A National Crisis in the Making: Ha’apai Clinic Lease Dispute Highlights Urgent Need for Land Reform
A crisis is quietly unfolding in Ha’apai that should alarm every citizen who believes in the right to accessible healthcare. At the heart of the storm is the Lotofoa Health Clinic, the only free medical facility serving one of the most remote and vulnerable communities in Tonga. Its future now hangs in the balance, not because of a health emergency or infrastructure collapse—but due to a 500% increase in land lease costs.
According to the Minister of Health, Dr Ana ‘Akau’ola, the Ministry of Health has been blindsided by a lease hike that took the rent from a symbolic $60 per year to an unsustainable $3,000. More troubling still is the reported demand that the government pay 30 years’ worth of rent upfront—an astounding $90,000—by June. The request is alleged to have come from the landowner, His Serene Highness Prince Tu’ipelehake, a high-ranking noble whose land the clinic currently occupies.
The Prince could not be reached for comment, but the implications of this demand are enormous and potentially precedent-setting.
Dr ‘Akau’ola did not hide her frustration. “I felt we had been hijacked to pay this money,” she said in a recent public interview, noting that the Ministry’s modest budget is designed to serve the people’s health needs—not bankroll exorbitant land fees. She also acknowledged that the Ministry had failed to keep up with previous lease payments, but added that this did not justify the steep increase nor the sudden ultimatum.
The Ministry has since paused ongoing upgrades to the clinic pending the outcome of negotiations. In the meantime, the people of Lotofoa face the grim possibility that their clinic—their only source of consistent medical care—may be relocated. For many in Ha’apai, relocation could mean losing critical access to treatment, particularly for the elderly, children, and those with chronic illnesses.
The situation has sparked widespread concern. Local residents have contacted radio station FM 87.5, expressing anxiety about the potential closure or movement of the clinic. Their fears are well-founded. In a country with limited transportation and inter-island connectivity, relocating a health centre—even by a few kilometres—could impose unbearable hardships on those most in need.
But this issue goes far beyond a lease dispute. It points to a systemic problem in Tonga’s governance model: the lack of legal and political clarity around land tenure and the prioritisation of land for national interest.
The Bigger Problem: Land of National Importance in Private Hands
This case is not just about one clinic or one noble. It is a warning sign that the current system is ripe for exploitation. We are now seeing what happens when public infrastructure—particularly essential services such as healthcare and education—are built on land that is privately controlled by nobles, often without sufficient safeguards or long-term security of tenure.
For years, many of us have warned that land designated for national interest—clinics, schools, community centres—must be under the control of the state, not leased at the mercy of private landowners. The assumption that nobles would always be benevolent landlords is proving naïve. And now, the floodgates are opening.
This Ha’apai case is setting a dangerous precedent. If nobles begin to demand market-rate leases—or worse, cash in on public goodwill by using essential services as leverage—what stops others from doing the same? Are schools next? Ports? Police stations?
What the case in Ha’apai demonstrates is that the noble in question has placed personal financial gain above the public good. Charging the government this huge amount to deliver healthcare services to the people is not just short-sighted—it is pure greed. It shows that some nobles are becoming increasingly selfish, using large tracts of land within their estates solely for private benefit, regardless of the public consequences.
This is not how leadership is supposed to function. Nobility, by definition, is a position of service, not exploitation.
Regional Models Offer a Way Forward
Tonga can—and must—learn from the governance frameworks of countries like New Zealand and Australia, where assets and land of national significance are approached through a combination of public ownership and strong regulatory oversight. In both countries, strategic infrastructure—hospitals, schools, ports, airports—is either government-owned or protected through legislation that limits private influence.
They also allow for private investment and operations in some sectors, but only with clear rules that ensure national interests come first. Sensitive assets and critical infrastructure are not left vulnerable to private leverage or exploitation.
Why is Tonga still allowing key national services to be built on land that can be used as bargaining chips? This is a serious policy failure that must be addressed.
Legislative Action is Long Overdue
This matter must become part of the national debate—urgently. The government must show leadership and move swiftly to introduce legislation in Parliament that protects land used for public services. One possible solution is to empower the Ministry of Lands to acquire land compulsorily for public purposes, with fair compensation provided to the owners, similar to what is standard practice in many other jurisdictions.
Alternatively, a national land policy should be introduced to ensure that any land leased for clinics, schools, or other public institutions is secured through long-term leases (50 to 99 years) at fixed, symbolic rates agreed upon in law and not subject to sudden increases. These leases should be governed not by verbal understandings or informal arrangements but by binding, legally enforceable contracts.
There is also a clear need to audit the existing portfolio of government-leased land for critical services. How many clinics or schools are vulnerable to similar rent hikes? How many ministries are operating on borrowed time, occupying land without written agreements or without keeping up with payments? If we don’t ask these questions now, the consequences will be felt later—and more communities will suffer.
A Call for Priorities: People Over Profit
Dr. ‘Akau’ola said it best: “This clinic serves the people at no cost.” That should be the guiding principle for our public policy. When land becomes a profit centre at the expense of public health, we must ask what kind of society we are building.
The Ministry’s role is to protect the health of the people—not to spend its limited resources on rent hikes that do not add value to the service delivery. The clinic does not turn a profit; it does not charge patients. It exists to save lives. The same can be said of schools, fire stations, and other community assets.
If we allow private interests—noble or not—to treat public services as bargaining chips, then we have lost the moral compass of our governance.
Let this Ha’apai dispute be a wake-up call. Tonga cannot afford to be held hostage by a land system that leaves national assets exposed to the whims of individual landlords. Parliament must act, and the Cabinet must lead. The people of Ha’apai, and indeed all of Tonga, deserve security in their access to public services.
In the meantime, we urge His Serene Highness Prince Tu’ipelehake to reconsider this demand. As a noble of the realm, his duty—above all—is to serve the people. Exercising restraint, and showing generosity at a time of national need, would reflect the true spirit of noble leadership.
But if not, then the laws must be changed to ensure that no vital service is ever again held ransom. The cost of inaction is simply too high.
By Melino Maka
Tonga Independent New
