Ratu Epenisa unflustered By what’s in store for today’s Management Board meeting
He has grown into the SODELPA presidency and is committed to champion good governance against other considerations.
Ratu Epenisa Cakobau has grown into the SODELPA presidency and is now ready to make some tough decisions in defence of good governance.
The first sign came yesterday when Ratu Tevita Komaisavai, president of the Lautoka Urban Constitutency Council, revealed that he had received a letter from the party, barring him from attending today’s important Management Board meeting at the Southern Cross Hotel in Suva. The letter was signed by Ratu Epenisa and it relates to Ratu Tevita’s name being included in the list of people copied in an email about Sitiveni Rabuka’s proposed new party.
The email was sent by Mataiasi Lomaloma, Mr Rabuka’s chief campaigner.
After the Fiji Sun exposed the list, Ratu Epenisa would have sought legal advice and consultations with the party’s hierarchy, before writing to Ratu Tevita.
It is understood that two other people on the list were sent similar letters. They were MP Adi Litia Qionibaravi and Gilbert Vakalalabure, pro-Rabuka and staunch members of the party’s conservative right wing led by Opposition leader Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu.
It is not clear whether two other Management Board members, Selaceni Raiwai and Jone Mataitini, were included in the list, have received letters too.
Ratu Epenisa has shown he will no longer condone any attempts to undermine good governance and SODELPA’s stability.
He has learned from his experience since he was appointed last year. He knows now that he cannot allow the old style of politics that uses traditional issues like the chiefly system and provincialism to ruin the party’s progress. He goes into the Management Board meeting this morning with confidence – probably buoyed by the thought that what he has done has never been done before. He will go down in the party’s annals that he came in as a young leader, a lot younger than the senior members, and cleaned up the party’s governance. It will be his legacy.
He is likely to be questioned today on the basis he wrote that letter.
The Management Board is likely to discuss some very serious and confidential issue and the party cannot risk having members whose loyalty to the party is questionable.
The ban on Adi Litia, Ratu Tevita and Mr Vakalalabure, is understood, to protect the party.
There is no doubt that Ratu Epenisa is guided by the provisions of the party constitution, the Political Parties Act and the wider implications under other laws.
The outcome of this meeting will set the pace and the tone of SODELPA’s future progress.