Rabuka demands commission to convene forum

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Opposition Leader Sitiveni Rabuka leaves the FICAC headquarters in Suva yesterday after lodging a complaint against the the Government. Picture: JOVESA NAISUA

OPPOSITION Leader Sitiveni Rabuka has demanded the convening of a meeting of the Constitutional Offices Commission “to discuss the many pressing issues under its mandate”.

Mr Rabuka claimed the commission has never been convened since the new Parliament was sworn in on November 26, 2018. “Section 132 of the Constitution is very clear,” he said.

“But I have been waiting for the Prime Minister as the chairperson of the commission, to convene a meeting for a long time, however, it does not appear to be a pressing concern to him,” said Mr Rabuka.

He said he was very concerned that two key vacancies, also provided for in the Constitution — the Supervisor of Elections and the secretary-general to Parliament — have been advertised twice now, with the current incumbents in acting capacities for more than one year.

The commission is mandated under Section 133 of the Constitution to provide advice to the President for the appointment of several key positions including the SOE and SG to Parliament’s positions.

“This is a highly unsatisfactory arrangement to conduct good human resource management at this level, and I am demanding a meeting with urgency so that the Constitutional Offices Commission can develop a robust terms of reference for the recruitment of these two critical constitutional positions.”

He said the commission itself should be directly involved in the recruitment process instead of absolving its constitutional responsibilities to a third party, or foreign recruitment agency.

“If someone is being administratively creative, and intends to simply leave both these post holders on acting appointments for a long time, then it proves that there is no respect for the Constitution by the very drafters of it, which is the Government of the day.”

The former prime minister also said that given the important constitutional responsibilities of the two positions, it was critical that they were filled without delay, in a transparent and accountable manner.

“We will also be raising our concerns to the international community and development partners on the issue.

“Furthermore, I need to present my advice of my nominee to the commission, to his excellency the President as stipulated by section 132(e) of the Constitution. However, I cannot present a nominee if there are no meetings on pertinent matters that should be discussed and considered by the commission.”

In response to Mr Rabuka’s statement, Solicitor-General and commission secretary Sharvada Sharma said the Constitutional Offices Commission had not advertised the respective vacancies by way of a third party or a foreign recruitment agency.

“As indicated in our previous response, once the Constitutional Offices Commission has received all applications, interviews will be conducted and a recommendation will be made by the commission to His Excellency, the President for appointment,” Mr Sharma said.

“Please also note that in accordance with the Fijian Constitution, on 23 January 2019 the secretary of the Commission wrote to the honourable Leader of the Opposition requesting for his nominee for appointment to the Commission.”

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