Fire engulfed the Marshall Islands Nitijela (Parliament building) just after midnight on last night with firefighters risking their lives as they battled the blaze early today in a bid to save the complex.

“Sometime around midnight or shortly after this morning, the Parliament building in Majuro caught fire, started burning,” RNZ Pacific’s correspondent in the Marshall Islands Giff Johnson said.

“The fire department here is pretty nonexistent, except for an airport fire fighting team, which was called in, but they weren’t able to get there for over an hour.”

Johnson said the building was completely engulfed by the time the fire truck arrived on site.

He said the Parliament chamber and offices, the library and all the archives, “have been all destroyed”.

“Everything’s wiped out. All the records are gone,” he said.

“A lot of the structure, which is concrete, is still standing, but it’s now noontime (Tuesday, NZT), and it’s still smoking. Firefighters are still on site, trying to quell it.

‘Alternative plans’
“The building is no longer usable, and already, alternative plans are being talked about, about where they’re going to hold Parliament, because Parliament is actually in session right now.

“Fortunately, the fire started late overnight so no indication that anybody was harmed.”

Johnson said the Marshall Islands did not have much capacity in firefighting and fire inspection processes, making it difficult to determine the cause of the fire.

He said a lot of entities in the Marshall Islands did not have back-ups and it would take people weeks to figure out what they had lost and what they could access.

“From purely a records point of view, and just getting their system back up and running, it’s going to be a while because everything has been digitised at the Parliament, and it’s a really complicated situation.”

The Marshall Islands Cabinet was holding an emergency meeting and was expected to make a statement later today.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Just days after the appointment of Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola as Tonga’s new Minister of Health, King Tupou VI has withdrawn his consent for two other Cabinet appointments.

An undated memo from the Lord Privy Seal, Viliami Malolo, to Chief Secretary of the Cabinet Paula Ma’u seen by Kaniva News details the king’s refusal to accept the appointments.

“His Majety was pleased by and with the advice of his Privy Council to withdraw His confidence and consent to the appointment of the Hon. Hu’akavameliku as Minister or His Majesty’s Armed Forces,” the royal memo said.

The memo said the king was also withdrawing consent for the appointment of the Hon. Fekitamoeloa Katoa ‘Utoikamanu as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Tourism.

Several Cabinet appointments have yet to be ratified by the king.

Last year Prime Minister Hu’akavameliku said he had nominated a new Minister to replace former Minister of Fisheries Semisi Fakahau. That nomination has yet to be ratified by the king.

Reports at the time suggested the Prime Minister had also nominated a replacement for the Minister of Police.

The government is remaining tight-lipped about the King’s action.

Kaniva News has asked the Chief Secretary and Prime Minister whether they have received the King’s memo.

‘Repeatedly refused answers’
In an interview with Broadcom Broadcasting, Deputy Prime Minister Samiu Vaipulu did not deny the existence of the memo. However, he repeatedly refused to answer questions about the King’s withdrawal of his consent to the appointments.

He said Cabinet was working on a response and would release a statement later.

Hon. Vaipulu said the Prime Minister was currently overseas.

The PM’s nomination of a new Minister of Fisheries has yet to be appointed.

The King can only revoke a Minister’s appointment if he has been advised by the Prime Minister according to Clause 51 of the Constitution.

Kaniva comments: Hon. Fekita Utoikamanu was appointed from outside Cabinet. It is unclear how she would be affected by the King’s decision. There appears to be no clause in the Constitution allowing His Majesty to withdraw his appointment of any minister after their appointment.

The question is whether Hon. Utoikamanu would remain as Minister despite the king’s withdrawal of his approval.

The fact that the King withdrew his consent following the advice of the Privy Council will also re-awaken concerns raised as far back as 2017 about the role of the king’s counsellors.

The then Justice Minister Vuna Fā’otusia said decisions made by Parliament were sometimes vetoed by His Majesty because of advice from the Privy Council.

He said the members of the council were not chosen by the people.

It is about a decade since lawyer Peter Pursglove said that Tonga’s 2010 Constitution was the poorest among all Commonwealth countries. He made suggestions to improve it, but progress had been stalled.

Pursglove expressed concern about the role and the establishment of the Privy Council.

Republished in partnership with Kaniva Tonga.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

French Polynesia’s newly-elected President Moetai Brotherson has presented a 10-member government, which includes four women.

Brotherson has confirmed his pre-election choice of Eliane Tevahitua as Vice-President as well as Culture, Lands and Environment Minister.

Several of the ministers are new to politics, with 29-year-old Jordy Chan as Infrastructure and Transport Minister being the youngest.

Vannina Crolas, who was an official in the now ruling Tavini Huira’atira party, is the new Public Sector and Employment Minister.

Minarii Galenon, who has been the president of the Women’s Council, is the new Housing Minister.

Nahema Temarii has been made Sports Minister.

Brotherson said weeks ago he had more women than men aspiring to be ministers but as some women withdrew, he has not been able to form a government with gender parityas he had expected.

Gender parity the aim
Before the election, Brotherson said he planned to have a government made up by at least half with women.

Ronny Teriipaia has been made Education Minister, and Tevaiti Pomare has become Finance Minister.

Cedric Marcadal has been made Health Minister, and Teivani Teai is the Primary Industry Minister.

He added an additional position to his line-up by making Nathalie Salmon-Hudry an interministerial delegate responsible for People with Disabilities.

Wanting a broad government, Brotherson offered one ministerial position to the pro-autonomy opposition A here Ia Porinetai party, but it declined.

The term of government is five years.

Meanwhile, Brotherson has reaffirmed that the main priority for his government is not independence from France but continued assistance to the victims of the flooding two weeks ago.

The pursuit of independence, which is the central tenet of their Tavini Huira’atira, has been Brotherson’s repeatedly stated endeavour and a long-term goal but, like his predecessors, he has shown no hurry to call a referendum.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz