Simmering community resentment about the performance of the nation’s MPs has spilled over into the Parliament itself with a extraordinary intervention by the Speaker of the House castigating the nation’s representatives for their indolence and collective dereliction of duty.
It is bound to fuel a nascent but growing belief that Fiji’s problems are beyond the ability of the current government to resolve and that an intervention is required by the military under Section 131 of the Constitution to reset the nation’s course.
As the story goes, this would not be a coup in the normal sense but a lawful, constitutional intervention in defence of the security and well-being of the Fijian people involving the dissolving of the current parliament and the appointment of a government of national unity to deal with the multiple challenges of economic collapse, the narcotics trade and its calamitous consequences and a general breakdown of law and order and community discipline.
This is not some wild provocation by Grubsheet, as it will doubtless be portrayed by my critics. Reports are emerging that the RFMF Commander, Major General Ro Jone Kalouniwai, has been actively canvassing who might lead such a government as he comes under intense pressure to act. Quote: “He is looking for someone to lead. He just hasn’t identified that person yet”.
The Commander evidently doesn’t want to lead himself, as Frank Bainimarama did as commander in 2006. The idea is that an individual of impeccable integrity is identified who could assemble a group of technocrats* free of current political influences and with the experience and expertise to deal holistically with the nation’s multiple challenges.
- Why have we reached this point? Because of an abject failure of leadership across a broad front and a mounting belief in those quarters alarmed by present events that the “narco-state” is already upon us – that the corruption of the drug trade has seeped not only into law enforcement agencies but into the ranks of politicians.
- Why can’t Fiji simply wait until the next election in just over seven month’s time? Because the drift is too dangerous. And the chances of a strong government emerging after the election are next to zero, with multiple political parties lining up to contest it almost guaranteeing the increasing “Balkanisation” of Fijian politics – a bidding war for votes followed by prolonged horsetrading for power that produces an even weaker coalition than the nation is currently labouring under with the People’s Alliance, the NFP and SODELPA.
Even what we have seen thus far is ample evidence that the political class is failing – two deputy prime ministers, Biman Prasad and Manoa Kamikamica, facing trial for corruption and a breakdown of cabinet solidarity as Lynda Tabuya joins the unions in calling for a prescription for economic ruin – a $3 an hour increase in the national minimum wage when Fiji’s faces an unprecedented economic crisis because of events in the Middle East.
Why is the notion of such a radical intervention as suspending the parliament now gaining ground? Part of the reason is on the front page of today’s Fiji Times.
The Speaker’s intervention is direct evidence that the nation’s MPs are incapable of dealing with the current situation. Our elected politicians are missing in action and Fiji is drifting dangerously into waters that threaten to engulf the nation altogether.
And lest there be any doubt that this is a reflection of widespread community discontent with the nation’s MPs, here’s what ordinary people have been saying at the current public hearings of the Constitutional Review Commission.
And who is ultimately accountable for all of this? The fish – as the old saying goes – is rotting from the head.
Clueless, as in the Prime Minister’s total failure to cope with the magnitude of Fiji’s problems…
…and corrupt, in that he continues to refuse to divulge the source of his $150,000 solid gold Rolex watch, which is fueling wider perceptions that Sitiveni Rabuka is bent.
And then there is the appalling hypocrisy of it all – the latest being the Love Rat having the audacity to talk about arresting “moral fragmentation” when he is simply the latest Coalition minister to come to the attention of FICAC.
Moral fragmentation? You said it, buster.
There are already 233 reasons why you don’t deserve to be in the parliament at all. And here’s another one.
The truth is that whatever the legal position, there has been a complete breakdown of normal standards of conduct and morality under the Coalition, which now threatens a complete breakdown of Fiji’s ability to function properly as a nation.
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What Section 131 of the Constitution says:
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* Technocrat. A definition from Google AI:
A technocrat is an expert in a specialized technical, scientific, or economic field who holds a position of authority. Rather than following traditional political ideologies, technocrats emphasize data-driven problem-solving, objective empirical evidence, and operational efficiency in decision-making and policy.
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