Position of General Secretary to be advertised

The position of General Secretary for suspended SODELPA will be advertised. This was confirmed by acting president Vijay Singh.

He said the position would be advertised in the next few days before the process of selection takes place. It is understood the suspended party is working with a human resource company to ensure the process independent.

The advertisement is an attempt by the suspended party to comply with the provisions of Section 18.3.1 of the party constitution, which governs the appointment of the general secretary.

It will run for five to seven days. The appointment of Emele Duituturaga as General Secretary after the Management Board Meeting on Thursday was rejected by the Registrar of Political Parties, Mohammed Saneem. It did not comply with Section 18.3.1 of the suspended party Constitution.

Yesterday Mr Saneem said he met with Tanya Waqanika and Jope Koroisavou on Tuesday June 16 and pointed out Section 18.3.1 to them.

He said: “It is the responsibility of all political parties to ensure that it complies with the Party Constitution. When the Registrar is furnished with documents by the party officials as required by the law, the officials are expected to have done so in accordance with their Party Constitution.

“In this situation, the Registrar had required that the Party officials first verify and submit the Constitution of the Party (in suspension) that would govern the meeting at Holiday Inn.”

He said he was given the final version of the constitution during the Tuesday meeting with Ms Waqanika and Mr Koroisavou, along with other relevant documents.

“The non-compliance with the Constitution was also evident when there were two sets of submissions after the May 23 meeting. It was part of the reason the Registrar rejected both of the submissions and this led to the suspension of the Party.

“The May 23 meetings at Holiday Inn and Kshatriya Hall both purported to appoint the General Secretary of SODELPA (in suspension) and both these actions did not comply with the Constitution of the Party (note that section 18.3.1 was not affected in the different versions of the Constitution filed with the FEO).

“Since the party was suspended, the Registrar has allowed the Officials full operating independence to develop a timeline to remedy the breaches and at the same time expects the officials to follow the appropriate provisions of the Constitution. The officials are at liberty to obtain legal advice as a matter of due diligence.”

When contacted yesterday Ms Waqanika referred all questions to Mr Singh.

Suspended SODELPA was suspended on May 26, 2020 – 35 days to go before the end of the 60 days suspension period.