The announcement that 14 new “proposed” political parties have declared their interest with the Elections Office in contesting the 2026 election has set off a wave of speculation in the national media about what it all means. Yet the answer is very simple. Nothing. Assuming, that is, that we go to the polls next year under the current electoral rules and they aren’t altered before then as a result of the current review headed by the former chief justice, Daniel Fatiaki.
We can be sure that the heavy presence of known NFP supporters on the Electoral Reform Commission means there will be a concerted attempt to alter the current 5 per cent threshold that any political party needs to reach to win any seats at all. Because the suspected collapse of support for the NFP based on its perceived betrayal of the interests of the minorities makes it almost certain that it will struggle to reach that threshold next time.
But here’s the thing, Fiji. It is not in the interests of the People’s Alliance – the main party in the Coalition – to change the electoral system at all. Because the current arrangements virtually guarantee that it will win the next election and win it outright, assuming Sitiveni Rabuka doesn’t choke on his breakfast madrai, go face first into his vakalolo with a heart attack or stroke or go so completely gaga that the men in white coats gently usher him away.
Let me explain.
The current electoral system was specifically devised by Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and “Dobby the House Elf”, Mohammed Saneem, to capitalise on the popularity of Frank Bainimarama by exploiting his “big man” status. The adoption of the d’Hondt system meant that with his star attraction, anyone who the FijiFirst Party chose to hitch their fortunes to the Big Man would ride on his coat-tails into the parliament. And that’s what happened in 2014 and 2018 – a whole lot of people with virtually no national profile getting onto the government benches, sometimes with embarrassingly few votes themselves.
What changed in 2022? The emergence of another “big man” to challenge Frank – Sitiveni Rabuka – who was able to capitalise on the hubris that had set in with Frank and Aiyaz and had gradually gnawed away at their electoral popularity. The warning signs were there in 2018 when FijiFirst barely managed to scrape back in. Yet instead of heeding the calls for them to change course, Frank and Aiyaz doubled down and maintained the arrogance.
Enter not only Sitiveni Rabuka and a new party – the People’s Alliance – but a hook-up between Rabuka and Biman Prasad‘s NFP that completely altered the political dynamic. Rabuka needed the NFP to win in 2022 to soften his image as the coup-maker of 1987. He and Biman Prasad set out to capture the public imagination by recreating Rabuka’s 1990s partnership with Jai Ram Reddy and telling the doubters that Rabuka had changed.
The message was that Rambo realised that his ethno-nationalist agenda was wrong and he would now partner with his new buddy, Biman, to govern for all. As we now know, it was one big con. Rabuka hadn’t abandoned his campaign to restore indigenous paramountcy at all. He had just found another “useful idiot” to give him the veneer of respectability that he needed to win. And that’s what eventually happened – the Rabuka-Prasad partnership bringing them to power with the last-minute decisive assistance of SODELPA. And kaboom. Frank and Aiyaz were gone.
Now, what has changed for 2026.
Sitiveni Rabuka no longer needs Biman Prasad to govern. From the implosion of FijiFirst, he has managed to secure the support of the breakaway Group of 11 ex-FijiFirst supporters now headed by a fellow military man, Ioane Naivalurua, that also includes the former RFMF Commander, Viliame Naupoto, plus a rabid ethno-nationalist in the form of “Mad Mo” Bulitavu who had managed to worm his way into Frank and Aiyaz’s favour but has proved to be one of the biggest wolves in sheep’s clothing.
With this Group of 11 “independents” who have joined his government as ministers and look certain to contest the next election as members of the People’s Alliance, Sitiveni Rabuka has what he needs to win again. But this time, almost certainly without having to go into Coalition with anyone. He also has a handful of Indo-Fijians – the latest plucked from the remnants of FijiFirst – to give him at least a veneer of multiracialism, even if it is window-dressing of the most cynical kind.
