There are currents swirling within the Rabuka government that are starting to spill over even into the supine mainstream media as those around the Prime Minister begin to acknowledge that he is losing his grip.
Take the following article, for instance – Sitiveni Rabuka‘s former communications handmaiden turned Fiji Times journalist, Cheerieann Wilson – turning on her old boss by quoting Charlie Charters of all people – good old “Long Loaf Charlie” – as if the late Mere Samisoni‘s son-in-law is the font of all wisdom.
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The minute Old Peculier from Yorkshire becomes the peg for a story by the Prime Minister’s old propagandist “raising concerns” about his conduct, we know that the country is in deep trouble.
The Opposition, Grubsheet and Victor Lal have been raising these concerns for months. But it takes Charlie to give the Fiji Times the cue it needs to start lifting the lid on the gossip raging behind the scenes in the Coalition and its supporters that the Prime Minister has lost it.
You can bet your bottom dollar that Charlie’s reference relates less to the Prime Minister’s relationship with the President – which is old news – than to the fact that he installed one of his relatives, Lavi Rokoika, as FICAC Commissioner. And Rokoika – horror of horrors – is going after Charlie’s gang, starting with Manoa Kamikamica and ending up who knows where.
Charlie and his once cocky mob are beside themselves with frustration, anxiety and fear. Because his very public campaign on their behalf against the Ashton-Lewis Commission of Inquiry – including a formal complaint to the Judicial Services Commission – simply isn’t working the way they thought it would.
Manoa Kamikamica has been charged with an offence that carries a seven year jail sentence, rumours are rife that Biman Prasad is next and the net is closing on all of those adversely named in the Ashton-Lewis CoI Report, including Charlie’s mate, Wylie Clarke, and maybe even some who weren’t named such as Richard Naidu.
It wasn’t meant to be this way. Which is why there are multiple applications for judicial review of the CoI, Wylie Clarke is going to the High Court in a desperate attempt to secure a stay of the proceedings against Manoa Kamikamica, Charlie Charters mutters darkly on Facebook about Sitiveni Rabuka being too much under the influence of “traditional and familial” connections, and Cheerieann Wilson picks up the theme.
The main emphasis of the Fiji Times story is the suggestion that Rabuka is too close to his chief, the President. Yet this could have been written any time since Ratu Naiqama was appointed. The real target is the PM’s relative, the FICAC Commissioner, because it is she who is the real threat and is already having the temerity to upend the apple cart that Charlie has been pushing on behalf of the grisly gang who thought they’d already won. That Justice David Ashton-Lewis would be discredited, the CoI findings overturned and everyone else would emerge from this car crash unscathed.
It still might happen, of course. But only if the Prime Minister continues to prevaricate. This includes empty homilies about “being guided by the law” when he needs to get proactive and ensure that the law is enforced, not manipulated by the crocodiles he initially sought to bring to account but still rule the swamp.
The principal one of these, of course, is the Chief Justice, Salesi Temo, who should have been suspended as soon as he was accused by the CoI of perjury and perverting the course of justice but whose “familial connection” with the President through his wife has saved him and continues to produce the greatest travesty in the history of the judicial system in Fiji.
There are two High Court actions pending that Sitiveni Rabuka needs to fight and fight hard to save himself and his reputation. Unless, of course, he wants to go into the election next year as the man who triggered a crocodile hunt only to be devoured by the crocodiles.
1/ The first is the applications for judicial review of the CoI that begin on December 12 lodged by the Judicial Services Commission (Salesi Temo and Tomasi Bainivalu), Barbara Malimali, Wylie Clarke and Laurel Vaurasi from the Fiji Law Society and the ousted attorney general, Graham Leung. Lose this alone and Rabuka is political toast – having spent millions on the CoI only to have it blow up in his face.
2/ The second is the mooted application by Wylie Clarke – on behalf of Manoa Kamikamica – for a permanent stay on the FICAC prosecution of the now stood-aside deputy prime minister. Clarke is claiming that the Prime Minister didn’t have the legal right to appoint Lavi Rokoika as FICAC Commissioner. That – as Grubsheeet has explained – is nonsense. But it is a complex legal argument that needs to be fought hard and with the best legal brain the state can afford.
Which brings us to the question of inertia. The Prime Minister needs to hire a kings counsel from New Zealand or a senior counsel from Australia to fight both these High Court actions. But for some unexplained reason, he is stalling.
He needs to move quickly not only to save the CoI but to save himself. Because rumours that those bringing the judicial review applications are also seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars each from the state for damage to reputation are a potential catastrophe all on their own.
