15 Jul 2008

Fiji Coup culture will continue unless reform enacted, Forum Ministers told

9:46 pm on 15 July 2008

The Forum Ministerial Working Group looking into Fiji's progress towards returning the country to democracy has been told that without a restructured public administration system, Fiji's coup culture will continue.

Lorraine Teci, a senior member of the National Council of Building a Better Fiji, told the ministerial group there was a need for a revamp that could make changes to address social inequalities and poverty or there would always be a coup mentality in Fiji.

Lorraine Teci was answering a question posed by New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters on how their work would contribute to the eradication of a coup culture.

During a day full of meetings at the Forum headquarters in Suva, the ministerial group met with selected interim administration ministers before talking with executives of the National Council for Building a Better Fiji.

After the meetings, Tonga's foreign minister Sonatane Tupou said they would consider the timetable for the elections later, and that the group intended to issue a statement of outcomes after its final meetings on Wednesday local time.

"We'll be looking at that when we collate all our information and then make a report to the leaders. We have a set mandate so we cannot deviate too much from that so."

Tonga's foreign minister Sonatane Tupou