Another Court Round For Qarase, Chaudhry

For the first 17 years of Fiji's independence, the country's then constitution enabled the small minority of people who are not Fijians or Indians to hold a balance of power.

The number of parliamentary seats reserved for "General" voters (part-Fijians, Europeans, Chinese and a few others)was just sufficient to give them useful muscle.

The Generals always sided with the Fijians. Constitutional changes cut their guaranteed representation to only three seats in an enlarged legislature of 71 members. Few Generals now bother to participate actively in politics. Generals' political power is miniscule. One General voter who does bother is Mick Beddoes, an articulate, energetic and personable character, who is president of the barely perceptible General Voters' party. That it is barely perceptible is no reflection on Beddoes. He received precious little dedicated support from its lackadaisical members.

Tuvalu...going to the polls in October 10 in the Nukuf etau constituency.

Beddoes is Leader of the Opposition with a following of one other General MP, because Labour Party leader, Mahendra Chaudhry refused to accept the appointment following the September 2001 election that put Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase in power. He said he could not do so since under the constitution the prime minister should offer the opposition parties holding at least 10% of parliament's 71-member seat a number of cabinet places in proportion to their parliamentary strength.

Fiji's Supreme Court agreed with him and in a July ruling ordered Qarase to admit an appropriate number of Labour MPs to cabinet. Qarase, who doesn't want Chaudhry or his particular cronies in cabinet, and preferably no Labour MPs at all, had to obey.

In August, he offered 14 minor ministries to Labour. Chaudhry rejected them, saying the jobs offered were so minor that they were ridiculous and were obviously meant to dodge the purpose of the constitution, which was to award all major parties a meaningful role in the government.

He also said that Labour's calculation, based on Qarase's proposed cabinet list, entitled it to 17 posts, not 14. Now the two men are to return to court for a ruling on the numbers issue. There was no date set for a court hearing at the time Islands Business went to press, but it appeared that it could occur any time between October and next February.

So the political impasse continues. While it does, some major aid donors, like the European Union and New Zealand, say that they will continue to freeze some of their aid until the cabinet membership issue is settled. Enter Beddoes. He says the dual between Qarase and Chaudhry is an embarrassing national disgrace and that he's prepared to intervene to resolve the impasse. A lot of people agree with him, but by the end of September, neither Qarase nor Chaudry had accepted his offer.

Despite continuing doubts about Fiji's short-term political future, it seems that investors, after years of holding back, are about to pump some quite big money into the country. Two or three call centres are being set up, with one expected to eventually hire more than 2000 people.

The Fiji Islands Trade and Investment Board says that 75 percent of the F$1.2 billion (US$624 million) of imminent investment on its books is for hotels, with at least three major resorts expected to be launched in October/November. The owner of three New Zealand retirement villages says it will join a new government agency, the Fiji Investment Corporation, to build a 300-room retirement village for New Zealand, Australian and American oldies at Saweni Beach, 15 kilometres from Nadi Airport.

Tourism expects a record year and numerous smaller things are happening. Fiji's Reserve Bank says growth is running at five percent, although this might drop to four percent for 2004 and for a few years after that. Businessmen agree that growth would really buzz if only Qarase and Chaudhry would settle their differences.