CONFLICTING OPINIONS IN FIJI COURTS; BAINIMARAMA WOOS

UNCLAS SUVA 000432 PLEASE PASS TO EAP/ANP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL FJ SUBJECT: CONFLICTING OPINIONS IN FIJI COURTS; BAINIMARAMA WOOS FIJI'S CHIEFS ¶1. (SBU) Summary: A High Court injunction ordering the Interim Government (IG) to cease all work promoting the Peoples' Charter was overturned only hours after it was issued on November 14, following an urgent ex parte appeal by Fiji's interim attorney general to a judge more sympathetic to the IG. The injunction had prohibited the use of government offices, officers, and the expenditure of government funds for Charter related work. Meanwhile, in a bid to resolve the long-running standoff between the IG and Fiji's traditional chiefs, newly appointed Minister for Indigenous Affairs Ratu Epeli Nailatikau is organizing a "Bose Vanua", a full meeting of the heads of Fiji's 212 indigenous clans, on December 9 and 10. Fiji's paramount chiefs have for the most part remained steadfast in their opposition to the IG and Peoples' Charter process, and have with good reason expressed suspicion of IG motives. End summary. High Court Issues Injunction on Peoples' Charter -------------- --- ¶2. (U) In October, the ousted SDL party filed a lawsuit in Fiji's High Court alleging that work conducted by the National Council for Building a Better Fiji (NCBBF),in promoting the Peoples' Charter, violated Fiji's constitution. On November 14, High Court Justice Filimoni Jitoko issued an injunction on all further Charter promotion work by the NCBBF pending a trial on the merits of the case. The injunction prohibited the IG from holding public gatherings, using civil servants and government property, and expending public funds to promote the Charter. The injunction represented a temporary but significant event given that Bainimarama has repeatedly stressed that there will be no elections until the people of Fiji "voluntarily" accept the Charter and its recommendations. Hours later, following an ex parte application to Justice John Byrnes, IG lawyers obtained a stay order, effectively squashing the injunction and removing the case from Justice Jitoko's purview. ¶3. (U) The IG has spent a vast amount of public funds and resources promoting the Peoples' Charter. The NCBBF, which drafted and coordinates Charter outreach activities, was initially allocated US $1.2 million in Fiji's 2008 budget. However, shortly after the Charter's launch in August, the IG instructed government departments to use their own budgets to undertake various promotion activities. For the past four months, teams of outreach officers, accompanied by soldiers, police and detailed civil servants, have held meetings in villages across the country. The IG reports that more than 145,000 people have been consulted, of whom 130,000 support the Charter. The amount spent promoting the Charter could well exceed by three or four fold the amount authorized in the budget. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: The events of Friday afternoon provide yet another illustration of the deep divisions within Fiji's judiciary. The injunction was issued by Justice Jitoko, a respected and independent jurist, and former High Commissioner to London. The interim attorney general, in response, turned to 77 year old Justice John Byrne, a former member of Fiji's judiciary who had retired to Australia before being brought back by the IG-appointed Acting Chief Justice Anthony Gates. The Fiji Law Society and other parties have challenged both Gates' and Byrnes' appointments as unconstitutional. Friday's proceeding is the third time in recent history the IG has turned to Byrnes for an ex parte stay order removing a case from the ambit of lower court judges. End Comment. ¶5. (SBU) Regardless of the outcome of this most recent round of legal wrangling, many of Fiji's most prominent political parties, along with the powerful Methodist Church, remain steadfast in their opposition to the Charter. The Methodist Church has been endeavoring to collect its own signatures of those opposed to the Peoples' Charter, with some 60,000 signatures reportedly collected thus far. Hoping to Mend Some Fences -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Meanwhile, in a bid to resolve the long-running and multifaceted standoff between the IG and Fiji's powerful traditional chiefs, newly appointed Minister for Indigenous Affairs Ratu Epeli Nailatikau has invited the chiefs to a "Bose Vanua," which is a full meeting of the heads of Fiji's 212 indigenous clans, on December 9 and 10. Thus far, a few minor chiefs who supported the 2006 coup have voiced support for the meeting, while the vast majority, including most of the senior chiefs, have remained silent. Since the proposed meeting is not of the constitutionally recognized Great Council Chiefs, at most, Bainimarama hopes to increase support for the draft Charter and his "new look" GCC, which he says he will convene in 2009. ¶7. (SBU) It's highly likely that a majority of chiefs will align themselves with Fiji's confederacy paramount chiefs, all of whom served in Qarase's cabinet and were ousted from office by Bainimarama. Many are highly suspicious of the move and suspect it is designed to secure approval to reconvene the GCC, which Bainimarama dismantled last year after it rejected his nominee for vice president (the now Minister for Indigenous Affairs Ratu Epeli Nailatikau). Many chiefs are also still smarting over derogatory comments made by Bainimarama in December 2006 when he told them to "go and drink homebrew under a mango tree." Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, a powerful chief and former cabinet minister in the SDL government recently said that Bainimarama needs to present a traditional apology for his disrespectful behavior before the chiefs will consider coming to the table. ¶8. (SBU) Comment: There are good reasons for the chiefs to be suspicious. Under Fiji's constitution, the GCC appoints Fiji's president and vice president. With each passing day, the need to appoint a vice president to back up Fiji's ageing 87 year old president, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, becomes more acute. After dismantling the GCC and terminating the appointments of all 52 members in April 2007, Bainimarama promulgated new regulations that effectively bar a number of chiefs from membership in the "new look" GCC. Many of these chiefs are very senior and powerful, and most were members of the ousted SDL government. Eleven of Fiji's 14 provincial councils have responded to the new regulations by declaring the revised GCC unlawful and refusing to nominate members. As a result, the GCC has been unable to meet and Fiji has no vice president. However, the recent High Court decision legitimizing the post-coup actions of the President quite clearly states that IG promulgations - such as that revising the criteria for GCC membership - are constitutional. If Fiji's high chiefs continue to refuse to participate in the GCC, the IG could feasibly issue new regulations expanding the criteria of those eligible for membership (for example, lower ranking chiefs),in which case the IG could find enough willing participants to form a quorum and nominate a vice president. This however, would be a dangerous course of action, even for Bainimarama. End comment. MCGANN