PM is the captain of the ship, I understand authority and ranking - Vosarogo

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka confirms there will be no change to the Attorney General.

This is after he received advice from the Office of the Solicitor General and concerns raised by the Fiji Law Society.

While speaking on fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan, Rabuka says he had taken some advice initially and then the Law Society came up with their concerns and he has given them a lot of credit as they would not have written on something that is trivial in the sense of the administration of law within government.

He says he listened to them and got his own advice from within the government that is the Solicitor General’s Office where the advice came, and he decided that they will not change the Attorney General and the Minister for Lands and keep them where they are.

Rabuka says he basically got the same advice from the Solicitor General’s Office and the Fiji Law Society.

When questioned why the cabinet reshuffle announcement was made on social media last Friday evening as it came as a shock to many, Rabuka says he did not make any post and it was done by those who do it and when further questioned why was it released without any proper gazetted ministerial assignments, Rabuka says there has been no reshuffle.

He also says he did not authorise the release last Friday night and it was released without his knowledge.

When questioned if the letter by the RFMF played a part in deciding to hold back the reshuffle, Rabuka says there is no direct communication line between him and the Army Commander.

He says the Commander communicated with his line minister, the Minister for Home Affairs who upon receiving the letter alerted him and had said it is going to be sticky and they should take heed of the advice from the Commander and the Fiji Law Society.

When asked on the gravity of the situation and the implications on the nation, Rabuka said the situation was grave enough for the Commander to contact his Minister and that is very responsible for him as a Commander to do that.

Rabuka says that was another point of consideration during his deliberation during the matter. When questioned if the government made the decision after pressure from the RFMF and if he is changing things now when the RFMF can come to their line Minister, Rabuka says they told everybody that they are a government that listens and in this case they listened to the Fiji Law Society and the Minister for Home Affairs who brought the concerns of the Commander and all those add up and give him confidence that there should be no change.

When questioned that he had shown intention that he wanted to change, Rabuka agreed but says SODELPA, very rightly, came up and said they had not been consulted.

He says the leader of SODELPA asked for consultation and they did that with NFP party leader and decided to stay where they are.

Rabuka also says before the initial assignment of responsibilities in December last year, he had consulted Minister for Lands Filimoni Vosarogo who had said that there were a few things that they had to straighten out.

When questioned if he did not know about the requirement under the Constitution that if one has been found guilty by the Independent Legal Services Commission they do not qualify, Rabuka says Vosarogo had told him that he needed to straighten out a few things and later said he has cleared it so Rabuka took his word for it.

Watch the full Straight Talk interview here: