The President must make public the Tribunal’s recommendation into the case of the suspended Director of Public Prosecutions, said former Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
He said this was clearly stipulated in Section 112 (6) of the Fijian Constitution that requires that when the independent Tribunal is appointed by the President in case of an alleged misbehaviour, ‘the report of the tribunal shall be made public’.
“In other words, it must be made public,” he said.
“Section 112(3)(c) of the Fijian Constitution also states that once a Tribunal is in place, in deciding whether or not to remove the DPP, ‘…the President must act on the advice of the tribunal.”
“The President has no discretionary powers, from the moment a Tribunal is appointed and the process comes to an end.”
“Put simply the President cannot decide what he thinks he should do or rely on some third party to give an interpretation or carry out an analysis of the report of the independent Tribunal.”
“The President must adhere to the Constitution which tells the President exactly what to do.”
Mr Sayed-Kjaiyum adds this means the President must adhere to the advice of the independent Tribunal and the President shall or must make the report of the Tribunal public.
“This could be by way of firstly giving a copy to the suspended DPP, the media and publish through public forums.”
“The Constitutional provision creates transparency, guarantees independence of the process, protects the Tribunal, gives public confidence that there is actually a due process and that the independent offices and processes and outcome of a Tribunal are protected from interference.”
“It also ensures that the President and his office do not get embroiled in areas they should not because to do so would undermine the esteemed office of the President.
