Bias - Taufa Vakatale
CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION SUFFERS FIRST SET BACK: COMMISSIONER OPENLY BIAS AGAINST 1997 CONSTITUTION
Torture Watch would best describe this incident as the first set back suffered by the newly formed Constitutional Commission.
Just days afters its formation and announcement by the illegal Prime Minister, commission member Taufa Vakatale has openly criticised the 1997 Fiji Constitution, defended the independence of the commission, attacked the Methodist Church and in doing so has shown her bias towards the process.
In an interview with Fijilive, Vakatale said that: "The 1997 Constitution was good but not ideal" and that "Fiji's electoral system needs to change because the old system saw former Prime Ministers Laisenia Qarase and Mahendra Chaudhry unable to work together"
She pointed out specifically saying: “One of the things that really needs to be changed is the voting system which allows one person to vote for more than one seat and this is why Qarase and Chaudhry could not work together because they had a lot of differences”.
As if showing an open bias was not enough Vakatale went on and criticised the Methodist Church, saying the government should ignore the criticism and "move cautiously forward" adding that "they are complaining now when the consultation process is under way that it is too fast but everyone wants to see a new constitution soon," she said.
She said the Constitutional Commission is independent but noted a perimeter has already been set as to what kind of constitution the government would want. "The government wants a non-racial and non-religious constitution," she said. Once again she is off the mark and by claiming on the one hand that the Constitutional Commission was independent but that the regime had given them a wish list as to how the new constitution must look in its final form. Where is the independence?
It is the point of view of Torture Watch that members of the Constitutional Commission must not allow themselves to be placed in a situation where their integrity or independence could justifiably be called into question.
The result of Vakatale's statement and attacks has brought the independence of the Constitutional Commission into question and disrepute, and it also exposes the bias this commission member holds even before the first sitting.
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