If the CoI is overturned AND those adversely mentioned get millions in compensation, guess where the blame will be laid? Yes, right at the feet of the Prime Minister. And if he thinks he can go into an election next year and win with a legacy like that, he really has lost it. His marbles and the election.
Similarly, if Manoa Kamikamica succeeds in an application to the High Court to set aside the FICAC prosecution against him – which far from being “underwhelming” (Wylie Clarke’s words) is watertight – it will be Sitiveni Rabuka who ends up with egg on his face. Oh, and much worse than that.
Here’s what Manoa Kamikamica’s wife, Ann Kaukamea Kamikamica, posted on Facebook at the weekend – a veiled threat that a new party is being formed, presumably by her husband – that will tear the People’s Alliance apart.
So the Prime Minister better get cracking or political disaster awaits, along with an entry in the history books recording, for all time, that he tried to make a political comeback and blew it.
GD
Fiji has good lawyers. We don’t need KC or QC here in courts. I hope you are not white supremist or simply put that “whiteman’s are better in everything they do”, history says otherwise though.
Excuse me, so why did the government bring a senior counsel from Sydney, Brett Walker, to argue its case in the constitutional matter before the Supreme Court, why did the Fiji Law Society do the same with Arthur Moses SC, and why are Wylie Clarke and Graham Leung obtaining KCs or SCs from overseas to argue their case for a judicial review of the CoI findings?
Do they all think “white people are better in everything they do”?
Get a grip.
Name one good lawyer? All the lawyers are crooks in fiji . Just look at the judiciary of fiji it’s in a big mess. We need white lawyers because they are not crooks as fiji lawyers
good lawyers?
The biased and fake crocodile hunter (PM Rabuka) and his handmaiden (Salesi Temo) selectively charging the dirty crocodiles that will threaten their preferred outcome of PAP election in 2027. Not happening in 2026, they need more time, too many whistles have been (and will be) blown and they’re in desperate firefighting mode to burn their dirty laundry and hide their dirty dealings.
Timing will be done to ensure that only the corrupt crocodiles revealed by HC Judge Ashton-Lewis that are in the way of the senile PM’s succession plan will be charged first.
Tabuya, also a very dirty and corrupt crocodile, and her corrupt husband are manipulating the PM behind the scenes. High value govt contracts are at risk for PBS. No kidding, go figure!
One day (probably not today, not next month, not next year), all these shitty deals have a way of rising to the surface, and the people of Fiji will send all of them to jail where they belong.
New politicians please. These ones are lost and corrupt to the core, incompetent and all out to get rich. They don’t care about the average Fijian man, woman and child struggling to survive on a daily basis.
Kick them out when they come to campaign with their cheap political gimmicks, cheap bags of groceries and cheap volleyball and rugby tournaments.
Don’t worry about MK and Ana tearing apart the PAP. They are nothing and are free to go form their own party if they don’t like it.
It was Manoa’s behaviour that led to him being charged. It was a conscious choice he made and for which he must take personal responsibility.
It had nothing to do with PAP. So why is Ana threatening to take down the PAP?
Don’t worry. With Biman by his side, the PM has nothing to fear. Some people unkindly refer to Biman as badia, which means castrated or impotent, but I disagree. The man is a actually a force of nature! How can he be impotent when he still has such a healthy (or unhealthy) appetite for women? Come on, let’s be fair to the guy.
Snakes don’t get caught with their pants down. They just slip and slide.
The people of Fiji desire fair and impartial leadership — one that upholds justice and integrity at all levels of governance.
Prime Minister Rabuka has the potential to secure victory in the 2026 election if he demonstrates strong and equitable leadership. To restore public trust and confidence in Fiji’s institutions, he should consider the suspension of Chief Justice Salesi Temo, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Rabuku, Attorney-General Siromi Turaga, and Nancy Tikoisuva, pending proper investigation.
Reinstating Christopher Pryde to his former position would further affirm his commitment to fairness, transparency and the rule of law.
Dear take a break:
I have to choose between sending my kids to local university/technical institute or to similar education in Aust/NZ/UK or America/ Canada. I can afford either or by scholarship. Guess which option will be chosenby me and just about every other nationalist hypocrite as well.
Same with medical care. Same with sports and playing for the All Blacks or Australia being the pinnacle. Same with jobs.
It took a Canadian vulagi to make (market) water from Yaqara Fiji as the best in the world.
In most areas there is no substitute for pedigree accumulated over hundreds of years. And Fiji is still in development phase of its society and institutions.
So take a bow and give credit where it is due to the “white man”.
