It has taken just two weeks for the ousted attorney general, Siromi Turaga, to muscle in on his successor, Graham Leung, and reopen a can of worms that no longer concerns him – publicly canvassing the prospect of changing the 2013 constitution.
Turaga’s comments about the Coalition now being within reach of getting the 75 per cent vote of MPs needed to alter the Constitution are none of his business. He was removed from the attorney general’s position to stop him hurling grenades into the public space and restore a semblance of stability to the conduct of government. No such luck. Siromi Turaga may have lost the gig of AG but he insists on behaving as if he still has the job.
Having been shunted into the Justice Ministry, Turaga is meant to concern himself purely with the administration of the law and the operation of the various registries – such things as Births, Deaths and Marriages and the other functions of government. He is not meant to be making public statements about policy. That is now Graham Leung’s job as the chief law officer of the state. But Siromi Turaga was clearly never going to go quietly. And a fortnight after Leung replaced him, the Grinning Assassin is already white-anting the new AG and boxing him into a corner.
Instead of being able to quietly do his job and fulfil his brief from the Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, to restore stability to the AG’s role, Graham Leung finds himself having to either confirm what Siromi Turaga is saying about the government’s plans for constitutional change or repudiate them.
So once again, indiscipline is causing chaos at the top. But, of course, Rabuka is too weak to do anything about it. In the same way that he is too weak to do anything about the disaster Lynda Tabuya has wrought on the Coalition through her sex and drug scandal and now the emoluments debacle that is today bringing hundreds of angry Fijian voters onto the streets. ( see previous posting)
Siromi Turaga is a deluded fanatic who clearly senses that the quietly-spoken Graham Leung is too weak to tell him to butt out of issues that no longer concern him. Which is telling everyone that it has taken just a fortnight for Leung to be cast in the public mind as a lame duck quacking in Siromi Turaga’s shadow. The Grinning Assassin clearly sees his demotion as temporary. How else to explain his extraordinary comments about the Constitution?
The Justice Minister – speaking with no-one’s authority but his own – opines that the collapse of FijiFirst has altered the political landscape so dramatically that the Coalition may now be able to get the 75 per cent it needs under the terms of the constitution to change the supreme law. That means being able to persuade 41 of the 55 members of the parliament to vote for change.
Siromi Turaga is so deluded that he says being able to get MPs to vote for salary increases for themselves is a pathway to achieving the 75 per cent threshold. Oh really? For a start, what constitutional change is being proposed? Because if it is to alter the common and equal citizenry, the common identity or the secular state, forget it. FijiFirst MPs might have been craven enough to vote for big pay rises for themselves but junking their blueprint for the return to parliamentary rule in 2014 just isn’t going to happen. It is a simple matter of “doing the math”, as the Americans say.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter what fantasies are in Siromi Turaga’s head. He should stop them making the journey to his mouth and into the media. Graham Leung is now AG and it will be for him and the Prime Minister to decide on any timetable and tactics for an attempt to change the constitution. And all Siromi Turaga has done is to frighten the horses when the Coalition’s number one priority must be to restore stability in the country and confidence in its ability to govern.
The government’s overall messaging is a disaster, of which this is only the latest example. At almost every turn, it presents the image of a circus in which cabinet discipline is almost non-existent. The recent public brawling between Lynda Tabuya and Biman Prasad was only the most glaring example of a government out of control and a Prime Minister unable to impose order. Now we have the authority of his new Attorney General being openly challenged and there’s not a damn thing Rabuka can do about it. He can’t sack Siromi Turaga as Justice Minister without causing restiveness among Turaga’s hardline supporters that would destabilise the Coalition even more and Turaga knows it.
Graham Leung is no fool. Yet even he wouldn’t have imagined that the public white-anting from his predecessor would take just 15 days to surface. He needs to act decisively. He must tell the Prime Minister to gag his Justice Minister on pain of dismissal or it is only a matter of time before Leung’s own position becomes untenable. He has just been publicly humiliated and unless he is a sucker for punishment, he must put a stop to it now.
