Newly appointed Lands Minister Siromi Turaga says he is still in the dark about the change in his ministerial portfolio.
Speaking to FijiLive, Turaga said he was not made aware of the reshuffle despite meeting with the Prime Minister twice last week .
Turaga assumes his new role from tomorrow while Filimoni Vosarogo will take up the Attorney-General’s portfolio.
In a meeting yesterday in Sydney, Australia, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka defended the need to reshuffle senior members of his cabinet; however, he did not open up on why he decided to pull the curtains on Turaga.
It is rumoured that Rabuka is not too happy with the performance of some of his ministers in the Coalition Government and is shaking things up.
The Prime Minister has also replaced Lynda Tabuya with Ro Filipe Tuisawau as the new Leader of Government Business.
It is understood that the many senior cabinet members, particularly the kingmakers SODELPA, are not happy with the announcement last Friday, after being left out on an important decision like this.
SODELPA General Secretary Viliame Takayawa in a series of Facebook posts said they were not consulted on the matter.
Takayawa said there is a need to learn to talk to each other first before trying to run the nation.
Last week, Opposition MP Faiyaz Koya noted that there was a lack of understanding and comprehension by the Government on the Constitution.
Koya said the appointment of the Minister for Lands Filimoni Vosarogo as Fiji’s new Attorney-General is a breach of Section 96(2) (b) of the 2013 Constitution.
He said the AG must have a minimum of 15 years’ experience of post-admission experience and importantly must not be found guilty by the Independent Legal Services Commission.
Koya said Vosarogo was found guilty by the ISLC in 2013 and 2017 and received multiple sanctions – based on this, Vosarogo is disqualified from assuming the Office of the Attorney-General.
Meanwhile the Fiji Law Society has also rejected the appointment and threatened to take the matter to Court if the Government does not rescind its decision.
