Following the report released by International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) on the Global State of Democracy classifying Fiji democracy as weak, People’s Alliance Leader, Sitiveni Rabuka says this report should come as no surprise to the country and continues to reflect a Prime Minister and a Government that has lost control.
Rabuka says sometimes perception and reality converge.
IDEA says that Fiji’s weak democracy status was due to its score of 0.6 for fundamental rights and 0.5 on the checks on Government measuring effective control on executive power.
Rabuka says recently, we have seen some well documented cases where these observations by IDEA have been on real display.
He says the sacking of the Solicitor General, Sharvada Sharma and removal of Fiji’s Head Statistician, Kemueli Naiqama were cases where zero due process was followed, and fundamental rights were ignored.
Rabuka says in fact, for Sharvada Sharma’s case, there is a potential breach of the Constitution.
He says you only have to look at the Lautoka Swimming pool fiasco, the Freesoul Malolo environmental incident and the Water Authority Digger disaster as points of reference for the people of Fiji.
Rabuka says when investigations are very slow and there are no consequences, people wonder.
He says in the case of the Lautoka Swimming pool, this project started in 2015.
