Dec 5th, Two Years On
Today is December 5th, and it marks two years since the military takeover.
On this day, two years ago, the continuing disagreements between the Qarase led government and the military came to a head and the Army Commander, Commodore Frank Bainimarama declared that the military was taking over the control of the governance of the nation to start off it's clean up campaign.
Two years on, the interim government led by Commodore Bainimarama remains in power with one of its main objectives - to bring about a number of changes through the People's Charter, which includes the changing of the electoral system and to scrap the current race based system prescribed in the Electoral Act and the constitution. FICAC continues to charge people and over the past years a number of executives from the civil service and statutory bodies and the Ousted Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase have been charged - their cases are before the courts with the defence lawyers arguing that FICAC does not have any constitutional powers to charge people. A final determination on this matter is yet to be made. While there has been a lot of talk on electoral reforms and elections, there is still no definite timeframe on when Fiji will go to the polls again and which system would be used.
Today, the Deputy Secretary for Information and Military spokesperson Major Neumi Leweni said that they have made a lot of progress since December 2006 and the people, mainly in the rural areas are finally seeing development in their areas.
However, Laisenia Qarase whose government was taken over in December 2006, said today is a day of mourning for the people of Fiji.
Qarase said the best way out is to have an election next year.
The Fiji Labour Party (FLP) Leader Mahendra Chaudhry who had been a victim of the coups in 1987 and 2000 holds a different point of view.
He said all strategies should be implemented including a reform of the electoral system before we go to elections.
Chaudhry also said the coup culture should end once and for all.
Over the past 12 months, interim Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama had made his intentions known and had made it very clear in interviews with Fijivillage on which way the interim government and the military feel is the best way forward for our country.
A lot had also been said on what went wrong between the Qarase led government and the Bainimarama led military on this day two years ago, as Commodore Bainimarama was the one who appointed Qarase as interim Prime Minister after the 2000 coup.
Bainimarama had said that Qarase was not his choice but he thought in 2000 that the former banker would take the right steps.
He also said they made a big mistake from the beginning when they appointed Qarase as interim Prime Minister.
Bainimarama also dismissed statements by people who are saying that he just wants to hold onto power by taking up the interim PM's post after the 2006 coup.
On elections, Bainimarama said there is no date confirmed as everything needs to be on track first.
As we mark two years since the December 5th takeover today, Qarase and other members of his government are now in the process of appealing the High Court decision which ruled in favour of the President and the interim government in relation to the legality of the interim administration.
That process will follow through next year in the Fiji Court of Appeal and is likely to go to the Supreme Court.
The second political dialogue forum is also expected to be held within the next few weeks, a National Council for Building a Better Fiji (NCBBF) meeting is expected next week where the final findings on the People's Charter will be discussed before the report with the public's response forms are presented to the President.
The Presidential Dialogue Forum is also expected to be held next year and the main item on the agenda is the proposed electoral changes. This forum is expected to be held under the guidance of the UN and Commonwealth.
So there is a lot of hope going into 2009. Although people are thinking differently on what they would like or hope for, there is one thought in everyone's mind and that is to ensure that Fiji moves forward.
Stay with us as we will speak to different sections of the community throughout today on what they feel we have achieved as a nation over the last two years and how it has affected them.
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