Takayawa says he had talks with Ro Teimumu about presidency

SODELPA General Secretary, Viliame Takayawa says he stands by his earlier decision to continue to raise the issue of Ro Teimumu Kepa to be a candidate for the nation’s President’s position however he says this matter is now nullified after Ro Teimumu’s resignation from the party.

In a statement, Ro Teimumu says she is particularly disappointed that Takayawa had made statements regarding her candidacy without the courtesy of seeking her view or even discussing the matter with her before issuing any statement.

She says to what she recalls, the position was initially offered by the People’s Alliance Party during the negotiation week at the first Management Board Meeting in December 2022 following the general elections, however, there have been no further discussions since. When questioned on fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan last night, Takayawa says he has had discussions with Ro Teimumu about this matter as she was his mentor.

We also pursued the matter further in relation to information coming through where fijivillage News received confirmation that a senior executive of SODELPA had met the party executives at Butt Street after the 2022 general elections, and gave the message that SODELPA had to join the FijiFirst Party.

This was done by the person even before SODELPA talked to the People’s Alliance, however the other SODELPA executives said that they needed to see both proposals and not just go into a coalition with the FijiFirst. Although Takayawa says he cannot reveal the person’s name, he can confirm these people have now left the party.

Takayawa says the management board has met and they are 110 percent with the coalition government, and the elements who wanted SODELPA to join FijiFirst are no longer in SODELPA.

Takayawa says they will honour the agreement, and they are here to ensure they go through the full term of the coalition government.