Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka says the Pacific Polytech thing was formalized by Cabinet on the advice of the Solicitor General, and former Fiji Higher Education Commission Chairman, Steve Chand was informed of the SG's advice which he refused to act on therefore the office could no longer be tenable for Chand.
Rabuka made the comments after being questioned on why Chand finished off as the Chair of the Higher Education Commission and Chand's claims that he was let go as he was refusing to release the $7 million budgeted for Pacific Polytech.
fijivillage News has been questioning Minister for Education, Aseri Radrodro for some time on the qualification of Steve Chand to be the Chair of the Fiji Higher Education Commission.
We have seen documents where the former Attorney General, Graham Leung had provided legal advice to the Minister for Education in December 2024 that according to Section 6 of the Fiji Higher Education Act, the Minister responsible for Higher Education is the responsible authority for appointing the members of the Commission which consists of a Chairperson, 5 members and any other member the Minister may appoint after consultation with the Commission.
There are certain prerequisites under section 6 (3) of the Act that the Minister must consider in appointing members of the Commission.
These factors are mandatory and a member must have to be qualified for appointment.
Such things that must be considered are as follows include substantial knowledge and experience with a balanced combination of post-graduate qualification and work experience; research and publication experience in any academic field; knowledge and experience of higher education academic affairs; knowledge and experience in governance and management of higher education institutions; knowledge and experience in the design, development and delivery of higher education courses; and independence and integrity.
It says if a potential Board candidate does not meet or have the requirements outlined under the section, then the Minister should not consider that candidate.
An appointment which does not meet the statutory criteria, would be unlawful.
The advice further said that if any current Commission member does not meet or have what is required under section (3)(a)-(f) of the Act, then he/they would be legally unqualified to be a Commission Member, and should have his/her appointment revoked.
While responding to our questions, Aseri Radrodro says the change of Chairmanship of Fiji Higher Education Commission had to be done.
Radrodro says Steve Chand is a great guy and contributed a lot to the Commission however they have had to identify someone that prepares the Commission for compliance to the Education Act which is now in its last stages of finalization for parliament endorsement.
He says Chand's own position on the Polytech issue had somewhat also become a sore point and it's not something his office wants to debate especially when the Office of the Attorney General and the Prime Minister had provided him guidance that Polytech needs to be paid.
Radrodro says for the Ministry, the priority is to ensure they do not disturb students' studies and staff welfare.
Steve Chand was appointed on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.
