CHIEFLY PREROGATIVE does not extend to Ro KEPA illegally occupying the TELS Chair. She must RESIGN. Under Political Parties Act she can be sent to prison as she is still Senior Sodelpa Management Board Member

*As we were trying to establish from SODELPA if Ro Kepa had resigned to take up Chair, TELS, a confirmation came through that she is still a Senior SODELPA Board Member in an interview she gave to Fijivillage, online newsite, on Wednesday, 18 October 2022, on Cabinet reshuffle.
*How come Biman Prasad, the ministerial line manager of TELS, approved her appointment in breach of the Political Parties Act under which Aiyaz Khaiyum and Tanya Waqanika were forced to resign from the Constitutional Offices Commission, for they had opted to hold on to their political party positions.
*Even Seini Nabou had resigned as NFP general secretary to take up Board membership of Fiji Television Ltd and as Director to the Fiji Airways Board of Directors.
*In Kepa's case, it doesn't matter if she has resigned or not (she was asked to resign by Sodelpa but so far has refused to do so), for the Political Parties Act stipulates that she is deemed to have resigned once she took up office as Chair, TELS.
*We are surprised that Fijivillage didn't question Kepa on the breach when they asked her for comments on the Cabinet reshuffle.

*For nearly forty decades, I stood by the Kepa family, out of my political and personal loyalty to the MARA family; her sister Adi Lady Lala Mara was Ratu Mara's wife, and also Tui Dreketi of Burebasaga and Rewa.
*Even when Sailosi Kepa, her late husband, was Coupist and racist Rabuka's High Commissioner to London. Although I never set foot in the Fiji High Commission for we were engaged (with Rewa chief Ratu Mosese Tuisawau) in the armed overthrow of the racist Rabuka's post 1987 coup government, I maintained cordial but arms-length friendship with Sailosi Kepa, a friendship that I had developed in Fiji when he was Chief Magistrate and DPP in 1980, and I was on the old Fiji Sun, later shut down by Sitiveni Rabuka. We all lost our jobs overnight, and like her 'Jewish friends in Israel', we were forced into exile.
​*Fast forward. Since founding Fijileaks in 2012 to fight the Bainimarma-Khaiyum dictatorship, I championed Ro Kepa's personal and political struggles to dislodge the dictatorship. Hence, it saddens me to see yesterday's Freedom Fighter has become today's Law Breaker.

*Ro Kepa is correct to argue that the recent Cabinet reshuffle by Rabuka is his prerogative but she must be reminded that the appointment of Filimoni Vosarogo as A-G is in breach of the Constitution. Her late husband became Rabuka's A-G and Justice Minister from 1988 to 1992, one of the darkest days for human rights, justice, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and freedom of association, especially for Indo-Fijians who were not only raped, tortured, beaten and robbed but were politically disenfranchised under the 1990 Constitution.
​*We cannot stand by and let Ro Kepa blatantly flout the Political Parties Act.
*Since the formation of the Coalition government in December, we have been trying to piece together why SODELPA chose, in the end, to go with PAP.
*In the first meeting at Sodelpa's headquarters on Butt Street, it was none other than Kepa who explained her opposition to making Rabuka the Prime Minister.
*She described him as a 'SNAKE' who cannot be trusted, and cited the infamous example where Rabuka, with a group of chiefs, defeated Ro Lady Lala Mara to become the Chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs, the first commoner to do so in the GCC's history.
*As the meetings between Sodelpa, PAP, NFP and FFP intensified, Kepa changed her tune, and began leaning towards forming a coalition with PAP.
*She was offered High Commissionership to London and Presidency in 2024.
*Sodelpa wrote to her recently requesting her to resign, for not only is she in breach of the Political Parties Act but she is also in breach of Sodelpa party's Constitution, especially Section 23. The Party also has legal obligations otherwise it could be found to have breached the Electoral Act.
*Both Kepa and Tanya Waqanika continued to attend the Sodelpa Management Board meetings, especially Waqanika after she had taken up board position at  ATH.
*Last month, in Serua, the Womens' Wing of the party booted her out by moving that she be replaced because breaching the Political Parties Act could get Sodelpa suspended as a party or de-registered or fined - $10,000 or 5 years in prison.
*Our late friend Dr Mere Samisoni had objected to Waqanika's presence at one of the Sodelpa Management Board meetings but Samisoni was overruled by Anare Jale, who was charged to negotiate a coalition deal with other parties.
* Kepa is doggedly refusing to resign, allegedly cheered on by Jale.
*However, by becoming Chair, TELS, she automatically loses her Sodelpa Management Board membership.
IT IS TIME THE POLITICAL PARTIES ACT SHOULD BE READ TO KEPA:

From Fijileaks Archive, 3 October 2023

CROYNISM: Biman Prasad has also appointed a FAILED NFP election candidate and former school librarian KIRTI PATEL to the TELS Board