Pohiva

sued

By Bill Morton

AKILISI POHIVA is Tonga’s best known politician. Recently elected for his third successive term as a People’s Representative to parliament, he is also the government’s most outspoken critic.

Pohiva’s career as an activist and critic began in 1981 when he had a program on local government-run radio. The program content resulted in its termin ation and Pohiva’s dismissal from his government employment (he later won a court case against the government for unlawful dismissal.) In 1986 Pohiva began the monthly newspaper Ko e Kela'a (“the conch-shell”).

Pohiva now faces a staggering five court cases. All of them are a result of reports in Kele'a. Three of these are libel cases involving a total damages bill of T$ 180,000. The other two involve at tempts to prevent him from publishing information considered to be “confiden tial”.

The government has already failed in an attempt to win a temporary injunc tion pending full trial of the case. In his defence in this hearing, Pohiva referred to section 7 (as amended) of the Tonga constitution which states “... There shall be freedom of speech and of the press forever, but nothing in this clause shall be held to outweigh the law of defa mation, official secrets, or the laws for the protection of the King and the Royal Family.” In refusing a temporary injunc tion and setting the case for trial the Chief Justice noted that it would be the first in which Section 7 of the Consti tution would be a “crucial determining factor”. The testing of the material published in Kele'a against this clause of the constitution will therefore mean Pohiva’s case will become a yardstick for A'hat the Tongan media can and cannot Dublish in the future. □