The FijiFirst party general secretary Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is severely compromised as he is seriously in a conflict of interest situation, says The People’s Alliance deputy party leader Manoa Kamikamica.
He said this at a media conference last Sunday, where he claimed Mr Sayed-Khaiyum was seriously conflicted because of the many hats he wore.
“You cannot be general secretary of a political party that is contesting the upcoming general elections as the ruling party, and also hold the ministerial positions of Attorney-General as well as the Minister Responsible for the Judiciary, for the Fijian Elections Office and the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC),” Mr Kamikamica said.
“More recently, the best example of conflict of interest reared its head with ‘SCC (Suva City Council) gate’.”
He said even though the FijiFirst put up signage in apparent breach and contravention of the law, this wasn’t immediately referred to FICAC.
Mr Kamikamica said there was no investigation into whether the sign was truly authorised by Mr Sayed-Khaiyum, if there was contractual relationship between Suva City Council and the FijiFirst party, how much was paid for the sign and whether it was an “arm’s length transaction”.
“Because of the different ways the parties have been treated, this is exactly why the doctrine of conflict exists.
“I’m not making any allegations but I will let you the people decide.”
While SOE Mohammed Saneem has not responded to queries by Opposition parties into the response to the FijiFirst party banner issue, the Fijian Elections Office issued a statement on October 14 saying they would not make any further comment on the issue because the Fiji Labour Party and National Federation Party had written directly to FICAC about it.
- Questions sent to FijiFirst party general secretary Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum on the comments made by Mr Kamikamica remained unanswered when this edition went to press.
