Nauru calls on media to report legal reform facts
Nauru's President has questioned why media
outlets refuse to report the facts behind the country's recent
reform of the legal system, including any acknowledgment of the
three highly respected judges on the Supreme
Court.
President Baron Waqa said the continual
misreporting over the rule of law in Nauru contributed to the
recent decision by the New Zealand Government to suspend aid to the
judicial sector.
"It is frustrating that no journalist has
accurately reported our appointment of three judges including a
Chief Justice, compared to only one judge previously," he
said.
"Instead they are believing the lies told
to them by the former Chief Justice and magistrate, who are playing
a political game to support their former political allies that the
Nauruan people rejected at the last
election."
Mr Waqa said the previous system was open
to "gross corruption" and asked what the former Chief Justice and
magistrate were trying to achieve with their continued public
comments.
"You must ask what they lost in terms of
personal income and benefits for them to be so upset this long
after Nauru has moved on.
"They are using the media to paint our
Government in a negative light and the media is hanging on their
every word without doing any
fact-checking."
The President called on the media to
report that not only was the rule of law being strongly upheld, but
that the competency of the current judges ensured the full
separation of powers between the executive government and the
judiciary.
"We do not interfere in the legal process
in Nauru. While we will plead the Government's case on many issues,
ultimately it's up to the
courts."
"The problem is that much of the
Australian and New Zealand media continue to misrepresent what is
happening in Nauru.
"Clearly it suits their political agenda
more to paint a negative picture and ignore the
facts."
Details of Nauru judges are as
follows:
Chief Justice Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi from
Fiji- Justice Madraiwiwi is a Law Lord and
Privy Councillor of the Kingdom of Tonga. He is a former Vice
President of Fiji. Chief Justice designate Madraiwiwi was a judge
of the High Court of Fiji (1997-2000); Member of the Sugar
Industry Tribunal (1992 - 1997); Permanent Arbitrator for trade
disputes (1991-1997); member of the Solomon Islands Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (2009-2011). He is highly respected as a
jurist, intellectual and lawyer and is well known in the Pacific
region and beyond. He has more than 10 years' experience as a
judge or judicial officer of equivalent
rank.
Justice Mr Mohammed Shafi Khan from
Australia - Justice Mohammed Khan has over 30 years
legal experience. He was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of
High Court of Fiji in 1979, admitted as a barrister and solicitor
of the High Court of ACT in 1987, admitted as a solicitor of the
High Court of Queensland in 1988 and admitted as a barrister and
solicitor of High Court of Victoria in 1988. He has more than 17
years' experience as a magistrate in Fiji and the Solomon
Islands.
Justice Ms Jane Elizabeth
Hamilton-White from Australia - Justice Hamilton White
has more than twenty years' legal experience having worked in the
Caribbean and the Pacific as a senior lawyer. She has served as a
Principal Magistrate in the Solomon Islands where she spent time
also as a senior state prosecutor in the office of the Director of
Public Prosecutions. She is a barrister of the Supreme Court
of Queensland, Australia - Admitted to practice 17th December 1998.
Ms Hamilton White was the first female appointee to the Bench of
the Supreme Court of Nauru.