Next month the Constitutional Offices Commission (COC) will sit to discuss pending complaints about current Constitutional officers that have been under public scrutiny for weeks.
As the COC prepares to look into the complaints made against the Acting Supervisor of Elections, commission chair and Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka highlighted the number of complaints they have handled so far.
These were against former Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem, former Corrections Service Commissioner Francis Kean and suspended Commissioner of Police Sitiveni Qiliho.
Mr Rabuka said the trio were given an opportunity to respond to the allegations which the COC deliberated on whether they should be removed as constitutional officers and investigated by a tribunal in accordance with Section 137(3)(a) of the Constitution.
Mohammed Saneem
“In the case of Mr Saneem, the COC received a complaint against Mr Saneem which had not been dealt with by the former COC members,” said Mr Rabuka.
“On January 6, 2023, this complaint was forwarded to Mr Saneem to provide the necessary responses before the COC decided on whether to appoint a tribunal to investigate the complaint in accordance with Section 137 of the Constitution.”
He said Mr Saneem provided a response on January 9, 2023 and on January 26, the COC agreed to forward the allegations to a tribunal composed of Justice Filimoni Jitoko as chair, Justice William Calanchini and Judge Jiten Singh.
“However, before the Tribunal could conduct its work, Mr Saneem resigned as Supervisor of Elections, bringing that matter to an end.”
Francis Kean
In the case of Mr Kean, as Commissioner of Corrections Service, the COC received five complaints against him.
On January 18, 2023, these complaints were forwarded to Mr Kean for a response before the COC decided on whether to appoint a tribunal to investigate the complaint in accordance with Section 137(4) of the Constitution.
Mr Kean responded on January 23, 2023, and three days later the COC agreed to refer the complaints of misbehaviour to a tribunal to inquire and compile a report for the President.
Mr Kean tendered his resignation on February 14, 2023 and thus the COC felt there was no need to proceed with the Tribunal.
Sitiveni Qiliho
For Mr Qiliho, the commission received three separate complaints of misbehaviour against him.
“On January 26, 2023, we agreed to refer those complaints of misbehaviour to a tribunal to inquire into the complaints and provide a report to the President.
“The COC also agreed to recommend the suspension of Mr Qiliho to the President, which is still in place.”
