A former senior member of the Fiji government Pio Tikoduadua says he had concerns about its direction before the landmark polls in 2014.
Pio Tikoduadua Photo: Fiji govt
Mr Tikoduadua headed the prime minister's office during military rule from 2008 and became a minister in the Fiji First government when Frank Bainimarama won power in a landslide victory.
The lieutenant-colonel announced at the weekend he was joining the opposition National Federation Party (NFP), complaining of a climate of fear and intolerance of dissent within the governing party which he left after eight months in power, citing health reasons.
In an interview with RNZ International this week Mr Tikoduadua said the Fiji First government was veering off on the wrong course and the NFP better represented what he stands for.
He indicated the switch was not a sudden change of mindset, pointing to how he had raised many issues while on the government side, including the controversial rewriting of the 2013 draft constitution.
"Matters that were perhaps in principle close to me and wanted to see go forward perhaps were not really given the due concern that it required. Everyone including me had concerns and I had already aired those views to the government at the time when I was there."
On the abrogation of the 1997 constitution when he was permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Mr Tikoduadua was succinct.
"I was in the government so my involvement in that decree is without doubt."
He said time would tell if he had any regrets about the abrogation which came after a court ruled the interim government, formed after the 2006 coup, illegal.
"There are certainly things that are worse. [The 1997 constitution] was a constitution that was borne out of a process. People had their own reservations. I mean everyone's had reservations about it. The fact of the matter is that it was abrogated and there was a constitution that was put together after that and that's what we are living with now."
Mr Tikoduadua said he realised the NFP aligned with his principles and ideas on nation-building over discussions in the lead up to the 2014 election with the party's leader, Biman Prasad.
But he said his decision to run as a candidate in 2014 under the Fiji First banner was a "natural" thing to do.
"Because we were coming off the back of a government and we were transitioning a military-backed government ... into a parliamentary democracy. It was a process we arrived at and that would need my input and support."
"You know it made good sense at the time for me to support the Fiji First party for the reason I believed in what it stood for going into the elections and into the democratic process."
Significant for NFP
The NFP leader Biman Prasad admitted their new member was a feather in the NFP's cap, given his significant past role.
The leader of Fiji's National Federation Party, Biman Prasad. Photo: RNZI/Alex Perrottet
He dismissed criticism the party was going against its principles.
"NFP has never supported a coup, will never support a coup but will welcome people who share the principles and long-held values of democracy, freedom, justice, human rights for all.
"Mr Tikoduadua was in Australia when the coup happened. He remained a civil servant and he only got into government after being elected in 2014."
He described Mr Tikoduadua's views during discussions at UN talks in the lead-up to the 2014 elections as progressive.
"I know his unhappiness at the discarding of the (Yash) Ghai constitution which was going to become a consensus constitution."
Mr Tikoduadua, meanwhile, said the Fiji First government had achieved a lot of good things.
But he said he had many reservations.
"Let's take for instance freedom of democracy and talk about the media. There must be an assurance that the media is completely free and that assurance needs to come out and most of the media believe they cannot print things that they want to print."
He denied his move was a matter of survival.
"I believe I am still in the boat. I think just others have gone off that boat. For me, it's not something that only just began after the elections.
"You know I went all the way back standing for aspirations that I held dearly about the process of democracy. I still hold that dearly but right now I believe the government is veering off on a direction that I perhaps believe, that they have preferred to ... you know to change their views about certain things, so you know made proclamations about things that I don't think that they truly want to stand for."
Although he had been Frank Bainimarama's right hand man, he said he had not spoken to him since the day he left government.
Mr Prasad said Mr Tikoduadua still had to go through the party's candidacy selection process but he said if he was successful he would have a significant role to play.
