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Issue No: 579; 14 March 2001Much confusion still surrounds the decisions which the Great Council of Chiefs made yesterday. The resolutions have not been made public. But Council Secretary Ratu Epeli Ganilau told the media that the Chiefs decided to appoint Ratu Josefa Iloilo to the post of President and Ratu Jope Seniloli as Vice President. He also told the media that the chiefs left the Council accepted the Fiji Court of Appeal decision, but left the implementation of it to the President. Ratu Epeli stated: "The GCC is unanimous in its support for the President. As such it will also be unanimous in its support for whatever path that His Excellency chooses to take Fiji forward". The media has been speculating on the deliberations and the
decisions. One media outlet, claiming to have in its exclusive possession the
resolutions of the meeting stated that the chiefs had decided to accept the
Appeal decision in its entirety. Another media outlet claimed that the chiefs
decided to ask the President to let Qarase and his team continue in their
positions. Yet a third outlet published what it called the 6 resolutions of the
meeting. These were: The GCC spokesman told the media yesterday evening that it was impolite within the ethnic Fijian protocol for the resolutions to be released before the President is informed of it. Today’s Fiji Times, while endorsing the decision of the Chiefs to uphold the 1997 Constitution, made a scathing attack of the chiefs. It stated that the GCC has no powers to make law or to abrogate the Constitution. Calling some chiefs “feudal relics who sincerely believe that they are born to rule and that their word should be all the law the nation needs”, the newspaper called upon the President to decide according to the Constitution. |
People's Coalition Government - Fiji Islands |