The multi-million dollar meeting house of Fiji’s Great Council of Chiefs is to be opened tomorrow, four years after construction began. PM and Minister for Indigenous Affairs Bainimarama has yet to confirm when the GCC, suspended in early 2007, will be reconvened. Following its dissolution, the interim Government approved new membership criteria limited to only those who have been traditionally installed, are not involved in politics, and do not have a criminal record.
The new-look GCC, with a total of 52 members, 10 less than the previous GCC, is to be chaired by the Indigenous Affairs Minister.This includes three representatives each from the 14 Fijian provinces and Rotuma, while the Minister will appoint six co-opt members who are chiefs who have been traditional installed and recorded as such in the register of Native Landowners administered by the Native Lands Commission.
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Each member will take an oath of allegiance before the President and can seek re-appointment at the end of their three year term.
According to the GCC decree, members are disqualified if they are an un-discharged bankrupt, are serving a prison term, contested the general elections, were office bearers of a political party, held public office, including Senate and the House of Representatives over the past seven years preceding their appointment to the council, have a previous conviction in the 10 years leading up to their appointment in the council, particularly if they had served a term of imprisonment of more than six months, have allegiance, obedience or adherence to a power or State outside Fiji including being a citizen or resident of another country, have an unsound mind in respect of the Mental Treatment Act. -- Based on FijiLive. Photo: Connect.
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