No-one put Pio Tikoduadua and Sashi Kiran in the parliament in 2022 to defy the wishes of the NFP and vote with the People’s Alliance to deliver a new Constitution by Christmas and delay the coming election.
Similarly, no-one voted for the former FijiFirst MPs in the parliament to do the same – men such as Ioane Naivalurua, Viliame Naupoto, Sachida Nand, Shalen Kumar and the rest of the Group of 11 who have joined forces with Sitiveni Rabuka.
So this is an appeal to all of them to honour democracy and the wishes of the ordinary men and women who put you where you are in 2022. What would they want you to do when parliament votes on the new draft constitution on Friday?
It would certainly not be to jettison the 2013 Constitution – on which you came to parliament in the first place – and certainly not to jettison it without the most careful consideration about any changes and how they affect the genuine interests of the Fijian people as a whole.
They put you there in the case of Pio Tikoduadua and Sashi Singh to honour the undertakings the NFP made to the people to use its numbers to ensure proper governance and in the case of the Group of 11, to honour and uphold the 2013 Constitution which FijiFirst brought into being.
It wasn’t to join forces with Rabuka and destroy the existing supreme law, which was backed by the Supreme Court a year ago. And certainly not to join the Prime Minister in hastily passing a new constitution and delaying the coming election indefinitely while a new electoral system is implemented.
Please do your duty to those who elected you and the platform on which you stood. If democracy is to mean anything, you cannot in all conscience do anything else until you again subject yourself to the will of the people.
Grubsheet is making this appeal as the realisation dawns on many supporters of the NFP and the majority of voters who supported FijiFirst in 2022 that they are about to be betrayed by some of those in whom they put their trust.
That betrayal – if it happens on Friday – will mean only one thing. That these individuals are traitors to the principles on which they were elected and the people who elected them. And will forever be regarded as pariahs by those they have betrayed for the rest of their political careers.
Yesterday’s Grubsheet article on the rumours that Pio Tikoduadua and Sashi Kiran are to defect from the NFP to the People’s Alliance haven’t been denied. And it has sent shock waves through the ranks of NFP supporters, including this posting from one of our readers in the comments section.
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“– Can Sashi realistically hope to have better election prospects in an ultra ethnonationalist party, having received nearly all of her votes from Indofijians from the Westen division in the last election ?
– Pio has always masqueraded as a champion of multiracialism. How can he reconcile this by joining a radical, ethnonationalist party? Pio has always been seen as a principled person- is he willing to prove to everyone that that was for show only?
He is deeply respected for having refused to succumb to Sayed Khaiyum’s dictatorship and leave his ministerial position. Will he be able to reconcile his moderate views with those of hardcore racists like Tuisawau and Rabuka, both of whom hold leadership roles in PAP?“
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The fact is that Pio Tikoduadua and Sashi Kiran cannot vote with the government against the wishes of the NFP to pass the new draft constitution without being in violation of the existing laws, in which they forfeit their right to be MPs if they rebel against party directives.
The NFP has every right to sack them and inform the Speaker of the House that they no longer have the legal right to sit as MPs. Indeed, that’s precisely what should happen in the next 48 hours unless Pio and Sashi inform the NFP leadership that they will adhere to party policy and vote “no” on Friday.
But it needn’t come to this if Pio and Sashi are people of honour. They should know instinctively where their loyalties rightly lie. And that is to support the Party and the wishes of NFP voters, which is certainly not to betray them by siding with the People’s Alliance.
The same applies to the Group of 11, individuals like Ioane Naivalurua and Viliame Naupoto who Sitiveni Rabuka bought off with lucrative cabinet positions and especially the group’s two prominent Indo-Fijian MPs, Sachida Nand and Shalen Kumar.
How in all conscience could any of you have come to the parliament in 2022 under the FijiFirst banner – pledging to uphold party policy and especially the 2013 Constitution on which FijiFirst was founded – and then betray those who put you there?
You have no moral right to defy those who voted for you and no democratic mandate to do so, and especially to support any measure that delays the coming election. Should you do so, you too deserve to be branded traitors and pariahs.
And rest assured that’s precisely what will happen. Why? Because nothing is more serious in any democracy than to betray the wishes of those who chose you as their elected representatives and instead work against their interests by joining forces with those they deliberately chose to reject.
It may well be that Grubsheet is being naive in appealing to the finer instincts of these individuals to do the right thing on Friday. But let’s just hope they have sufficient decency and respect for democracy to appreciate the core issue here.
There is nothing wrong with constitutional change as long as it meets two basic criteria. 1/ that it is in accordance with the letter of the law. 2/ And in accordance with the spirit of the law and the integrity of our parliamentary system in which the wishes of the people are paramount, just as it is in any democracy.
No-one has a mandate from the Fijian people to delay the election. No-one. As politicians across the spectrum and community leaders have been reminding our MPs: Please stick to the election timetable of a poll by the end of the first week in February and then consider constitutional change in the next parliamentary term.
The integrity of our system of government demands that the process not be rushed. And especially by a government which has had four years to reform the nation’s supreme law yet leaves it to the last minute to railroad through a new constitution by Christmas.
It is unconscionable and an abuse of power. Why? Because at the very least, the Fijian people deserve to consider a new constitution in the fullness of time, with a proper period of consultation and deliberation, of thoroughly examining the potential impact of any change and not to be forced into quick decisions based on the Rabuka government’s selfish political timetable.