So here’s something Grubsheet would never have imagined – being able, with reasonable confidence, to call the result of the 2026 election more than 18 months out. With the proviso, of course, that the electoral laws don’t change because Rabuka can win decisively with them as they are and he will be keen not to tamper with a winning formula. And assuming his health – mental and physical – holds up. Oh, and there’s not a coup in the meantime to remove him.
The field of play looks to me like this:
- With Frank gone and unable ever to return because of his jail sentence, Sitiveni Rabuka is the only “big man” left to sweep the floor with all-comers and carry a whole lot of others into the parliament. This now includes seasoned former FijiFirst members such as Ioane Naivalurua and Viliame Naupoto. (Perhaps providence can shine on us all and “Mad Mo” can choke on his breakfast madrai).
- Within the PAP, the likes of Manoa Kamikamica and Sakiasi Ditoka are no threat and may never be because they lack the charisma to be “big men” like Siti and Frank. And any notion that Lynda Tabuya is a “big woman” and can thrive again in the PAP or go it alone with her own party is a fantasy in her own head. Fiji may not be as conservative as it once was but Room 233 and the porn video will keep Lynda a fringe player at best.
- Grubsheet has long believed that the betrayal of the minorities by Biman Prasad and the NFP mean that it will struggle to achieve the 5 per cent threshold in 2026. Even if its appointments to the Electoral Reform Commission manage to recommend changes to benefit the NFP, the PAP will block their implementation because the current system suits Rabuka just fine.
- If the reports are true that Biman Prasad wants to be vice chancellor of USP, even he can see the writing on the wall. And if they have any sense of self-preservation, the likes of Pio Tikoduadua, Lenora Qereqeretabua and Sashi Kiran, should be sucking up to Rolex Rambo even more than they are, with a view to getting with the strength at the PAP.
- I think SODELPA is also finished, with the party leadership currently tearing itself apart over Aseri Radrodro and his antics with Lynda in Room 233. Radrodro is now so desperate that he is reportedly telling people that it wasn’t him in Room 233 but someone else. Er, tell that to your wife who was asleep in an adjacent room and went looking for you in the middle of the night. But more fundamentally, SODELPA have had their political legs cut from beneath them by Rabuka, who is outdoing them in pandering to the indigenous supremacists. So they too will not make the 5 per cent threshold as the “Snake” outmanoeuvres them. Remember, they just got over the line last time with cuddly “Blinky Bill” Gavoka. But the Love Rat is simply carrying too much baggage, having once also beaten his ex-wife and the PM’s daughter to within an inch of her life. Rabuka is about to get his revenge.
- The official Opposition leader, Inia Seruiratu, and those ex-FijiFirst Bainimarama- Khaiyum loyalists should start looking for other jobs. I would like to be wrong but they have been betrayed by Naivalurua, Naupoto and the other defectors to the government and I don’t think they are going to make the 5 per cent next time either. Seruiratu may be a good man but isn’t a political “big man” now and never will be. And the likes of Jone Usamate, Faiyaz Koya, Premila Kumar and Ketan Lal simply don’t have the electoral grunt to make a difference.
- The proposed link-up between Mahendra Chaudhry‘s Labour Party and Savenaca Narube’s Unity Party is more likely to produce our next opposition. With Inia Seruiratu largely the opposition leader in name only, Chaudhry has increasingly become the defacto opposition leader in the public mind. And while he and Narube failed to make the 5 per cent threshold last time, they may just gain the political momentum this time to get across the line. If I were advising Narube, I would urge him to stop talking about changing the Constitution. Unless he can say the common and equal citizenry and the common identity are non-negotiable and the minorities find a new home with Unity and Labour.
So there we have it. Grubsheet’s tentative prediction… a majority PAP government and a Labour/ Unity opposition. Which let’s face it, is a tragedy for Fiji because the current government is just so hopeless.
The one glimmer of hope is that Sitiveni Rabuka will use the David Ashton-Lewis Commission of Inquiry report to clean out the government’s ranks, including Biman Prasad and the likes of Barbara Malimali and Lynda Tabuya, and reset the whole shebang. But don’t count on it. Because there are already rumours that the report will be spiked.
