Outreach to the Public: The Key to Parliamentarians' Success

Outreach to the Public: The Key to Parliamentarians' Success

PRESS RELEASES:
04 February 2011

[Nuku’alofa - February 4] “In every general election in Solomon Islands almost fifty percent of Members of Parliament lose their seats. Many of them, Cabinet Ministers in particular, were doing good work in the capital city, but they spent less time working in their constituency and listening to their voters. Members need to be active in meeting with voters and representing their issues in parliament.” These are words of wisdom from a seasoned politician, former Prime Minister, a member of Parliament for fifteen years and retired Speaker of the Parliament of Solomon Islands, Sir Peter Kenilorea, who was speaking to Tongan parliamentarians this week.

“In my view, translating national issues to constituents is the most important role for members of Parliament (MPs), because after all the constituents put them there. MPs should relate very closely with constituency and communicate national issues,” he said.

Sir Peter highlighted that the remote and dispersed islands and communities in the Pacific madeoutreach to the constituents a challenging but important work that had to be prioritised.

His comments generated a lively discussion amongst the Tongan MPs at the Parliamentary Awareness and Leadership Workshop being held in Nuku’alofa this week.

MP for Ha’apai, Lord Tu’iha’ateiho shared that in 2005, some members of Parliament had been to some remote islands in the Ha’apai group and people on the islands said that that was the first time in 10 years that parliamentarians had visited them.

Sir Peter noted that the Tongan Parliamentarians, who were not members of the Cabinet, had a provision to visit their constituencies four times a year. This was unusual, in that many Ministers also now represent constituencies.

Local Solutions to Local Challenges

Discussion also revolved around the need for Members to have facilities in their constituencies which would enable the public to meet with them. It was noted however, that it could be costly to set up individual constituency based offices. It was strongly urged that efforts be made to set up facilities to enable both the Government and Members of the Assembly to have a presence in local constituencies that could be used to meet with the public and share information with them.

Mr Cleaver Elliott, Deputy Clerk of the Senate of the Parliament of Australia, shared the methods used by Australian parliamentarians in keeping in touch with their constituents and suggested that the MPs find local solutions to their challenges.

“There is nothing like a Tongan solution to a Tongan problem. How about using the church hall or the school hall, while waiting for the members’ offices to be built?”

“I don’t want you to lose Office, while you are waiting for an office!”

Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga, Lord Lasike shared that in this constituency, ‘Eua, he has set up committees on various social issues in which his constituents are involved.

“My intention is to get the people together and bring their voices to Parliament. Parliament provides an opportunity to go back to the people and seek feedback on whether they think the Parliament is doing good work or not,” said Lord Lasike.

Expectation of Voters

Earlier in the week, in a message to the Tongan Parliament by the UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said that, “For the first time in Tongan history, the majority of the Legislative Assembly has been elected directly by the people. This Assembly carries with it the strong democratic expectations of voters, and faces a big agenda in the years ahead.”

“This Assembly has an important task to ensure that not only is government accountable to the people, but also that the budget and development processes bring benefits for all… Please be assured that the Assembly is not alone in tackling its agenda, and that you will have support from your trusted partners.”

The workshop which is organized by the Legislative Assembly of Tonga with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (Australia), New Zealand Parliament, Commonwealth Pacific Governance Facility and AusAID.
The workshop is currently underway at the Fa’onelua Convention Center and ends today.

ENDS

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