Apenisa Waqairadovu 
SODELPA Party General Secretary Viliame Takayawa.
It is illegal for a political party to pay the debts of another party.
This is the sentiment expressed by Social Democratic Liberal Party General Secretary Viliame Takayawa in response to a claim made by FijiFirst General Secretary Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
The former Attorney General had told FBC News that SODELPA, during the negotiating phase, asked that FijiFirst pay the SODELPA debt, which amounts to over $250,000.
Sayed-Khaiyum says FijiFirst, on that day, did not agree as this was illegal.
He adds that what they told SODELPA instead is that if they join FijiFirst and support the then Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, they would provide continuity of the economy and financial system, political stability, law and order, and the rule of law, and that in itself will increase SODELPA’s mana because that’s what people would want.
Responding to this, Takayawa says SODELPA was not the one who made the submission, as FijiFirst and the two parties now in coalition with SODELPA made their proposal.
Takayawa says the negotiations were tight.
“The discussions of our meeting was not minuted and we did not do any recordings or anything, there were a lot of things discussed on that week. There were very high pressure put on the negotiation team that was chaired by Anare Jale.”
Meanwhile, FBC News has sent questions to Sayed-Khaiyum regarding the proposals.
Takayawa says SODELPA remains confident it will see through these three years with its Coalition partners, the National Federation Party and the People’s Alliance.
