Opposition Leader, Voreqe Bainimarama, has indicated that he has decided the former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum will exit from the Constitutional Offices Commission.
Bainimarama now claims that following his address last night, they have received further reports of certain matters that are taking place in Government and that are detrimental to the Constitution, rule of law and good governance.
Earlier this afternoon, the Registrar of Political Parties, Mohammed Saneem, says any person taking up public office must ensure that they comply with Section 14(1) (a-d) of the Political Parties Act.
Saneem said public office holders according to section 14(1) of the Political Parties (Registration, Conduct, Funding and Disclosures) Act are not eligible to be an applicant or a member of a registered political party; are not eligible to hold office in a registered political party; are not to engage in political activity that may compromise or be seen to compromise the political neutrality of that person’s office in an election; or publicly indicate support for or opposition to any proposed political party or a registered political party or candidate in an election.
Meanwhile, Bainimarama claims in the last 24 hours, multiple Fijians have directly and/or indirectly approached them for assistance in seeking redress against what he terms “a repressive and oppressive conduct that the new coalition Government has continued to display since taking office.”
“Many Fijians and their families are living in fear of losing their jobs; many are concerned with the ineffective and inefficient delivery of Government services and, in particular, its inability to attend to the recent floods.” He said
“Many are concerned with promises made during election campaigns which are nowhere close to being fulfilled, others are concerned with promises made which, if delivered, will take Fiji back to the dark ages and be significantly detrimental to the lives of all Fijians and in particular, our youth.”
The Leader of the Opposition said that others are questioning why this Government is stubbornly and recklessly undermining their rights and freedoms under the 2013 Constitution.
He said given this heightened development and the sheer number of complaints that they have received, and the manner in which the first COC meeting was conducted, he has decided that the former Attorney-General will exit from the COC to completely focus on the areas he had raised yesterday, including seeking legal address.
“We will nominate a suitably qualified individual as their nominee to the COC. As we stated before, the deteriorating situation in Fiji requires that he take charge of matters inside Parliament, while the former Attorney-General takes charge of matters outside of Parliament,” Bainimarama added.
