Fiji Labour Party leader to stand down after 23 years
The leader of Fiji's Labour Party and former prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, has decided to stand down from the leadership, a role which he has held for 23 years.
Transcript
The leader of Fiji's Labour Party and former prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, has decided to stand down from the leadership, a role which he has held for 23 years.
Mr Chaudhry has been involved in the party since its inception in 1985, and was elected prime minister in 1999, but was overthrown one year later in a coup led by George Speight.
After the 2006 coup, Mr Chaudhry joined Frank Bainimarama's interim government as finance minister, but resigned two years later.
The party failed to gain any seats in parliament at last year's election, and Mr Chaudhry was prevented from campaigning after he was convicted for breaching the Exchange Control Act.
Mr Chaudhry told Jamie Tahana it's not the end to his career he would have liked, but he feels the time is right to step down.
MAHENDRA CHAUDHRY: I have led the party a long time - 23 of its 30 years in existence. But I think it's time also, I'm getting on in years so it's time the party should seriously consider new leadership, so I wish to have this matter discussed at the delegates conference next month and lets see what our senior members say about it.
JAMIE TAHANA: And as you say, you've been leader of the Labour Party for 23 years, one of those years was as prime minister. When you look back at these 23 years as leader what do you see? What do you reflect on?
MC: Well we are still, you know, moving towards democracy, we've had a very unstable period since the 1987 coup, we've had four constitutions since independence and three coups. We have suffered a lot as a result of these coups economically, socially and culturally. And even today the situation is not good and I think it requires good leadership to get the nation back on its keel. It's going to be a struggle because we don't have a democracy in Fiji right now, our constitution is not democratic and there are decrees in place which override the constitution which actually condone violations of human rights and workers' rights. The situation is far from what people want to make it out to be, so these are serious challenges facing the country and I think we need to consider these matters and see what is the best way to bring back stability.
JT: So you don't rate things currently as being well with the current government after last year's elections?
MC: No, no not at all. And as I said, the constitution is seriously flawed. It's flawed and we can't have democracy and good governance under this constitution.
JT: You were involved with the Bainimarama government though in its early stages. Is that a regret you hold?
MC: Yes I was, but at that time the '97 constitution was intact, the media was free and you know we don't have this anymore, the media is not free. Although the constitution guarantees media freedom, the Media Development Decree places grave restrictions on media freedom and there are many other issues which have emerged as a result of this constitution, and these are serious matters. So there's a facade of democracy in Fiji but the reality is something else.
JT: 30 years in politics in Fiji. What do you rate as your achievements, as your regrets, and what's your legacy as you see it?
MC: Well as you know, the Labour Party won the elections twice and formed a government, but we have not been allowed to run the full course of our term. In the first instance in 1987, the military ousted the Bavadra government within a month. Then, in 1998 under a new constitution -- the 1997 constitution -- the Labour Party again became the government and I became prime minister and we were then removed by coup in one year. So we've never really had the opportunity to govern, but in that one year that we governed in 1999 and 2000, I think that record is unprecedented in Fiji's history. So we are proud that in the twelve months that we had, we did marvelously well compared to other governments. But this is how it is, and since then of course, the coup of 2006 and now we have a situation which really is like a dictatorship in disguise of democracy.
JT: You say you did marvellously in that one year as prime minister. What were your main successes of that year, what did you achieve to move Fiji forward?
MC: Well we achieved an economic growth rate of 9.6% which no government has ever achieved in Fiji. That was the biggest achievement that we had, we had also introduced a number of measures which were to assist the poor and the underprivileged in this society. But as I said, in 12 months, we couldn't do all that we wanted to. Nonetheless, we made fair progress and I think that is on record, but then we were removed from office and again back to the coup culture, the economy suffered quite drastically, there was an economic downturn. And this has happened three or four times and every time this happens the country is set back at least 10 to 15 years. Fiji would have been a much different place today had the 1987 coup not occurred, we've lost one generation and that's a long time in a country's history.
JT: The Labour Party governed twice and was a powerful party, but then we get to last year's election where it doesn't make parliament and you were prevented from competing as leader. Is this the end you wanted for your career?
MC: Well this was all deliberate. I was prevented from fighting the election - this was planned. Planned by the Bainimarama administration, they brought in decrees and electoral regulations which of course were specifically designed to keep me and [Laisenia] Qarase out.
JT: And so what now for the future of the Labour Party?
MC: Well the party is there, the party will recover, and I will assist the party, I will remain with the party and I am sure that we will be able to build it back to what it was.
JT: What about for you, personally?
MC: Oh, well I'll still keep busy, there is still a lot of work to be done. Once you retire from an active leadership position in the party there's a lot of other work to be done within the party and I'm sure that I will be kept fairly busy. I always wanted to be kept occupied, I am not the type that would sit back and relax, I get bored with that.
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