Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has ordered the immediate sacking of the country's Legal Draftsman and President of the Solomon Islands Bar Association, Ranjit Hewagama.
Sources close to the Public Service Department have confirmed that Prime Minister Sogavare has written to the Public Service Department (PSD) directing the PSD to sack Mr. Ranjit as Legal Draftsman with immediate effect.The reason given by the Prime Minister for his decision to order the sacking of Mr. Ranjit is that "the duties of the post (legal draftsman) are not looked after well".
When Mr. Ranjit was contacted late yesterday afternoon, he said that he had not yet received any letter from the Public Service Department on the reported directives from the Prime Minister for his sacking. The Public Service Department is expected to prepare submissions to the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) to facilitate the immediate sacking of Mr. Ranjit.
Sri Lankan born, Mr. Ranjit has been the Solomon Islands' legal draftsman for nearly twenty three (23) years and the Prime Minister has not explained in his letter why after twenty-three years in the post, Mr. Ranjit has been found to be "not looking after the duties of the post well".
On a related matter, when Mr. Sogavare was Prime Minister in 2001, he also attempted to remove Ranjit and replaced him with Moti, but this did not happen at that time because the former Attorney General strongly opposed the proposal.
Meanwhile, members of the legal fraternity believed that Mr. Ranjit's reported sacking and the raid on his office last week are connected to the Moti saga.