'Radrodro pointed out to Prasad to stop 'politicizing issues' as he himself travels a lot for his visiting lecturer appointments to various universities abroad, and had been one of the real reasons PAC was not sitting at all.'
Fijileaks sources inside SODELPA claim that their MP Aseri Radrodro was not happy that the deposed PAC chairman Biman Prasad was claiming in the newspapers that PAC members were not availing themselves so PAC meetings had been consistently cancelled from August last year.
Radrodro, they claim, was travelling to New Zealand to attend his son's graduation ceremony from Kelston College and had nominated SODELPA MP Mosese Bulitavu in his absence and had informed the Secretary-General to Parliament, Dr Biman Prasad, and Ro Teimumu Kepa as well as the SODELPA party president of his travel plans and his nomination and the agreement by Bulitavu to step in for him on PAC.
But Prasad made comments in the media that stated none of the PAC members were available."That was wrong. It was only the Government side that were not coming."
So the Government members brought the matter up in their next meeting and they discussed it and Radrodro pointed out to Prasad to stop 'politicizing issues' as he himself travels a lot for his visiting lecturer appointments to various universities abroad, and had been one of the real reasons PAC was not sitting at all.
"That's the story.....how its being twisted is very sad but we swear Aseri [Radrodro] HAS NEVER spoken to AG [Khaiyum] on any of this or anything else for that matter."
We could not obtain a comment from Prasad.
The story that infuriated Radrodro...prompting him to confront Prasad
PAC fails to meet this week
Fiji Times
Thursday, October 22, 2015
THE Public Accounts Committee does not have a quorum to meet as was scheduled this week. PAC was to have met to discuss the response from the Finance Ministry with regards to funds allocated to Head 50 and other standard expenditure groups in the Finance Ministry.
"The five-member Public Accounts Committee lost two members with the resignation of Government member Hon Sanjit Patel and the appointment of Hon Semi Koroilavesau as the Minister for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations, following the election of Jioje Konrote as President designate," PAC chairman Professor Biman Prasad said.
He said the remaining two members — Balmindar Singh and Aseri Radrodro — had also given notice of their non-availability because of urgent commitments.
"I believe Government has not nominated replacement members in place of Hon Koroilavesau and Hon Patel. The nominations have to be forwarded to the Speaker of Parliament who then makes the appointments to the committee."
He said provisions in the parliamentary standing order 115 gave Speaker Dr Jiko Luveni the authority to fill a vacancy in a committee as soon as possible.
"In making the appointments, the Speaker shall consult the Whip of each party."
However, he said in this case the Government Whip was Mr Koroilavesau and they were not aware whether he would remain the Whip after his ministerial appointment.
In an earlier statement to this newspaper, Mr Prasad said they wanted to sit for a number of days before the end of this year to complete their work and work towards consolidating a report on the 2010 and 2013 audit reports for Parliament.
He had added that PAC had worked very well and all members, including the Government members, could take credit for the work so far.
Mr Korilavesau said no decision had been made yet by the party leader and Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama on who would replace him as Government Whip. He said they would await his decision on that. He said at the moment, he remained the Government Whip.
Fiji Times
Thursday, October 22, 2015
THE Public Accounts Committee does not have a quorum to meet as was scheduled this week. PAC was to have met to discuss the response from the Finance Ministry with regards to funds allocated to Head 50 and other standard expenditure groups in the Finance Ministry.
"The five-member Public Accounts Committee lost two members with the resignation of Government member Hon Sanjit Patel and the appointment of Hon Semi Koroilavesau as the Minister for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations, following the election of Jioje Konrote as President designate," PAC chairman Professor Biman Prasad said.
He said the remaining two members — Balmindar Singh and Aseri Radrodro — had also given notice of their non-availability because of urgent commitments.
"I believe Government has not nominated replacement members in place of Hon Koroilavesau and Hon Patel. The nominations have to be forwarded to the Speaker of Parliament who then makes the appointments to the committee."
He said provisions in the parliamentary standing order 115 gave Speaker Dr Jiko Luveni the authority to fill a vacancy in a committee as soon as possible.
"In making the appointments, the Speaker shall consult the Whip of each party."
However, he said in this case the Government Whip was Mr Koroilavesau and they were not aware whether he would remain the Whip after his ministerial appointment.
In an earlier statement to this newspaper, Mr Prasad said they wanted to sit for a number of days before the end of this year to complete their work and work towards consolidating a report on the 2010 and 2013 audit reports for Parliament.
He had added that PAC had worked very well and all members, including the Government members, could take credit for the work so far.
Mr Korilavesau said no decision had been made yet by the party leader and Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama on who would replace him as Government Whip. He said they would await his decision on that. He said at the moment, he remained the Government Whip.
