The standoff between the Monarch and the Prime Minister seemed to have come to a new space in which there is a “clearing of the air”. This has come about after the Prime Minister, Hu’akavameiliku, sought audience with the King at Niua where the King was visiting.
No details have been officially released of the meeting, but the Prime Minister and his whole Cabinet were in Niua on Thursday meeting with the King. It was understood from the beginning of the trip, that the Prime Minister and his Cabinet sught audience with the King for reconciliatory purposes.
Photos taken at Niuafoou of the audience, were shared by the Minister for Trade and Economic Development, Hon. Dr. Viliami Uasike Latu on Facebook.
His Majesty King Tupou VI, seated wearing a grey shirt, posed for the photograph with the Prime Minister Hon. Hu’akavameiliku and members of the Cabinet who followed him to Niuafo’ou, all wearing black. From left, Lord Fohe, Hon. Dr. Viliami Uasike Latu, Lord Tu’i’afitu, Hon. Hu’akavameiliku, Hon. Fekitamoeloa ‘Utoikamanu, Tongatapu Peoples Rep. No. 6 Hon. Dulcie Elaine Tei, and Hon. Dr. Siale ‘Akau’ola, and the Chief Secretary and Secretary to Cabinet, Paula Ma’u (seated right).
There needed to be a face-to-face meeting between the two leaders, since a letter from the King’s Privy Council leaked to the public in the beginning of February that the King was not pleased and no longer in consent to the appointment of Hu’akavameiliku as Minister of Defence, thus over His Majesty’s Army.
The letter also revealed the King was also no longer in consent to the appointment of Fekita ‘Utoikamanu as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tourism.
Tensions have been rising for weeks since 2 February, when the Prime Minister was told that King Tupou VI in Privy Council had withdrawn his consent to the appointments of two cabinet ministers.
In Parliament last week, the nobles urged the Prime Minister to go to the King and “say sorry”.
Much of public discussion on the matter revolved around the issue of the Constitution being the Supreme Rule in Tonga, not the wishes of the Monarch.
The Monarch’s almost absolute rule of Tonga was subjected to the Constitution, yet the reform of 2010 amended the Constitution so that the appointment of the Prime Minister and the Executive no longer was the Monarch’s responsibility but Parliament’s.
