Politics
Crisis Hits Tiny Tuvalu
PM faces court challenge over his majority
Tuvalu is a nation deeply embroiled in a constitutional crisis, three months after Prime Minister Saufatu Sopoanga reportedly lost his majority in parliament. His rivals who claim to have the numbers are now petitioning the island's High Court to get Sopoanga to convene parliament immediately to face a no-confidence motion.
Trouble began when after the by-election on May 5 this year, one of the two winning candidates, Tavau Teii, of Niutao Island, refused to join Sopoanga's government. He instead sided with the other MPs who had loosely formed themselves as the opposition. With the absence of party politics on this tiny Polynesian island of some 10,000 people, Teii was not expected to join Sopoanga's group anyway.
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But the Prime Minister, in an earlier interview with Islands Business was optimistic of getting Teii's support, given that the MP he replaced, the late parliamentary speaker, Saloa Tauia, belonged to his group. With Teii out of his grip, Sopoanga's majority in parliament of eight MPs against the opposition's seven evaporated.
This was clear when parliament convened soon after the by-election to elect a speaker. The PM lost his nominee to that of the opposition's and former prime minister and a senior member of the opposition Faimalaga Luka is now speaker of Tuvalu's 15-member legislature. Ironically, Luka is one of two representatives of Nukufetau Island. His parliamentary colleague is none other than Sopoanga. Exactly why the government is not in a hurry to recall parliament, the prime minister is not saying.
But Luka and his group think the former secretary to government simply wants to buy time. He knew he has lost his majority and would try to stall facing a no-confidence motion as long as he could. That is why the unofficial leader of the opposition, Amasone Kilei, has hired the country's only private lawyer to seek a court order for parliament to meet as soon as possible.
The private lawyer, as is the case in small islands nations like Tuvalu, happens to be a publicly paid one, which means that he is in the final analysis answerable to no one else but Prime Minister Sopoanga.
"There are only nine lawyers here in Tuvalu. Eight work in the Attorney General's office and I'm the sole peoples' lawyer," explains English-born counsel James Ducksworth. He's been working in Funafuti the past four years. By press time, Ducksworth was waiting for Tuvalu's Chief Justice, who happens to be also Chief Justice of Tonga, Justice Gordon Ward, to set a date on when he would be able to hear the opposition's case. There was even the possibility that both parties would have to submit their arguments on paper, and these would be sent to Nuku'alofa where Justice Ward is based for a ruling that he would need to give by notice. Kilei's argument is that since Sopoanga has lost his majority, he is obligated to convene parliament to test whether he still has the support to govern.
Otherwise, the Governor General as Tuvalu's Head of State must call parliament to meet. It could not be determined what has been the Attorney General's response to those submissions. In early June, Sopoanga did attempt to explain the delay in convening parliament in an interview he gave Pacnews news agency in Suva.
"There were several things that the government had wanted to explain to the constituencies since the members who are private members and are not members of government have on the 13th of May circulated a letter to all of the outer islands and also community leaders on the main capital island of Funafuti," Sopoanga said. "The letter was stating a few issues that the government thought needed some explanation to the people." Explaining the government's position on matters raised by the opposition took a lot of time, the PM had explained then.
Parliament, of course, could also be recalled by the speaker. Luka confirmed this to Islands Business when contacted at his Funafuti office. But he said he would have been able to do so had it not been for the Governor General, who's reportedly signed an order declaring that parliament should not meet until November 4.
Luka said the order has not been issued, but government has advised him of it. He also confirmed that his acceptance of the speaker's position clears the way for Kilei to become prime minister once they oust Sopoanga in their no-confidence motion. Kilei was the MP who lost the prime minister's position to Sopoanga last year by a simple one vote.
This time, most members of the opposition have been offered cabinet positions, which explains their solidarity and refusal to cross the floor. Teii has been offered the Ministry of Natural Resources portfolio. If the move to oust Sopoanga is successful, it will be the fifth government change for the tiny nation in just two years‹too many some felt for a puny democracy like Tuvalu. Even Luka, a veteran politician, admitted this.
"This is my personal views, of course, but there's just too many changes," he said. "I blame this on green politicians. Their political affiliation is never stable."
He should know since he similarly lost the prime minister's office in 2001, only months after succeeding the late prime minister Ionatana Ionatana. He was undergoing surgery at an Auckland hospital in December that year when he was informed that a number of his ministers had crossed the floor including Sopoanga, and that he had been replaced by Kolotoa Talake. Talake lost miserably in the July 2002 polls, and Tuvalu now waits to see whether that will also be the fate of the man that succeeded him.