Next Friday, the government will receive an “opinion” from three foreign judges on whether the appointments of John Rabuku as Acting DPP and Alipate Qetaki as a judge can stand despite the fact that both have been found guilty of professional misconduct and the 2013 Constitution prohibits it. If the judges say “no”, will the Coalition accept it and remove them?
In any responsible government, that would be enough of a constitutional dilemma to digest without Siromi Turaga publicly prising open the pandora’s box of changing the constitution itself. But this government isn’t responsible. Far from it. While the country cries out for stability, it delivers chaos and uncertainty. When the Prime Minister tries to stabilise the ship of state, one of his malevolent crew members engages in wilful sabotage. It really is a ship of fools taking in water like the RFNS Puamau, with a motley crew motivated by greed and self-interest and chronically unable to work together as a team.
Having just joined the ship, Graham Leung’s own credibility is already on the line. Siromi Turaga clearly doesn’t accept his authority as AG or he would be a lot more respectful and keep his fantasies to himself. Yet it isn’t just Leung’s authority that is being undermined but the authority of the Prime Minister and the government as a whole.
I find it funny how every government coming into power in Fiji thinks that it can make the country great and into a success. But they all fail and newer governments will continue to fail. Fiji can’t become a success like Singapore. The attitude and mentality of people in Fiji is the biggest problem.
I agree. And I think it’s because of the child-like expecting it to happen over night, rather than the many many decades it takes to build an economy. There also seems to be very little understanding of the relationship between population size and economy size. All we are left with are impulsive decisions (without even reading how to implement them constitutionally), then the blame game as to why they didn’t work. There needs to be a building of a solid work ethic from the ground up to replace the child-like hand out mentality.
Siromi is shooting his mouth off once again. FFP MPs Semi Korolavisau and Jone Usamate have publicly declared that they still uphold to principles and values of their former party.
Let’s see if this group of former FFP MOs has (a) the presence of mind to lay out in writing the values and principles of their marriage with Rabuka, and (b) ensure these values and principles are written into their prenuptial.
The 2013 Constitution is a baby of the FFP. The FFP MPs have already thrown out the bath water against their party’s dictate by voting themselves pay increases, lets see whether they’ll be prepared to toss out their baby with the bath water by voting with Rabuka’s Coalition to replace the 2013 Constirution,
There is nothing in the 2013 Constitution to prevent itaukei pulling themselves out of the poverty trap they find themselves in after nearly half a century of political independence.
It’s a matter of policy not law that they make up the largest group of the poor today.
Neither Policy nor Law. It’s the attitude. The attitude of entitlement. Of having things without working for it.
I think the problem is people who are very keen to get the constitution changed do not do so out of a wish to make Fiji a better place for its people, but because they want it to make it legal that criminals and thugs can be put into positions of power in goverment and in the public service which the constitution currently bans them from doing so .
Here in Fiji….the more pressing issues are the social costs of poverty, the damaging effects of drugs on youth, corruption etc….not the 2013 Constitution. Siromi should focus his energies on these more pressing issues. He is missing the mark big time
There is no doubt that the birthing of the Constitution 2013 was fudged through its processes and its content in so far as the populace had a say in it and ownership.Now the issue is how to go about making sure voices are facilitated into the provisions that need reviewing. Historically we have used force to bring about change. Now there is a possibility for a non violent facilitation through parliament itself and people’s popular voice through a referendum. That is a better option, isn’t it? Now we need to the right person to say it if ever there is one who is designated to say so.
