The Social Democratic Liberal Party General Secretary, Lenaitasi Duru is claiming that the decision made by its Management Board yesterday was unconstitutional and thereby nullifying the decision taken.
In an exclusive interview with FijiLive, Duru said some members of the Management Board had their memberships expired last month but because of the Party was focusing on General Election; the Party did not renew them.
“Some of the board members of the Management Board should not have voted. The fact that they voted, nullified the whole process. That is why, I had to write to the Office of the President, requesting for a deferment of Parliament Sitting, due to the anomalies,” he said.
Duru also said that he tried to make a decision beforehand when he found out that a few of them were in the meeting yesterday.
“This was a very important decision; it was to decide who is to be the next Prime Minister or who is to run the government in the next four years. We needed to decide from a legal and compliance standpoint.”
“We tried to remove them, but it got a little bit violent and the discussion started to heat up. I had to make a stand, if we had to remove them, it would have been physical.”
He said he raised it with the board and the board made a decision to allow them to stay.
Duru said he told the board that he did not agree and made sure it was noted in the minutes for record.
He also claimed that one of the members in the meeting yesterday came in drunk.
“Our board is made up of ladies, like Losena Salabula, the Marama Bale Na Roko Tui Dreketi, Ro Teimumu Kepa and Dr Mere Samisoni, if it had gotten violent in that room, I couldn’t have taken the risk. I had made a decision, and I was overruled by the board.”
“Now I am challenging the decision of the board and have written to the Office of the President and to the Registrar of Political Parties, Mohammed Saneem, stating the anomalies that took place yesterday.”
The General Secretary has confirmed that he has received the correspondences from the Office of the President and the Registrar of Political Parties.
“I received a response from the Office of the President, and the letter states he has not called for Parliament to convene yet. The letter also states that the President has 14 days and he has reassured us. We are respecting his wishes on that.”
“I have also received a response from the Registrar of Political Parties. He is agreeing with the anomalies, now the board will have to sit again.”
“I will have to talk to the Party President, so that we can call for another Management Board Meeting to get us to the process, all over again,” he added.
FijiLive has written to the Registrar of Political Parties, Mohammed Saneem, to clarify the letter that was written by the General Secretary of SODELPA.
