Civil Servants lead attack against Democracy
Issue No: 207; 17 November 2000
Prominent civil servants are leading the attack on democracy and good governance in Fiji. The assault comes through
their active roles in advising the (Indigenous Fijian) provincial councils on how should the political affairs of the
nation be organised.
The Permanent Secretary for Justice, Sakiusa Rabuka and the Permanent Secretary for Work, Anasa Vocea are members of the
Committee established by the Cakaudrove Provincial Council to prepare its submissions to the regime's Constitution
Review Committee. The committee says it wants the 1990 Constitution to replace the 1997 Constitution. Vocea was recently
implicated by the military in the attempted coup of 2 November.
The Permanent Secretary for Labour and Industrial Relations, Apisalome Tuidreu is the chairperson of the Macuata
Provincial Council's think tank on the Constitution. According to today's Fiji Times, he informed the Council that the
President should be an ethnic Fijian and the Prime Minister should be selected by only the ethnic Fijian members of the
Parliament. He also stated that the Fijian Affairs, Immigration, Lands, Agriculture, and Foreign Affairs portfolios
should always be held by ethnic Fijians. Further, he stated, the landowners should be give the right to resources of the
ocean, a provincial council member should sit in the cabinet, Fiji be declared a Christian state, the Fijian language be
accepted the language of the state and all written records be translated in Fijian, and interests of Fijians in
business, education and other development programs be highlighted in the constitution. He also proposed that the sexual
orientation clause be scrapped from the Constitution.
The Permanent Secretary in the interim regime Prime Minister's office, Jioji Kotobalavu has also been making political
statements. The Fiji Public Service Association lodged a complaint against Kotobalavu's political involvement. It also
lodged complaints against the utterances of the Secretary for the Public Service Commission, Anare Jale.
Jale, Tuidreu, Vocea and Rabuka were rapidly promoted by Sitiveni Rabuka during his reign as Prime Minister from 1992 to
1997. They bypassed many other more senior civil servants of merit within the service.
Other prominent ethnic Fijian civil servants have also been involved in influencing their provinces on political
matters.
The code of conduct for civil servants clearly states that the civil servants should not actively engage in politics.
But with the breakdown of law and order, the Public Service Commission has been unable to enforce the public service
regulations.
END