TONGA – An announced vote of no confidence against the Tongan prime minister has not gone ahead in the parliament.

The vote was scheduled for Monday and was to be brought by Lord Vaea, one of the Tongan nobles, but the attempt to topple ‘Akilisi Pohiva did not eventuate.

When Pohiva visited New Zealand at the start of this month, he brought Lord Vaea with him, introducing him as the leader of the opposition.

Pohiva said he was trying to be bipartisan and said John Key does the same when visiting Tonga.

The Tongan parliament does not traditionally have an opposition bloc, but while in Auckland, Lord Vaea made no secret of his plans to bring a motion of no confidence against Pohiva, citing a poor record on governance, issues in employment and education, and the dire state of the economy.

He said he would be putting his hand up for the job of prime minister. But even with all nine nobles voting as a block, they require all five independent MPs to join them to topple Pohiva in the 26-member house.

Matangi Tonga reported that in parliament, Lord Vaea failed on his promise to bring the motion but vowed to do so, without giving any indication of timing.

Pohiva has more than two years to run in his term and told RNZI during his recent visit that he didn’t think that was sufficient time to complete his long-promised anti-corruption reforms.

Amid criticisms of his handling of the economy, and claims of increased corruption in the country, Pohiva said his was not an easy job and he can’t see his government making major changes before the end of his term.

He said the major task was to ensure the country can pay its dues, particularly its US$170 million debt to China.

“That is an enormous loan from the Chinese government and there has been an arrangement between the two countries how to go about that huge loan,” he said.

“We are trying to find a way out and there is no other option for Tonga, is to borrow, because we need money for our development.

“I think we share the same problem with other countries in the South Pacific, Fiji and Samoa and other smaller nations, they borrow from China. There’s no other option for Tonga. If we need to make our economy move, if we want to move forward, we have to borrow money.

He also spoke of “constraints” that were hampering the fight against corruption in his country.

“When I say constraints I am referring to cultural constraints. And the other aspect of the problem is the mentality and the mindset of the people and the leaders as well.

“We have to resolve this problem, because it is not really a matter of policies, because we have in place more than enough reports and economic analyses carried out by the World Bank, IMF and other international financial institutions.

“The problem is how to implement all these proposals, it is not easy. It is not a question of the people I work with, it is much more a problem of the structure of the government and the mindset of the civil servant and the attitude of the leaders.

“And there’s little time to get things established before I retire from government, so now I am looking for younger people to carry out, to continue the struggle because political reform is yet to be completed and I need some people to make sure they can complete it.

“So there’s quite a lot of work which remains to be done and completed,” Pohiva said.

- RNZI/PNC