Suidani to challenge legality of CDF in court

Outspoken Premier of Malaita Daniel Suidani is planning to challenge the legality of the infamous Constitution Development Fund (CDF) as he requests his office to conduct research and seek preliminary legal opinions.

In a statement last night, the Premier’s Advisory and Research Unit said the Premier is requesting them to conduct research and to seek preliminary legal opinions on a proposal to mount a judicial review on the infamous RCDF or CDF Scheme.

“The premier is looking at seeking the High Court for a judicial review on this subject matter to determine the Constitutionality of this scheme,” the statement states.

 Meanwhile the premier points out that under the Constitution of Solomon Islands there is the three arms of the Government, the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary and they have powers and functions that are separated— but support each other making sure there are checks and balances on the governing of the country.

“As we know the RCDF or CDF Scheme is a scheme where the elected members of parliament who are legislators been allocated funding to carry out activities in the name of development in their constituencies.  The scheme is administered and managed by the Ministry of Rural Development with the Constituency Development Office,” Suidani said.

Similar court cases on CDF were conducted in places like Kenya and elsewhere. It has been revealed recently that each constituency will receive millions of dollars in CDF this year.

The premier said as a leader he is duty bound to ensure the court made a determination on the legality of this scheme.

“It is well known amongst Solomon Islanders and beyond that the RCDF Scheme is a controversial one and has had its fair share of criticisms. Many even believed that one of the biggest negative effects of the scheme is that it perpetuated a dependency syndrome and creates a handout mentality in many quarters of Solomon Islands communities,” he said.

Suidan said once he has a good picture on how to proceed with the matter, he will make a public statement and a call for support from those who feel they shared the same view.