Maharaj Questions Bainimarama's Status on Termination Letter
Mr Maharaj has also called on the Commissioner of Corrections to investigate how Mr Bainimarama was able to sign the documents hand-delivered to the Speaker.
Saturday 01 June 2024 | 17:20
A new series of internal political rifts is brewing within the Opposition caucus.
Suspended FijiFirst Opposition Member of Parliament and Whip Alvick Maharaj is questioning the validity of the decision to terminate 17 party MPs.
He is questioning how their termination and the decision to terminate them is valid and legitimate when the supposed party leader Voreqe Bainimarama is serving a prison term.
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The controversy follows a hand delivered letter to Speaker of Parliament Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu on Thursday.
That letter has the official signatory of Mr Bainimarama as leader of FijiFirst and Faiyaz Koya as acting general secretary.
“Supervisor of Elections has already questioned the legality of Bainimarama being the leader,” Mr Maharaj said.
“He actually signed, how can you actually sign a document when you’re serving a term in prison?
“That needs to be investigated as well, how is that legitimate?”
FICAC Referral
On May 24, the Supervisor of Elections Ana Mataiciwa referred a matter related to the party’s appointment of its party leader.
Ms Mataiciwa clarified that on May 9, former FijiFirst general secretary Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum conducted a press conference and made statements to the effect that the former Prime Minister will continue as party leader.
That was the same day Mr Bainimarama was convicted for the offence of attempting to pervert the course of justice contravening Section 190 (e) of the Crimes Act 2009 and sentenced to a term of one-year imprisonment.
Political Parties Act
Section 5 (3) of the Political Parties (Registration, Conduct, Funding and Disclosures) Act 2013 states that:
A person is disqualified from being an office holder of a political party that is registered under this Act if that person has, in the five years preceding the date when he or she applies to become an office holder of the political party—
(a) be declared an undischarged bankrupt; or
(b) be convicted of an offence and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of not less than six months.
Along this margin, Mr Maharaj has also called on the Commissioner of Corrections to investigate how Mr Bainimarama was able to sign the documents hand-delivered to the Speaker.
Mr Maharaj also claimed that members were not even notified through proper channels.
He said some conversations happen through Facebook messenger.
This masthead has reached out to the party, including acting general secretary Faiyaz Koya for a response; no response has been received yet.
Feedback: jone.salusalu@fijisun.com.fj
