Akuila Yabaki

Akuila Yabaki is a Fijian human rights activist and Methodist clergyman. He is currently the Executive Director of the Citizens Constitutional Forum, a pro-democracy organization.

Yabaki was a strong critic of some policies and decisions of the Qarase government of 2000 to 2006, including the early release from prison of persons convicted on charges related to the Fiji coup of 2000, and opposed controversial legislation seeking to establish a Commission empowered to propose amnesty for such persons.

Coup of 2006

While most opponents of the Qarase government were, at the most, muted in their criticism of the military coup of 5 December 2006, Yabaki strongly opposed both the coup itself and the actions of the Military in the leadup to it. Before the coup took place, Fiji Village said on 28 November that he had written to Commodore Frank Bainimarama, Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, calling on him to tone down his rhetoric and enter into dialogue with the government. Yabaki reiterated his own opposition to the same government policies that the Military was opposing, but insisted that it was not the role of the Military to oppose an elected government.

Following the coup, Fiji Television revealed on 16 December that he had written to Bainimarama on the 12th, urging the Military to hand power back to the civilian President, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, and negotiate an amnesty for himself and his soldiers. He agreed that the Qarase government had been divisive and acknowledged that there were allegations of corruption, but said that neither posed such a credible threat to the state as to justify military intervention. On 23 December, the Fiji Sun quoted him as endorsing a proposal from the Great Council of Chiefs to establish an interim government of national unity.

Pastoral role

The Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma dismissed Yabaki from the pulpit in 2001. No reason for the dismissal was given at the time, although political disagreements were widely thought to be involved, a claim endorsed by the Fiji Times, which asserted on 27 January 2006 that Yabaki's excommunication followed church opposition to his political activism in the wake of the 1987 coups. He continued to use the title, "Reverend", arousing the anger of the Methodist hierarchy.

On 25 January 2006, the Fijian Methodist Church ordered an investigation into why Yabaki had been invited to attend the Ninth Assembly of the World Council of Churches as an adviser to the Fijian Methodist delegation. He had been excommunicated for misconduct, said Rev. Ame Tugaue, General Secretary of the Methodist Church, and therefore should not be a member of the delegation.

Yabaki told the Fiji Live news service on 17 July 2006 that the Methodist Church had agreed to reinstate him, effective the following month. On 22 August, Rev. Tuikilakila Waqairatu, Deputy General Secretary of the Methodist Church, revealed that Yabaki's ban from the pulpit was mostly because of his alleged alcoholism, and that he would have to promise to abstain from liquor if reinstated. On 24 August, it was announced by General Secretary Tugaue that Yabaki had given such an undertaking, and that the decision had been made to reinstate him as a minister.