# “A DOOMED CHAOTIC GOVERNMENT”. A DEVASTATING CRITIQUE OF THE COALITION BY INIA SERUIRATU – LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION AND THE NEW PEOPLE FIRST

As the first month of the year comes to an end, the people of Fiji can now officially declare this Coalition administration what it truly is, a Government of Chaos. 

From the Prime Minister down, every major decision, policy direction and administrative action of this Government has descended into confusion, controversy, legal dispute and institutional breakdown. Whatever this Government touches turns into chaos and the price of that chaos is being paid by the hardworking taxpayers of this country. 

This Government has become its own worst enemy and the Prime Minister appears perpetually unaware of the damage being inflicted by his own leadership failures. Every process initiated from the Office of the Prime Minister now ends in a legal, administrative or political nightmare. 

Let me highlight just a few of the many example’s demonstrating why this Government is now doomed by its own chaos. 

1. The COI Legal Disaster 

The ongoing legal chaos surrounding the Commission of Inquiry has already cost taxpayers millions of dollars in legal fees and it is heading absolutely nowhere. This entire debacle could have been avoided had the Prime Minister exercised courage and constitutional leadership. 

The President is not only the Head of State but also the Prime Minister’s High Chief and this reality makes the Prime Minister’s failure even more glaring. At the very moment when bold and decisive leadership was required, the Prime Minister lacked the courage and conviction to advise the President to suspend the Chief Justice despite the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry Report. 

Rather than suspending the Chief Justice, the Judicial Services Commission chaired by the Chief Justice himself challenged the findings and recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry in court. This has plunged the country into a legal chaos of the Government’s own making. 

Now, to compound this national embarrassment, the State is bending over backwards in its attempt to settle this matter, instead of firmly defending the integrity, credibility and independence of a Commission of Inquiry that was presided over by a respected Supreme Court Judge, Justice Ashton-Lewis. This retreat not only undermines the authority of the Commission of Inquiry but sends a dangerous message that accountability can be negotiated, compromised, or quietly buried. 

Further compounding the gravity of this situation is the deeply troubling role assumed by the Solicitor-General in these settlement discussions. The Solicitor-General is himself one of the public officials expressly implicated in the Commission of Inquiry report and yet he is now purporting to represent the State in negotiations with the Judicial Services Commission.

This is a textbook case of conflict of interest. A public official cannot be permitted to act as both an interested party and the State’s legal representative in matters arising from findings that directly concern his own conduct. Such an arrangement fatally compromises the integrity of the process, erodes public confidence in the administration of justice and raises serious concerns as to whether these settlement discussions are aimed at securing accountability or shielding those in positions of power from its consequences. 

The Prime Minister has when faced with difficult decisions, looks left, looks right, pretends ignorance and retreats into indecision. This habitual reluctance to take firm action has plunged the nation into prolonged litigation, constitutional uncertainty, institutional paralysis and massive financial waste. 

This is not statesmanship. This is not leadership. 

This is political timidity at the highest office of the land and the people of Fiji are now paying a very heavy price for it. 

2. Endless Cabinet Reshuffles 

The repeated Cabinet reshuffles expose a Government that cannot get its act together. 

Ministers are shifted around like chess pieces, not because of strategic planning but because of political survival and internal instability. Entire portfolios are reshuffled, dismantled and reassigned with no coherent policy logic, no continuity and no accountability. 

This is not strengthening governance. This is a clear admission of failure. 

After nearly four years in office, the Prime Minister is still experimenting, still reshuffling, still improvising at the expense of national stability and service delivery. 

A government that keeps reshuffling ministers is a government that has lost control of its own machinery. 

3. Education and Legal Chaos 

Nowhere is this chaos more evident than in the Ministry of Education. 

We are witnessing unprecedented disorder in: 

• Teacher allowances, 

• Contract renewals, 

• Staff transfers, and 

• Head of School appointments. 

Schools are being thrown into confusion. Teachers are demoralised. Students are suffering. Parents are frustrated. 

What should be a professional, transparent and merit-based education administration has become a circus of poor decision-making, bureaucratic paralysis and political interference. 

The result is schools are in chaos and students are paying the price. 

The dysfunction is further exposed by the continued failure to appoint a permanent Attorney-General. In his final year in office, the Prime Minister is still unable or unwilling to install a substantive Attorney-General who can provide sound legal leadership, competent advice and principled guidance on good governance, transparency and accountability. This prolonged vacancy raises serious questions about the Government’s commitment to the rule of law and effective administration.

A permanent Attorney-General is essential to anticipate legal risks, resolve problems before they escalate into costly litigation and prevent the kind of avoidable legal disasters that have repeatedly and devastatingly embarrassed the Prime Minister and his Government. The continued delay is not administrative, it is political and the consequences are being paid for by the nation. 

4. The Prime Minister’s Unlawful Grab of FNU Oversight 

The Prime Minister’s decision to personally assume oversight of Fiji National University is a direct assault on the Fiji National University Act and a dangerous precedent. 

This is executive overreach of the highest order. 

The Prime Minister cannot simply override legislation because it suits his political agenda. Fiji is governed by the rule of law, not the rule of personal convenience. 

This action represents a blatant disregard for statutory governance structures and further demonstrates a Government increasingly comfortable operating outside the boundaries of legality. 

5. The Collapse of the National Federation Party 

Finally, we cannot ignore the political tragedy unfolding within the National Federation Party. 

A party that brands itself as the champion of Indo-Fijian rights now stands stripped of dignity, influence, and credibility. 

Its leader has: 

• Stepped down from Cabinet, 

• Sent to the back benches of parliament; and 

• Now faces criminal charges before the courts. 

This party was elected largely by Indo-Fijian voters, yet once in power, it betrayed the very people who placed their trust in it. There has been nothing productive, progressive, or transformative delivered to its voter base. 

Instead, NFP has reduced itself to a political accessory of the Prime Minister, a yes-man party, devoid of courage, independence or principle. 

In doing so, it has lost all moral authority, parliamentary credibility and political relevance. 

If the people of Fiji are searching for light at the end of the tunnel, I regret to say that there is none under this administration. This Government is no longer simply underperforming, it is structurally dysfunctional, politically incoherent and administratively paralysed. What Fiji is now witnessing is a government in terminal decline, crippled by indecision, internal instability, legal chaos and leadership failure. 

This deeply entrenched culture of chaos, if allowed to continue will have catastrophic long-term consequences for governance, investor confidence, institutional independence and national development. On every critical measure of leadership, accountability, stability, service delivery and national direction, this Government has failed on all five counts.

NOTE TO READERS:

This article first appeared on Facebook this morning and is already creating waves in the mainstream media, though not all outlets are reporting it, which they will live to regret if People First wins the coming election.

To its credit, the Fiji Times has been first off the mark in reflecting its contents.

The Fiji Times is also reporting extracts from the letter to the Prime Minister by Labour Party leader, Mahendra Chaudhry, which Grubsheet has reprinted in full in our previous article.

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There is so far nothing in other media outlets as of midday Fiji time on Saturday. But they would be well advised to start reflecting the views of the Opposition. Because they are being carefully monitored for balance and could face a formal inquiry in the event of a change of government.

Grubsheet has regularly called out the selective reporting, bias and failure to report opposition statements by elements of the mainstream media, some of which are receiving public funds from the Coalition that raises serious questions about their independence and ability to report without fear or favour.

One thing is certain. There will eventually be an accounting for this assault on the right of the Fijian people to information free from political and commercial influence, as well as being able to access a wide range of opinions – the foundation of any proper democracy.