Call for public, honest appointments of staff

MINISTER of Justice and Attorney-General Davis Steven says every civil service appointment should be transparent and done publicly with the best person picked for the job.
When announcing the appointment of Tanuvasa Tauvasa as the new solicitor- general as week ago, Steven said the position was approaching expiry.
“In terms of the term of appointment and in accordance with the current standing practice of this government, I’ve instructed the Department of Justice and Attorney-General Secretary Dr Eric Kwa to advertise and allow an independent process to occur so that the country’s chief legal adviser, the state solicitor, be appointed in the similar mode.
“The state solicitor’s position is a key position in government administration and decision-making process, so I’d like to see this taking place over a month. Appointment of lawyers should not be politicised and also it is important that we notice the importance of the role of that office, especially where government decision-making process is concerned.”
Steven said the solicitor-general was responsible for the court room defence and litigation of matters pertaining to the state protecting the state’s interest whether it was constitutional law or commercial or even in civil litigations.
Steven said the public solicitor was responsible for the public citizens while public prosecutor was responsible for the prosecution enforcement of the criminal and leadership code.
“With the appointment of the state solicitor hopefully it completes the process.
“We now have a public solicitor, new public prosecutor, solicitor-general, state solicitor’s position being advertised and departmental head recently appointed so we have a new team envisioned to uphold the law and to rebuild this important institution in-