The chairman of the Constitutional Offices Commission has stressed that they will not be intimidated by calls to resign following revelations that newly appointed Supervisor of Elections Dr. Maurice Coughlan was disbarred in 1992.
Speaking to FijiVillage, Commission chairman Rishi Ram said they were not to be blamed for the oversight as Dr. Coughlan should have disclosed that he was disbarred and the reasons behind this.
Ram also said that his comments earlier today that there was no one suitably qualified locally to take up the post of Supervisor of Elections were misunderstood. Ram stressed that no qualified local applied for the job.
The Constitutional Offices Commission has written to Dr. Coughlan this morning seeking detailed information on what led to his disbarment in 1992 and the motives behind concealing such information.
The Commission will sit tomorrow to deliberate on the matter.
Meanwhile, the former Supervisor of Elections Semesa Karavaki said the Constitutional Offices Commission was misleading the people of Fiji by saying that there is no one suitably qualified locally to take up the post of Supervisor of Elections.
Karavaki said locals have taken Fiji to the polls over a long period of time and the Commission chairman Rishi Ram's comments do not make any sense at all.
He also called on the members of the Constitutional Offices Commission to step down as they have embarrassed the people of Fiji by not conducting a simple background check before appointing the new Supervisor of Elections.
Similar sentiments have been echoed by the National Federation Party and Party General Secretary, Pramod Rae said the credibility lies on the supervisor of elections to give correct information on the election results and any person hiding his personal information on his misconduct should not be appointed to this duty.
He also called on the members of the Constitutional Offices Commission to resign.
COC Won’t Be Intimidated
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