And here’s another prediction. The local government elections won’t be going ahead. Why? For the same reason the electoral changes won’t go ahead. Because it doesn’t suit the Prime Minister or the PAP. Two reasons:
(a) They would be an electoral test of the government that would merely confirm its current unpopularity – a virtual referendum months before the real thing. And unless the Coalition really is run by lemmings, municipal elections will be kicked into touch.
(b) Labour’s Mahendra Chaudhry, for one, is planning to field Labour candidates in every municipal seat. And because Labour has both the party machine and people experienced in local government as supporters, it could do very well if those elections go ahead and build significant electoral momentum for next year. Rabuka undoubtedly knows this and my guess is he won’t take the risk. He just doesn’t need the bad headlines.
Aside from choking, heart attack, stroke or full onset dementia, what could possibly derail “Big Man Rolex Rambo’s” plans? Well, of course, the sudden emergence of another big man to kick him off his perch. Grubsheet and a great many others have this at the top of their nightly prayers but the Almighty still hasn’t answered them.
This person would have to be charismatic, moderately clever, a persuasive speaker, media friendly, be bereft of Tabuya-like skeletons in the closet and be capable of capturing the public imagination in just a few months. And even God himself-herself seems to be struggling to anoint such a person.
So it looks like Rolex Rambo again, which undoubtedly accounts for his chutzpah in sporting a $150,000 “plus” solid gold timepiece and telling us all he “reserves the right to remain silent” about who gave it to him. If he was worried about being re-elected, he would just have the customary Swatch or hair and freckle on his wrist. But he already knows his electoral prospects are like his new watch. Solid gold.
POSTSCRIPT:
Oh, and did I mention that none of the new 14 “proposed” political parties will ever make it? Even if they can obtain the 5,000 signatures they need to officially get the go-ahead, none of them are capable of getting the 23,000 or so votes (based on the 2022 turnout) to make the 5 per cent threshold. And you can be sure that Sitiveni Rabuka will want to keep it that way.
Analysis in today’s Fiji Sun by civil servant-turned-academic, Jioji Kotobalavu.
The state of play last time:
Electoral prospects? Solid gold.
UPDATE FRIDAY AM:
Some people have misconstrued this article as an expression of support for Sitiveni Rabuka and the People’s Alliance when it is definitely NOT.
- Rabuka is a confidence trickster who lied his way into power by saying that he realised what he did in 1987 was wrong and would govern for all when he has pursued the same ethno-nationalist agenda to establish indigenous supremacy.
- His chaotic and capricious management style has been a disaster for Fiji as the country lurches from one political crisis to another.
- He has destroyed public confidence to the extent that more than 100,000 Fijians have left since he took power to add to the mass exodus he triggered with his coups of 1987.
- He refuses to rule out abolishing the common and equal citizenry and the common identity and his ministers openly talk of returning Fiji to the racially-weighted 1997 Constitution, inviting global condemnation and disgrace.
- He is utterly amoral – tolerating scandalous conduct from his ministers that would be sackable offences in any other democracy.
- He is totally insensitive to the plight of the underprivileged to the extent of flaunting a “$150,000 plus” solid gold Rolex when many of those who elected him can’t even get water or electricity.
- He has broken all standards of acceptable public conduct by refusing to be transparent and accountable about the source of his Rolex and other manifestations of wealth, making the ludicrous claim that he is “entitled to remain silent” when he is not.
- He has taken cronyism and patronage to an entirely new level with grossly inappropriate appointments to civil service positions, government boards and the diplomatic service.
- He has given tax concessions to billionaires and raised taxes for Fijians struggling to put food on the table.
- He has increased the national debt and is steadily reducing the nation’s tax base as more of our best and brightest leave, making us more dependent on foreign aid to prop up the budget and entrenching Fiji’s status as a beggar nation.
- He has trashed the integrity of our institutions of state by putting handpicked individuals into positions that should be independent but are actually there to do his bidding.
