Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka confirms that any civil servant can seek redress by filing a complaint and the Prime Minister will decide if an appointment was based on race and not merit.
This is after concerns raised by some civil servants that there have been appointments made allegedly based on race where some iTaukei civil servants have been appointed over the Indo Fijian civil servants in some ministries. There are claims the people appointed were not the best candidates.
Rabuka stresses all appointments are based on merit.
Under Section 127 (8) of the Constitution, the Permanent Secretary of each ministry, with the agreement of the Minister responsible for the ministry, has the authority to determine all matters pertaining to the employment of all staff in the ministry including the terms and conditions, and the qualification requirements and the process to be followed for the appointment, which must be an open, transparent, and competitive selection process based on merit.