And here’s another point to the decolonisers who want to reverse the alleged negative impacts of the arrival of the vulagi, British or others: Will you revert back to the state the country was in prior to Europeans coming, or will you want to keep all the improvements such as modern hospitals, transport infrastructure, governance institutions, education and so on. Nevertheless looking at the way the things have been regressing it seems like the nationalist decolonizing agenda is close to being achieved by local efforts anyway.
Here’s some free advice to Manoa Kamikamica, Narube, Qoro and whoever else is wiiling to listen (The rest of you, keep scrolling – this is not for you!)
1. MK, don’t bother wasting time and resources forming a new political party.
2. Join an existing party with similar views/perspectives. Best option: Unity Fiji Party (UFP).
3. Narube needs to accept that with him at the helm, he simply does not have the charisma nor voter base and networks to take his party to an election victory. Become its President instead.
4. Choose a new UFP party leader. Choose an existing UFP supporter in Paula Uluinaceva. He’s highly intelligent, charismatic, bold and has the leadership skillset to take UFP to an election victory in 2026.
5. Uluinaceva can make the targeted impact where it matters most in the PAP voter base. That’s how you strategise. Where are the key marginal game-changing impacts to redraw/mobilise voter support and upset the applecart for PAP? He can draw support in Kadavu away from PAP. Same result with swaying votes away from PAP through the youths and very large number of younger OB OG networks from schools across the country and their families and friends who are disappointed with Rabuka and his old band of military merrymen. (Not all with military background are tainted – keep the good ones).
6. If UFP wins (and it definitely can, with some key changes), to be fair to Save, he can still be PM, if he gets the highest number of votes.
7. For the next election, get Uluinaceva to be the party leader. MK, Adi Sivia Qoro and Satish Kumar to be Deputy Party Leaders. It will stabilise the party. No leadership crisis.
8. General Secretary needs to be a person with lots of experience in national, regional and international politics. A younger face that will front up to media (PR) and know what to confidently say across all issues. The face of the party.
9. Review party constitution and manifesto.
10. Rebrand UFP, and relaunch!
* Note to Narube, take this option and you leave behind the legacy of creating a political party that is progressive and can create and drive the systemic changes that will unleash all other good synergies.
What do you say, Save? Let’s do it. We’re right behind you!
Make GD your PR chief, if he’s interested 🙂
He’s got Mick. He doesn’t need me. And you can’t run a PR campaign in Fiji with someone who can’t return to the country. Though I suppose I could do it from Naboro. 🙂
Take it or leave it – Lynda tub of semen has the Kadavu vote; where ever she is that is where Kadavu votes
Lynda tub of semen 🤣😂
Never heard that one before.
Guess what, I’m from Kadavu, both parents and you’re so wrong.
We’re not easily bought.
I’d vote for Paula any day over that trash.
Daniel must be of that variety that we in Fiji know very well…..they bathe in a polluted river and think its cleansing
Some good suggestions.
Satish Kumar had left Unity Fiji ages ago. He’s now with the Fiji Labour Party.
It would be worth considering for Unity Fiji to initiate talks of a potential coalition with the Fiji Labour Party and the proposed People First Party (remnants of former FijiFirst).
Oh dear dear dear…the webs we weave. Great analysis GD.
If PM had done the right thing by getting rid of Temo, he could have avoided himself and the country this melodrama. It is not uncommon for second rate lawyers to become judicial officers. This happens everywhere. However, once you’re there, there is certain standard and conventions you must follow which includes standing down or resigning when faced with serious allegations arising from a Commission of Inquiry.
It is the duty of The Law Society, as custodians of legal standards, to remind the judicial officers of this. Time for Wylie to resign so that the profession, at least, retains its integrity.
Fiji is a place where dreams go to die.
Jeez Graham. Your poking through the social media entrails continues to provide a wealth of dubious information.
Did you consider release the Dove relates to Tailevu, participating in the Skipper Cup SF on Saturday? See other of her posts that same day about Tailevu rugby. The dove is basically the Tailevu rugby logo.
The Kamikamicas were at the matches which your nameless spies should have observed if they’d been any use as they were widely filmed. Even I knew this sitting in China.
Charlie, given that I am banned from Facebook, I am totally reliant on others to send me snippets like this and also reliant on their interpretation of what it means. So it doesn’t matter that you are in China. You are still clearly in a stronger position to view the contents of Facebook than I am.
So Manoa Kamikamica is not leading a faction intending to split from the People’s Alliance if he doesn’t get the leadership? As your matanivanua on this one and given your personal contacts, perhaps you could answer that question for the benefit of our readers.
BTW, how’s your campaign against Justice Ashton-Lewis and the CoI going? Not as well as you hoped, I’d imagine, when the skittles are now beginning to fall and the value of the Inquiry is plain for all to see.
China is just the right place for you. Have fun!