24 hours after the Prime Minister said publicly that Lynda Tabuya was a contender for the job of attorney general after the resignation of the minister for muff diving, Siromi Turaga, he has ruled her out. And in the most humiliating fashion.
Tabuya’s hopes were clearly raised by Sitiveni Rabuka‘s initial statement because she made a point of saying publicly that she was qualified for the job. It was a blatant ” choose me!” but that’s not how things work with the Snake.
He was clearly toying with his Information and Climate Change minister, floating the idea of her appointment to gauge the reaction. But he didn’t need Grubsheet and Victor Lal to tell him it wasn’t on.
Tabuya may be formally qualified in that unlike Filimoni Vosarogo, she hasn’t been found guilty of professional misconduct by the Independent Legal Services Commission. But the notion of the Coalition’s Scarlet Woman – an adulterer, pornographer and drug-taker – as the state’s principal law officer was never going to fly and Rabuka knew it.
Lynda will be apoplectic at having her come-hither face rubbed in the dirt but there’s not a damn thing she can do about it. She and the likes of Goldfinger, Manoa Kamikamica, can plot as much as they like behind the scenes but now that Rabuka has confirmed that the d’Hondt system will be retained for the coming election, he is the only “big man” standing and is indispensable.
The People’s Alliance needs him in a way that it doesn’t need Lynda Tabuya or Manoa Kamikamica. So both of them just have to suck it up. And if the Prime Minister wants to toy with his Minister for Bonking and Weed like a cat toying with a cornered rat, that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
Lynda has had 24 hours of her past sins being regurgitated all over again in the prelude to decision day at the ballot box. And has been reminded that however much she might have qualified for the position of AG, she is political poison in polite circles and certainly the law.
The PM has put her firmly in her place and at the same time, reminded his restive colleagues in the PAP just who is boss.
What a difference a day makes…
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