New leader with an uphill task

Fiji’s new Opposition leader, 54-year-old Mr Harish Sharma, is the third person to hold the office since Fiji’s independence 16 years ago.

Mr Sharma took over the reins from Mr Siddiq Koya, the first leader of the Opposition who took up the position in 1969 after the death of the founder president and leader Mr A. D. Patel.

Mr Koya then lost the posi tion to Mr Jai Ram Reddy in 1977 but rose again when Mr Reddy resigned in May 1984.

Like his predecessors, Mr Sharma is a practising lawyer with an office in the western division of the country.

He was bom and brought up near Suva in a humble family with a rural background. Shar ma began his career as an insurance clerk and held a part-time job as a radio announcer for Radio Fiji’s hin dustani program.

Later he studied law in Tas mania, returning in 1966 to join

the law firm of Mr Koya at Lautoka and later moved to Nadi to set up on his own.

Mr Sharma entered the politi cal arena in 1972 and has since been returned to Parliament.

While he may lack the charis ma and personality of his for mer boss, he is generally acknowledged as a thorough and disciplined politician.

His parliamentary approach has always been methodical and well researched. He is both articulate and eloquent in Hin dustani and English.

Sharma does his homework.

He sticks to issues for which he has earned the respect and admiration of both sides of the House.

He has also served a term as deputy speaker when his rul ings were always impartial.

Mr Sharma has also chaired a number of Parliamentary select committees and has repre sented Fiji and Commonwealth Parliamentary Association meetings abroad.

Although he kept a low pro file both inside and outside the house, the new Opposition leader has an air of dignity about him.

And while he never aspired to the leader’s position, now that he is there, he has prom ised to make it a full time occupation.

He said he will initially com mute to Suva from his Nadi base, spending weekdays in the capital and weekends at home with his wife, two teenage sons and daughter.

Koya stepped down in Shar ma’s favour because he saw the writing on the wall in the form of the declining popularity of the National Federation Party and growing internal dissent.

He knew it was time to depart.

Sharma now has the uphill task of reversing the party’s fortunes by means of a united public image and an effort to

win back disgruntled members who recently left the party to sit as independents in Parliament.

Sharma has to contend not only with petty jealousies and internal bickering within his own party, but also with the emerging political force of the Labour Party.

Fiji’s general elections are due next year although rumours of a snap poll are rife.

Sharma will want to move swiftly to transform the NFP into a serious alternative gov ernment. from our Suva correspondent.

New opposition leader Mr. Harish Sharma.