prime Minister and the king by the constitution.
The two governors and all Cabinet ministers were appointed by the king on the advice of the Prime Minister.
This means, it was the Prime Minister’s prerogative to appoint and dismiss them through the king’s constitutional power at any time at his pleasure.
FAKAMATALA FAKATONGA
‘E fekau nai ‘e he Palēmia’ Pōhiva Tu’i’onetoa ke fakafisi ‘a e Kōvana Ha’apai Viliami Manuopangai Hingano hili ‘ene halaia ‘i he fakamaau’anga’ ki he ma’u mo e kakano’i fonu ta’efakalao? Kuo ‘osi fakamahino ‘e Tu’i’onetoa hili ha ui kiate ia mei he Fa’ahi Fakaanga’ ke fekau ‘ene Minisitā Ki he Ngaahi Ngāue Lalahi ‘a e pule’anga’ ‘Akosita Lavulavu ke fakafisi tu’unga he ongo tukuaki’i mamafa ‘e ua kuo fai kiate ia kuo’ ne lolotonga tu’u ai ‘i he ‘ao ‘o e fakamaau’anga’. Ko e tali mei he palēmia, tuku ke pule pe lao’. Na’a’ ne toe pehē ‘oku tonuhia ‘a e taha kotoa pe kae ‘oua kuo fakamo’oni’i fakalao kuo’ ne halaia. Ko e fehu’i tatau ne fai ki he palēmia’ ‘o pehē kapau ‘e halaia ‘a Lavulavu’ te ne fekau ke fakafisi? Na’e ‘ikai ha’ane tali mahino ‘io pe ‘ikai ki he fehu’i ko ia’.
Tonga rugby coach Toutai Kefu believes the future is bright for the ‘Ikale Tahi now the sport finally has some stability off the field.
The Tonga Rugby Union signed a tripartite agreement with World Rugby and the Tonga government seven months ago, after the global governing body pulled its financial support because of governance and administration issues.
With a new administration in place and a fresh three year mandate, Kefu was “grateful” to be back in charge and believed he could build on his previous four years at the helm.
“I thought myself and my staff did a really good job considering the obstacles that we faced along the way, and I think they looked at it from a perspective if I could have proper assistance and guidance, in terms of a governance and administration point of view, they thought that we could go better.”
As part of his reappointment, the Kolomotu’a-born coach would spend at least four months per year in Tonga to act as a technical director for the union, assisting and educating local coaches.
The Kolomotu’a-born coach did not see eye to eye with former CEO Fe’ao Vunipola but believed the new set-up was moving in the right direction.
“That’s all I’m focused on is looking forward, getting to work with a bunch of new boys again and seeing where we can take this team,” he said.
“I think this team, the potential is enormous and if we have a little bit of luck along the way and be able to qualify some players that want to play for Tonga, if we get all those ducks aligned I think we can really take this team to somewhere where it’s never been before.”
The immediate focus was on finalising an ‘Ikale Tahi squad for two Rugby World Cup qualifiers against Samoa in July, which had been moved to New Zealand because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tonga and Samoa will play two Rugby World Cup qualifiers in New Zealand in July. Photo: World Rugby / Trina Edwards
With the international borders still closed, Kefu remained unsure which players he would have available for selection, but joked that being the coach of Tonga had made him good at adapting to things.
“I’m basically running with two squads: a squad that’s locally based – New Zealand, Tonga, Australia – and an overall squad where those Northern Hemisphere players are able to make it to New Zealand. There’s so much uncertainty: what you’ve got to plan for is plan for that uncertainty and do the best you can.”
There was also uncertainty over plans for a group of former All Blacks and Wallabies players to switch their international allegiance to Tonga.
Players with eligibility for more than one country could switch their international allegiance by participating in Olympic qualifying events provided they had a passport for the second country and completed a stand down period of three years.
The Final Olympic Sevens Qualifier had been earmarked as a chance for former All Blacks Charles Piutau and Malakai Fekitoa to complete their switch from New Zealand to Tonga.
“Malakai is probably the only high-profile player that we know that looks like going to the tournament – we’re still in constant discussions with him,” Kefu said.
“It’s unfortunate about Charles. We still haven’t got the exact date of the tournament and there may be an option of maybe flying Charles in just for the day or day and a half to maybe just qualify him and get him on the field…I know he’s got finals time around that time so we still haven’t ruled him out.
“There’s George Moala as well who’s at Clermont and they look like they’ll be in the midst of finals as well (in the French Top 14) around that Monaco tournament.”
Controversial former Wallabies fullback Israel Folau also expressed an interest in switching his rugby allegiance to Tonga, Kefu said.
The dual rugby and league international played 73 tests for Australia before his contract was torn up in 2019 for posting a meme on social media that said hell awaited “drunks, homosexuals, adulterers” and other groups.
He’s back in Brisbane after a year playing rugby league in France and would be welcomed into a Tongan squad, Kefu said, that supported his right to express his personal views.
“He’s Tongan, he’s a bloody good player – we’re more than happy to have him and accommodate him…we’d have no concerns. We all grew up the same way. We all went to Sunday School and then there’s different divisions of religion that we all grew up in. We certainly all support Israel and his views.”
However, any potential switch would not pay immediate dividends. The former Waratahs star, who was also on the radar of the Tongan rugby league team, last played for the Wallabies in November 2018 and would not have completed the required three-year stand-down in time to represent the kingdom at the Olympic Sevens Qualifier in Monaco.
Meanwhile Kefu hoped to finalise his wider coaching team in the coming weeks and said, while there would be a few changes, he was trying to have as much consistency as possible.
Kisione Tauvaka, 20, was jailed for three years, six months when he appeared in the Nuku’alofa Supreme Court last week for multiple counts of theft.