There is a difference between changing the constitution and making amendments to it
Correct me if I am wrong
With what Siromi is saying that constitution needs to be amendment here I find him as his statement
There are many politicians around the world where party members make statements contradicts to each other
Than the go back to caucus and get them corrected
Graham is the AG and he doest have a task ahead to deal
It is a matter of both to collaborate and move together
Things are new at this stage and will roll when dust settles of this new change
Ofcourse 2013 constitution was drafted by few without any consulting from it’s very own people of how the rule of the land will apply to them
Politicians with less than 500 votes walked into the parliament and became ministers
Immunity provisions and few more
Politics doesn’t work without politicians making they own judgment and statements to media
It happens all around the world
You’re wrong Graham. The AG and Minister for Justice play distinct roles. The Minister of Justice is supposed to be a politician advancing the ruling party’s objectives on matter of policy. The AG is supposed to be independent. Turaga is doing his job. People like you need to read up or brush up on your knowledge on who is supposed to be doing what. Your vilification of Turaga is bordering on harassment.
Rubbish. The Minister for Justice is a role that is administrative. You people have lost the plot. You will call black white if it suits your purposes. And believe me, with the conduct of this government way out of line, I am here to harass. It’s a role the mainstream media should be doing but isn’t.
So now the RFMF has sought forgiveness from a convicted criminal for the 2000 coup and mutiny. And he is Illisoni Ligairi. Fiji is a country where criminals become Gods.
Came across this and was really confused. Why did the military have to seek forgiveness from a convicted criminal?
Oh? He has problems with you gang? So what? And what is next, sevusevu to Georgie?
Unbelievable that out of the many pressing priorities (soaring crime, drug issue, domestic violence on the rise, soaring cost of living, records number Fijians living in poverty than ever before, high NCD cases, corruption, racism, lack of investor confidence, high unemployment, gallivanting of politicians overseas at every available opportunity, deteriorating morales in the society, parliamentarians rewarding themselves with generous perks, to name a few) top priority of this Govt is to change the constitution???? Seriously, get a grip people!
Quite impossible to change Constitution 4.0 unless it’s a Supreme Court sitting to deliver the 2013 Constitution as null and void, which would then render Government and indeed Parliament non-existent. Who will administer the elections if this were to happen??
And this is coming from someone who detests Bai and Kai’s hand in how the 2013 Constitution came into being in the first place.
Under the 2023 constitution, firstly, 3/4 of the MPs must vote to amend the constitution.
And secondly (and more importantly), AT LEAST 3/4 of ALL REGISTERED VOTERS (75% of total 691,824 voters = 518868) must vote in a national referendum.
For reference, a total of only 473,910 votes were cast in the 2022 General Elections. Thirdly, a referendum of this magnitude will easily require upwards of $100 million dollars.
So Rambo the Snake (who proved he is indeed a snake with the recent pay rise he endorsed after getting ill advice from Siromi Turaga and the Queen of Tarts Lustful Lynda) can forget changing the constitution for now and divert their attention to the more pressing issues at hand including delivering the long-promised local municipal elections.
The sleeping minister for non justice. Free george speight.
Graham Davis,
You sound like someone that is full of venom against anyone who opposes your kind of thinking.
Under Kava AG is apt in his piece re Siromi Turaga.
Be good if you could answer these questions;
*Are you a Voter in Fiji?
*Are you a Tax Payer in Fiji?
*Are you one that send remittance to Fiji?
If your answers are SEGA (NO) to all of the above, then get naffed will you!
I am a retired Fiji-born Fijian citizen living in Australia. So I no longer pay income tax anywhere. Are you saying that retired people lose their ability to comment on anything once they leave the workforce? Sega. You get naffed.
You seem quite happy to read what I write here. That makes me the worker generating something you don’t pay for. Ergo, you’re the freeloader. Just saying.
Talk about entitlement!
This question…
*Are you one that send remittance to Fiji?
Shame on you Fijians living in a hole all your life.
Ministers in this coalition government is free to speak and then are questioned and given a slap on the wrist if statements are not in line
Ministers in previous government could not speak unless approved by ASK
If they did ,then there was a risk of being fired
That’s the difference
Wondering why you need 2 thirds of votes in Parliament to change constitution when 5 people drafted it
There is a huge disconnect between this current bunch of rag tag pollies and the people. They have absolutely no idea or clue in how to run a government for the people. Run for themselves? Yes, for the people? High school students would do a better job!!