The Fiji Court Of Appeal has just ruled that the dismissal of Laisenia Qarase as Prime Minister after the events of December 2006 and the dissolution of parliament were unlawful.
While delivering the summary of the ruling, Appeals Court Judge Justice Randell Powell said the President now needs to take the appropriate steps as the decisions he made following the 2006 events were invalid as the prerogative powers did not exist for him to take such actions.
The Appeals Court judges said the next step should be elections for Fiji but before that the President needs to take into account that a Prime Minister has been forcibly removed from office and no other Prime Minister has been validly appointed.
Justice Randell said while the Fiji Court of Appeal cannot govern what the President would do, an interim Prime Minister should be appointed who is independent of any of the parties involved in the case.
He said a Writ of Elections should then be issued.
The Appeals Court Judges did not rule on the promulgations made since January 2007 but they did declare that the dismissals and appointments from December 2006 in relation to the Prime Minister and the ministers were invalid.
The Court of Appeal has granted the state leave to appeal but the stay order application on the ruling has been dismissed.
The Solicitor General Christopher Pryde stressed to the three judges that while they will return to their homes in Australia, the government machinery must continue.
Pryde said that it is not known how long it would take the President to act on the judgment and appoint a caretaker prime minister and without a stay issued on their ruling, it would have huge implications as the interim ministers now have to vacate office.
The dismissal of the stay order application on the ruling means that this ruling is now active and in effect.
While dismissing the application for stay, Appeals Court Judge Justice Francis Douglas stressed that the reality is that this country has a constitution and everyone has to abide by it.
He said the current interim government has to leave and they cannot do anything about the so called vacuum which would be created.
The state has also been ordered to pay solicitors costs to Qarase.
Looking at the declarations made by the Fiji Court of Appeal in the last hour.
The Court of Appeal has declared the following acts as unlawful under the constitution :
1. The assumption of executive authority and the declaration of a state of emergency by Commander Bainimarama.
2. The dismissal of Laisenia Qarase from the office of Prime Minister and the appointment of Doctor Jona Baravilala Senilagakali as Caretaker Prime Minister.
3. The advice that parliament be dissolved by Doctor Senilagakali.
4. The order by the Commander Bainimarama that the parliament be dissolved.
5. The appointment on 5th January, 2007 of Commander Bainimarama and of other persons as his ministers by President Josefa Iloilo.
6. The purported ratification and validation of the Declaration and Decrees of the Fiji Military Government Decree of 16th January, 2007, subsequently renamed as a Promulgation of the interim government, by which decree President Iloilo purported to validate and confirm the dismissal of Qarase as Prime Minister of Fiji, the appointment of Doctor Senilagakali as Caretaker Prime Minister and the dissolution of parliament.
These have all been declared as unlawful acts under the constitution.
Court rules Qarase’s dismissal unlawful
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