Ritika Pratap 
FijiFirst Leader Voreqe Bainimarama
FijiFirst Leader Voreqe Bainimarama has hit out at Acting Registrar of Political Parties Ana Mataiciwa of the way she handled a complaint made against SODELPA Member Ro Teimumu Kepa.
Complaints were made against Ro Teimumu after she accepted board positions in Airports Fiji Limited Board and the Tertiary Scholarships and Loan Services, while remaining a member of SODELPA.
By doing so, Ro Teimumu had breached the Political Parties Act.
Bainimarama claims that Mataiciwa’s response to his statement on this matter demonstrates that she is a confused administrator of the law pertaining to political parties.
He further states Mataiciwa has not applied the laws consistently demonstrating a particular bias.
Bainimarama says this incident prolonged for weeks, and Mataiciwa had to write to her Ro Teimumu to get a response from her if she wanted to continue as party official or a public officer.
According to Bainimarama, if it was a FijiFirst member in question Mataiciwa would not have hesitated to report the matter to FICAC for criminal investigations.
“The Registrar of political parties who is also the supervisor has the inherent powers to deal with matters that fall within the relevant laws and the registrar can make any decision on his or her own volition in particular when the breach is apparent.”
He states that another issue in this matter was that SODELPA’s leader Viliame Gavoka declared the law should be changed because they wanted officials in their party to also be public officials.