- He pretends that when these people make decisions that are not in the public interest that it has nothing to do with him when he exercises total control over the levers of power.
- He has degraded the quality of governance in Fiji to the extent that the most basic of services such as national infrastructure, health and education are worse than in the entire history of post-independent Fiji.
- He has enriched himself and other politicians with unprecedented pay increases, allowances and tax concessions on new vehicles when more than half of those who put him there are living below the poverty line.
- He is grossly unfit to lead yet has increased his majority in the parliament and will win the next election having bought off a large chunk of the opposition with cabinet positions using your money.
Does that sound like an endorsement to you?
Right. I hope I have made myself clear.
If I have forgotten anything, please feel free to add it to the comments section below.
Have a good weekend.
OUR SOAP will form a coalition government. There we have it!
Your SOAP will slip down the drain before that happens. Unless you have Jesus as your new clean-skin candidate, you are wasting your time.
RRP could be another party name, Rolex Rambo Party! No?
This is the time for the GCC to step up.
Call your party what you may, contest every seat as GCC and see where we stand.
The itaukei must overwhelming vote for all chiefs contesting under the GCC banner.
This is not a facetious suggestion.
Jioji Kotabalavu is a Rabuka supporter, in his article, he clearly recommends the proposed party leaders joins existing political parties instead.
He knows what he is talking about and even though we are poles apart on everything else, I agree with him about this.
We need solid political groupings, not the increased “Balkanisation” of Fijian politics into tiny, fragmented single issue or narrow focussed parties.
That’s why the 5 percent threshold was implemented in the first place – to avoid the horse trading between multiple parties after an election and coalitions that are unworkable.
Even the current one of three parties is dysfunctional. So my own view is that the 5 per cent threshold should be kept. Because strong political parties produce strong governments.
Lynda once said that they want to decrease the 5% threshold for political parties to get into parliament. If the threshold does get lowered, then it will become easier for Mahendra and FLP to get into parliament.
Lynda wants it lowered so that she can leave the PAP and set up the “Kadavuans for Porn and Weed Party”. She is a dangerous narcissist and inveterate liar and must be thwarted.
Mahendra has 2 major problems that keep voters away, one is Rajendra Pal Chaudhary and the other is the $2 million dollar saga.
People may forgive him for the 2 million but never forgive him for getting his much hated son into his political circle.
If Mahendra wants to become PM again and he can, he needs to publicly denounce the idiot son from Takanini and give a detailed account of the $2 million since people are contesting whether the money was for him or for the badly beaten up farmers.
During the last elections, we almost debated on whether to vote Chaudhary back in but these 2 issues kept cropping up . Most people in Fiji would vote Chaudhary if he can get rid of the idiot son Rajendra from our lives in Fiji.
Maybe the fourteen wannabe leaders should get together and form one party.
Could call it the ‘ For Team Party ‘ and maybe they will have a hope as otherwise they won’t have a cat in hell’s chance of going anywhere.
Tea Party is probably an appropriate name for them.
The number of parties really shows how every indigenous leader in this country thinks they can be the next PM. It is laughable. I bet none of them have thought about a single policy yet, well except Fijians First. Not that I am for the Fijians First but here we are. Nothing but a mess that Fiji has today.
What do we tell a child in this country today?
Go do a coup. You can then become a Prime Ministet.
Go rape a minor. You can become a President.
Go beat a woman. You can become a Minister for Woman.
Go pick an ex meth convict as a business partner. You can become a Minister for indigenous peoples.
Go tell them you are divorced and have brutal sex on tax payer money. You can become the Minister for Women and Children. Yes, the children, that’s me.
Go hide your wealth and don’t declare them. Give your wife $200,000 of taxpayer money. You can become the Minister for Finance.
Our children have the best role models right in front of them. Don’t be surprised that the country has high rates of bullying, sexual abuse, financial and physical abuse. We are enabling this behaviour for years. This is what we have for leadership in our country. Take a hard look in the mirror as an adult. Now, do something. Don’t vote. Get out of this country.
