SODELPA Leader Sitiveni Rabuka has now confirmed that Ro Dona Takalaiyale’s appointment as Vice President of SODELPA is in line with the Party Constitution.
Rabuka issued a statement after a meeting of the SODELPA Working Committee yesterday.
He says the issue of Ro Dona’s membership had been resolved after an internal inquiry.
Rabuka confirms that Ro Dona’s membership was paid for by the Leader of the Opposition Ro Teimumu Kepa prior to the Special General Assembly on 9th December 2017.
The SODELPA Leader who had earlier said that he does not even know if Ro Dona is a financial member of the party, has now said that he has been informed that volunteers responsible for receiving membership subscriptions at the Special General Assembly failed to receipt the payment by the Opposition Leader.
Rabuka says the volunteers have been reprimanded and repaid the membership fees, which had now been receipted and backdated, and so Ro Dona’s appointment as Vice President at the SGM held on December 9th, 2017, is valid.
However the SODELPA Party Leader has reiterated that Ro Dona is not an authorised party spokesperson, given he had not been authorised by the Party President, Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu as the Vice President to comment on public relations matters for SODELPA.
Rabuka says with regard to the call for a Special General Assembly, only the Party Management Board has the authority to call the special assembly.
Rabuka further reiterates that SODELPA is a multi‑racial party.
He says the party welcomes members from all ethnic communities in the country to join the SODELPA family.
Rabuka says any financial member can be an office bearer immaterial of ethnicity, as long as they are endorsed by a majority at the General Assembly.
He says that Ro Dona and his fellow complainants had requested a talanoa session to resolve their grievance.
Rabuka says this request had been approved by the Party’s Working Committee and a meeting would take place later this week with Ro Dona and his fellow complainants.
Ro Dona has been calling for the Special General Assembly, saying that it is necessary to have this as some items on the agenda of the party’s 9th December 2017 meeting were not discussed, and many people are now calling for the meeting.
He said yesterday that it is sad to see that all Rabuka could do was say that he is not sure whether Ro Dona is a paid financial member and whether his $2 membership is paid.
Ro Dona says they want a Special General Assembly because they want to discuss the MOU signed between SODELPA and the People’s Democratic Party, the financial report and other matters that some constituencies want to bring up. He says these were not discussed.
Ro Dona Takalaiyale also stresses that he and his support group do not support PDP’s Vijay Singh to be SODELPA’s Vice President. Singh was elected in the 9th December meeting but his appointment was rescinded internally as Singh was not a financial member of SODELPA.
Ro Dona says they want representatives of the three confederacies to share the President and Vice Presidents positions. He says based on this, they will never support Vijay Singh as SODELPA Vice President.
