Fiji accused of being back in grip of military

Transcript

The leader of the opposition in Fiji says the country is back in the grip of the military after two military men were appointed to key state roles last week.

The government's been accused of handing out jobs for the boys and putting men with dubious backgrounds at the helm of the police and corrections.

Don Wiseman spoke with Sally Round, who has been covering the issue and began by asking her who has been appointed.

SALLY ROUND: The former Land Force commander Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho has been confirmed in the role as Police Commissioner. He's been acting since the South African Ben Groenewald left suddenly in November saying the military had been interfering too much in policing work. And Francis Kean, a former navy commander and brother in law of the prime minister, has been appointed to the role of Prisons Commissioner.

DON WISEMAN: What's the leader of the Opposition been saying about the appointments?

SR: Ro Teimumu says the appointments are from Mr Bainimarama's inner circle of military men and show Fiji is still a militarised state. Remember the elections of 2014 were to put an end to eight years of military rule. She's not only worried about these men's strong links with the military, she says that the police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in particular has many questions to answer about allegations of abuse against him and she points out that Francis Kean, the man who is now chief of Fiji's prisons, was convicted of manslaughter in 2006. Ro Teimumu also says the appointments are unconstitutional because she feels the body which makes the crucial appointments, the Constitutional Offices Commission, has been politicised. She says it's dysfunctional and farcical. She and her appointee, the lawyer Richard Naidu, who are meant to give the commission some balance, no longer go to its meetings because they say it's just a rubber stamp. Indeed Richard Naidu resigned from it last year.

DW: Fiji has made headway in the last week over signing up to a key international anti-torture treaty?

SR: Yes just before these appointments were announced Fiji finally signed the UN Convention Against Torture, a year after its parliament pledged to do so. There has been some disappointment though that Fiji has not ratified the treaty at the same time which would bring the convention into force in the country. That means Fiji would then have to bring its laws into line and be able to access help to do that. It's not all rosy though for those in Fiji who claim they have been tortured during military rule because Fiji is expected to make some key provisos including not allowing accountability for past abuses nor is it expected to sign the optional protocol which allows people redress at the UN if their abuse claims haven't been dealt with in Fiji.