William Clive Edwards

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(born 11 January 1934) is a

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

n barrister and politician who formerly served as a Cabinet Minister and Acting Deputy Prime Minister. He is a member of the People's Democratic Party.

Life and education

Edwards was born in Kolofo'ou, Nuku'alofa, Tonga. He was educated at Tonga High School and

Auckland Grammar School Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about It ...

in New Zealand in 1953 where he gained NZ University Entrance. He studied law at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn ...

and practiced in both New Zealand and Tonga before returning to Tonga permanently in 1994. He was awarded an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

by the New Zealand government in 1995 for services to the community.

Political career

Edwards began his political career in New Zealand. He stood in the Auckland Central electorate for the National Party in the

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 ** Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

and

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

elections. He was later elected as an Auckland City Councillor on a

Citizens & Ratepayers Communities and Residents (C&R) is a Right-wing politics, right-leaning Local government, local body Ticket (election), ticket in Auckland, New Zealand. It was formed in 1938 as Citizens & Ratepayers, with a view to controlling the Auckland Cit ...

ticket. His political career in Tonga led him to be labelled "the most detested man in the kingdom", and rumours consistently associated him with corruption, nepotism, intimidation, abuse of power and indifference to legal process.

Cabinet minister

In 1996, Edwards was appointed to the

Tongan Cabinet The Cabinet of Tonga is the cabinet (executive branch) of the government of the Kingdom of Tonga. It is composed primarily of the ministers of government. The latter, including the Prime Minister, are appointed by the monarch. The Governor of ...

(and therefore the Tongan Parliament) by King

Taufa'ahau Tupou IV George Tupou I (4 December 1797 – 18 February 1893), originally known as Tāufaʻāhau I, was the first king of modern Tonga. He adopted the name Siaosi (originally Jiaoji), the Tongan equivalent of '' George'', after King George III of the ...

, and served as Minister of Police, Prisons and Fire Services, and acting Deputy Prime Minister. Upon taking office, he immediately warned the police that anyone who sympathised with the democracy movement should resign from the force, and warned pro-democracy campaigners that they could be tried for treason. He earned the nicknames "the royal hitman" and "the hangman" for his role in enforcing

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

. Edwards was an opponent of democracy, banning the Times of Tonga newspaper, ordering surveillance of pro-democracy meetings, and taking civil action suits against 'Akilisi Pohiva and other democracy activists for defamation. In 1996 Pohiva and two Times of Tonga journalists, Kalafi Moala and Filokalafi 'Akauola, were found guilty by the

Tongan Parliament The Legislative Assembly of Tonga ( to, Fale Alea ʻo Tonga) is the unicameral legislature of Tonga. The assembly has 26 members in which 17 members elected by majority of the people for a 5-year term in multi-seat constituencies via the sing ...

of Contempt of Parliament, in a matter relating to then Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Lord Tevita Tupou published publicly by the Times, causing them to be jailed for 30 days. Edwards was responsible, in his capacity as Minister of Police and Prisons, for their incarceration. The three were later awarded US$26,000 for wrongful imprisonment. He was the Government spokesperson on all matters in relation to protecting His Majesty,

. He was Government spokesperson on the passing of media laws which saw the ''Times of Tonga'' banned from the country in 2003 as a seditious publication, but the ban was overturned by the Supreme Court. Later in 2003 he laid a defamation complaint against the ''Times of Tonga'' after it published an article questioning his use of police housing. In 1996 he ordered the police to visit

Falisi Tupou Falisi Tupou is a Tongan journalist and politician. He is a senior editor at '' Keleʻa'', the newspaper of the pro-democracy movement, owned by ʻAkilisi Pohiva. In April 2007, he was arrested and charged with sedition over an editorial in wh ...

for writing a letter to a newspaper that was critical of Edwards' contradictory viewpoints. Tupou was ordered to meet with Edwards, who shouted at Tupou for not knowing his position in society. In 2004 Edwards was sacked from Cabinet by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Ulukālala Lavaka Ata after the collapse of

Royal Tongan Airlines Royal Tongan Airlines was the national airline of Tonga until liquidation in 2004. It was a government agency and operated interisland services and international routes. History Formative years In 1983 a feasibility study was undertaken by ...

. Edwards later claimed that he was unfairly sacked for opposing the government's one airline policy and for plotting to overthrow the government.

Member of Parliament

Following his sacking Edwards became a critic of the government and became a founding member of the People's Democratic Party. He contested the 2005 election, but failed to win a seat. However, he was subsequently elected as a People's Representative for Tongatapu in a by-election following the appointment of

Feleti Sevele Feleti Vakaʻuta Sevele, Lord Sevele of Vailahi (born 7 July 1944) was the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Tonga from 30 March 2006 to 22 December 2010. Biography Early life Lord Sevele was born in Ma’ufanga, Nuku’alofa. He began his h ...

to Cabinet. As a people's representative, Edwards advocated democratic reform, and criticised the practice of appointing MPs to cabinet, arguing that it was a way for the government to silence its critics. In 2007 Edwards was charged with two counts of sedition in relation to the

2006 Nuku'alofa riots 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. This was later reduced to a single charge of uttering seditious words. The trial was repeatedly delayed. Despite the charges, Edwards was re-elected at the

2008 election This electoral calendar 2008 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2008 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, even though they are not elections. By-elections are no ...

. Finally in May 2010, the sedition charges against him were dismissed. In 2010, Edwards announced that he would be promoting a private members bill to abolish

whipping Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on an ...

and the death penalty. Edwards stood for the seat of Tongatapu 3 in the

2010 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2010. {{TOC right * National electoral calendar 2010 * Local electoral calendar 2010 * 2010 United Nations Security Council election Africa * 2010 Burkinabé presidential election * 2010 Burundian Sen ...

, but was unsuccessful. Following the election, he was appointed to Cabinet as a minister outside the legislature, holding the portfolios of public enterprise and revenue services. On 1 September 2011, he was appointed Minister for Justice. He retained the portfolio for public enterprises, while the portfolio for revenue services was reshuffled to

Sunia Manu Fili Sunia Manu Fili (born 1 December 1965) is a Tongan politician and former Cabinet Minister. He is a former member of the Human Rights and Democracy Movement and the Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands. Biography Fili graduated with a BA ...

."Cabinet quietly reshuffles portfolios"
Matangi Tonga, 7 September 2011 Edwards stood for the seat of Tongatapu 3 in the 2014 election, but was unsuccessful.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Clive Members of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga Living people University of Auckland alumni Government ministers of Tonga Tongan lawyers People's Democratic Party (Tonga) politicians 1934 births Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Nukuʻalofa People educated at Auckland Grammar School Auckland City Councillors Unsuccessful candidates in the 1969 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1972 New Zealand general election New Zealand National Party politicians Tongan expatriates in New Zealand