Mrs. Evelyne Toa calls on journalists in Vanuatu and whistle-blowers to continue to report and fight against corruption.
Part 4: Statelessness To Freedom (Choosing The Right People)
“The letter that was sent to the UN as part of the call for Independence during that time was discussed and drafted in the ‘Blue House’,” Mr. Sokomanu said.
International Youth Week Motivates Youth To Participate In Civic Education Program
From 12 – 16 August youths around Vanuatu celebrated the International Youth Week at Arep Junior Secondary School in Sola, TORBA province.
Transparency International Vanuatu Acknowledges Improvement In Vanuatu Judiciary
A RESEARCH BY Transparency International Vanuatu into the Vanuatu Judicial System, to investigate why cases have not progressed nor been finalized in a timely manner, discovered that though there were not much evidence of corruption, there were instances where conflict of interest appeared to affect actions by the police, prosecutors and judges.
The Vanuatu Judicial Monitoring System (VJMS) research report published in 2013 also identified several factors that contributed to delays of processes within the judicial system.
However, the judiciary is not to be blamed entirely for the delays as there are private lawyers, prosecutors and other parties who contribute to this. “Unfortunately the court system is not robust enough to consistently control the manipulation of the court process by various parties through the use of delaying tactics” states the report.
Transparency International Vanuatu (TIV) through its monitoring of court cases recognises that the judiciary has progress since the launching of the report in 2013. More high profile cases have now progress further to the Supreme Court with rulings made.
One such high case that has progress on is the bribery case against the Members of Parliament.
According to Port Vila’s Magistrate Court on Wednesday 12 August, the members of parliament accused of bribery allegations are now scheduled for trial in the Port Vila Supreme Court on the 1st of September.
Though the case has drag on for sometimes, TIV Chairman Dr. Willie Tokon stated that this is the first time for such a proceeding that involves Ministers and MP’s to go that far in the Vanuatu’s courts.
Although there have been reports in the past discriminating the slow processes and delays within the judiciary system, this bribery case against more than a dozen national leaders sets an example for future cases of similar nature.
Moreover, it sets a fairly progressive precedent that should be an encouragement to many who have had mixed perspectives on the judiciary in-dependency.
Part 3: Statelessness To Freedom
It is because of chapter three that we, the people of Vanuatu, can be a citizen of a country. It is because of this chapter that we, the people of Vanuatu, are able to fill any application form that requires a nationality. Today, we inherit the Ni-Vanuatu (meaning of Vanuatu) nationality.
Part 2: Stateless To Freedom
…“the constitution is our relationship” he said while pointing at a copy of the constitution lying on the table, “our relationship made that possible”.
Part 1: Stateless to Freedom
Before 1980, people in the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) were ruled by two colonial powers of Britain and France. People from Britain and France migrated to the New Hebrides, as a result the archipelago was administrated by both Britain and France.
Over time, several aspiring indigenous leaders of New Hebrides decided to work together to gain their independence from the two colonial powers.
Father Walter Lini led the group of indigenous leaders, they worked hard with pride to prove to the colonial masters that they deserve their Independence and are capable or administrating their own country.
Mr. Ati George Sokomanu was a member of that aspiring group, when TIV talked with him he said that “between 1979 and 1980 the group formed the constitution and legislations to prove to the colonial powers that Vanuatu is capable of looking after itself. 1979 and 1980 were two very important and formal years as we tried to form legislatures on how to move forward independently,” Mr. Sokomanu said.
In 1980, New Hebrides was granted its independence after more than 70 years of being colonized. After gaining its Independence it was no longer called New Hebrides but was called Vanuatu – meaning ‘our land forever’.
The leaders struggled for our freedom, they were proud of their achievement and because of that the Mama Law or the Constitution was formed to safeguard those achievements, and to cherish our ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity.
Ati George Sokomanu, who was elected as the first President of Vanuatu, said, “When a country achieves self-reliance, it needs to have a statue, something to bind everyone and start us off as we go through our journey”.
So in 1979, the leaders sat together and started writing the Mama Law. Mama is the Bislama word for Mother.
“When God sends Moses to the Mount Sinai he gave them two stones with the ten commandments written on it. The Constitution is like the Vanuatu’s ten commandments to guide us as we achieve our independence and work through it,” Mr. Sokomanu related.
The first chapter of the Mama Law embraces Vanuatu and its powers.
Firstly, Vanuatu is a democratic country where the people hold the power to elect its members of parliament who make up the government. The government then administrates the affairs of the country.
This Mama Law is the highest law for the nation and every other law comes under it.
The independence leaders of the Independence also set out on the mama laws the National and official language for the nation. The national language is Bislama, the official languages are Bislama, English and French and the principal languages of education are English and French. Also the republic of Vanuatu must protect its native languages as part of Vanuatu’s heritage and can declare any one of them as the national language.
The citizens of Vanuatu have the rights to elect the members of parliament to form the government to rule the country. If the parliament establishes other laws, every citizen over the age of 18 years is entitled to cast a secret vote. Political parties may be formed freely and may contest elections but shall respect the Constitution and the principles of democracy.
This was the first chapter of the Mama Law agreed on by the people who led the country to Independence in 1980.
Transparency International Vanuatu will be publishing weekly editions of the National Constitution, chapter by chapter, page by page, and story by story. TIV will be gathering stories from the leaders who signed the constitution and who are still alive to share it the public, TIV thinks it is important to reflect on that part of our history, and who better to hear it from but from those that signed the constitution themselves.
Follow us on our next weekly news on the paper as we go on to learn more about our rights and duties that are enshrined in the Constitution.
Next week’s edition will see Mr. Sokomanu reveal how it was to live in a group of islands ruled by two colonial powers. He will talk more about how it felt like to be stateless.
Also, TIV has a civic education program which educates communities about the Constitution, it is offered for free to communities who request it. Call us: 25715.
Youth Civic Engagement For International Youth Day
The 2015 International Youth Day activities is set to take place at Sola in TORBA Province from the 12th – 16th of August next week.
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