EMBERSON REPLACES NAMOSIMALUA AS SECRETARY-GENERAL OF PARLIAMENT
The changing of the guard at the top of the Parliament Secretariat comes as no surprise.
It has been on the cards since 2017 when Viniana Namosimalua’s contract as Secretary-General expired and she continued in an acting position.
She has been replaced by deputy Jeanette Emberson as Acting S-G. Her contract was not renewed. Mrs Namosimalua was caught in a political crossfire in Parliament. Her post was advertised before but it is not clear how many applied. Now it is going to be readvertised. It is apparent that no suitable candidate was found.
Mrs Namosimalua went through a challenging period after her appointment in 2014. Prior to that she was Secretary to Cabinet.
She had to spell out the rules in SODELPA’s internal battle for the control of parliamentary grant between the party’s Opposition office and headquarters. It was and still is a contentious issue.
As early as 2015, Mrs Namosimalua informed FijiFirst, SODELPA and the National Federation Party that they would no longer be provided with established civil service positions for their parliamentary offices.
The parties would be allocated funding by the Secretary-General and it would be their responsibility to hire and pay their staff. The process would be at the absolute discretion of the political party. Each party was allocated $15,000 per MP. FijiFirst received $480,000 for 32 MPs. SODELPA got $225,000 and NFP received $45,000 for three MPs.
Parties were asked to provide a bank account where the funds would be deposited. Mrs Namosimalua told them they were free to use the funds for the staffing and running of their parliamentary offices.
SODELPA Opposition then led by Opposition leader Ro Teimumu Kepa, not SODELPA headquarters, acted on it, collected the cheque and banked it in a newly created account.
SODELPA HQ protested and it is understood this led to the controversial Gaunavinaka Report which criticised Ro Teimumu and highlighted the bank account.
Mrs Namosimalua left it to the party to sort out its dispute.
The party later decided to close the account and have the funds deposited to its established account. Last year the issue resurfaced when the conservative right wing faction of the party claimed the funds were being used for party administration instead of the parliamentary office.
Mrs Namosimalua clarified that they should be used for the parliamentary office.
Emele Duituturaga, the party general secretary, dismissed the right wingers’ allegation and said the funds were set aside for the Opposition Office.
The other issue that Mrs Namosimalua was involved in was that she lodged a complaint to the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) which led to the charging of seven MPs, one FijiFirstFirst MP who has quit Parliament and six SODELPA MPs. Her future role in this case is not clear. There is no doubt that some in Parliament are happy to see her go while others want her to stay.