So yalo vinaka. Please vote “no” on Friday. It isn’t “no” to constitutional change. It is “no” to the process being rushed for political expediency. And especially “no” to any delay to the rendezvous with destiny all MPs must face in the interests of the people and democracy by the end of the first week of February, as the existing law prescribes.
The interests of every Fijian must come first – before personal and party interests – along with the interests of the nation as a whole.
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The pressure on the government is building in advance of Friday’s vote.
There needs to be pressure not only placed on Pio Tikoduadua and Sashi Kiran but the Group of 11. Why? Because all of them were elected in 2022 on a platform they have now turned their backs on.
As things stand, we can expect the Prime Minister to be warning that Friday’s vote will fail to try to influence the waverers. But let’s just hope he is right.
GD
Sashi and Pio’s name will be etched into the register of political traitors.
Prominent existing lists;
1. Irene Jai Narayan crossed the floor to join National Alliance Party NFP.
2. KC Ramrakha, Irene Jai Narayan, Jai Ram Reddy back stabbing Siddiq Koya for Prime Ministership in 1977 general election.
3. Gang of 11 self serving baboons from FijiFirst to People’s coalition.
History is never forgotten and these traitors will be forever despised no matter what justification they give.
Above self interest is the mandate of the electorate. If you betray them, you will remain cursed till your untimely death.
The Judas and intending ones need to be reminded that in this age of social media, AI etc, accountability and trust are not just the purview of a supposedly independent media but is also demanded by the common person, the voter and the public at large.
Some of course have survived on betrayal, hypocrisy and personal agendas, lack any conscience, devoid of any principles and are basically unperturbed by any criticisms. People like Naivalarua who first appeared on the scene as one of the masked Rabuka men who stormed Parliament in 1987. He is not about to change and no doubt is preaching his gang to continue in the same vein suggesting, with time, people will forget.
People like Sashi Kiran, coming from CSO base of service, will be watched if what you suggest is correct. I cannot ever imagine her joining PAP. She may have issues with the NFP leadership leading her to state she would not be contesting the next election. That would be a principled way to go and I do not believe she will sign off the rights of the minorities to Rabuka’s ethnonationalist agenda.
Tikoduadua is an enigma. He lied when he departed FFP claiming he was too ill to continue. Then he stands for NFP and gets sympathy when Bainimarama allegedly assaulted him. He has been preaching and pontificating about multiracialism, peace and religious freedom but now faces the biggest test.
Let us not forget. Anyone with even a hint of defense, military and security involvement ranks highly in Rabuka’s books. This does include people like Seruiratu and multiple others. That is the reason this government is infested with people with military background and are occupying top echelons of all sate bureaucracies, foreign service and state owned enterprises. The other cohort who Rabuka loves is business/people with the mullahs. That is the survival passport of Ajay Amrit, Charan Singhs and Motibhais of this world. And there are many Fiji boasts.
Maybe the international media which will descend for the Nadi pre COP talkfest next week will pick up on the underlying issues and tensions, masqueraded as indigenous issues, as they scrutinise the Vuvale partnership and the empty Ocean of Peace concept.
Is the real motive to change the Constitution to delay the elections so they can fleece the taxpayers for another 36 months as caretaker government?
What does it mean when someone is called a pariah?
AI Overview
A pariah is an outcast or someone who is widely shunned, disliked, and avoided by a social group or community.
What Being a Pariah Means
Social Rejection: People refuse to associate, talk, or deal with the person.
Loss of Trust: It usually happens because the person is distrusted, disliked, or looked down upon due to a specific action, scandal, or belief.
Broader Usage: The term can also describe a government or country (pariah state) isolated by other nations for breaking international rules.
@No pariah that sounds like Baiman. The description fits him nicely. Traitor and pariah. Shunned and despised for selling out the interests of the people. Rabuka’s water boy.
He’s even shunned by Rabuka, his master. And by his own NFP MPs. Lenora, Sashi and Pio. Biman forced their hand. They have seen the writing on the wall. They do not want to run under a hopeless leader and a pathetic party. Biman’s and NFP’s biggest shunning is yet to come. The election.
I don’t think it is acceptable that the public don’t have access to a copy of the draft bill being debated in Parliament.
No one knows which parts of the tabled bill have made it to the level of Parliamentary debate.
This is yet another erosion of trust in the process.
Sashi Kiran has already apologised to the Chiefs on behalf of our ancestors, the Girmityas who did nothing wrong. Isn’t that enough to convince you all that she will defy NFP and support Rabukas illegal constitution?
The CDD has raised serious concerns about the time frame needed to conduct a Referendum, particularly when the legislation is yet to be presented to Parliament. The fact that the Government has left this process until the last minute is timed to ensure there is little or no chance to challenge what they put up!
Which if it is anything like the earlier draft legislation will be poorly drafted and short on detail. The concerns of the CDD are therefore valid given the previous attempt. We will see a rushed process designed to prevent challenge and contain provisions preventing any serious ‘No’ case being put to the people.
As to what the people will be asked to vote depends on what is put to the Parliament to vote on, and only then will the people know. If it passes, only then there will be a referendum if not, no referendum and a General Election to follow.
And little can be done until the vote in Parliament on what the referendum is to be about. How many questions will there be to be considered?
My guess is two:
– one to replace the existing Constitution with a new one designed by the Government.
– the other to allow the General Election to be delayed and not to be conducted under the current Constitution but under the new Constitution and a new electoral process.
Which will take months to put in place and need a major overhaul of the electoral roll to allow for individual constituencies.
All this to happen in the last months of the current Government’s term!
Nothing like changing the rules to stay in power!