The game changes entirely if Bainimarama wins his appeal, although I am quite aware that the judiciary has been stacked with Rabuka’s ethno-nationalists to prevent this from happening and is hardly independent as Baiman and Richard “I have the means” so foolishly claim.
Unfortunately for Frank, he has another case pending and reportedly more in the pipeline. So that even if he wins an appeal against the first, they intend to tie him up in the courts for years.
Graham, this was a sobering read about the lamentable return of Sitiveni Rolex.
Rolex’s poor leadership is the sole reason for the current state of our poor economy, and nobody in our bloated cabinet seems to have enough grey matter to even conduct a managed decline.
I say this with the greatest degree of candour, in terms of our economy and productivity, Frank left some pretty big shoes that an almost senile PM with a Rolex couldn’t fill.
Rolex’s next term as PM is a death knell for Fiji because he will continue to be the polarizing figure pandering only to the elite ITAUKEIS with self preservation interests.
Rolex hasn’t really achieved anything tangible in terms of bread and butter issues, instead we’ve seen nothing but decline under his piss poor leadership.
The hospitals, roads and water, drugs and HIV situations weren’t this dire when he took over in 2022.
In 2022, Rolex’s propaganda machinery machinery hoodwinked the people into believing the WAQAVUKA CONSPIRACY.
The next election is a mere 18 months away and Rolex’s propaganda machinery is at it again, this time baiting the voters about the need to change the constitution.
ITAUKEI voters need to ask themselves and examine if there really ever was an adverse impact on their livelihood, culture and traditions by Frank’s equal citizenry and common identity provisions in the 2013 constitution. And also, were their livelihood, culture and traditions really ever adversely affected by the abolition of the GCC under Frank’s tenure?
The constitution and the GCC is being pawned by Rolex to stir people emotionally for votes and to divert people’s attention away from the more urgent bread and butter issues.
I hope the voters are vigilant going into the next election.
Rabuka’s men and women are very unpopular from Ditoka to Vatimi and Lynda! He will only be a fool if he wants to take voting back to constituencies because he won’t get his candidates in!
I guess yes he may win again with the current voting system but who needs him? Why do we need this idiot in govt and leading Fiji?
Go retire already Rabuka! You’re a liability to Fiji! Yuck !
While everyone’s busy with the Rolex saga and 14 parties (personally I’d like to see a coalition of OUR SOAP) has anyone noticed the rate at which Grace Road is progressing.
The many supermarket/restaurant buildings are now being expanded to include substantial sized two level structures. These include outside tenants as well. Furthermore, they now expanding into the Tourism sector as well.
The property in Yadua is the latest example. There is a hotel being built behind the Service Station. The juggernaut is only building up speed and it won’t be slowing down anytime soon. Irrespective of what’s happening with the Grace Road church side of things, we should be learning from the business entity.
No use sending the chiefs to China when you can just send them down to Navua!
I will vote for any party but the boot and ass lickers of NFP.
The 2013 Constitution promoted ‘big man’ politics. You virtually had to be a rock star to win Government.
Frank and his mentor Khaiyum deserted their Party thus leaving ‘Rolex Rambo’ to be the ‘big man’ standing.
Rolex Rambo has succeeded in destroying the Fiji First party. Next on his list are SODELPA and NFP. They will also be consigned to the dustbin of history in 2026. Rambo will be the last man standing.
The ethno-nationalists and their agenda will prevail.
Thresholds are not new nor are they exclusive to Fiji. They generally apply when a proportional system like Fiji’s is the electoral system. They favour parties and not individuals.
Both the previous Government and the current one had or have a clearly recognizable leader, without whom it is not possible to campaign nationally and acquire sufficient support to reach the voting threshold.
The threshold in Fiji is too high at 5%. This translates into a party immediately gaining at least 2 seats and possibly 3, depending on the vote count threshold. Perhaps if it were 3% this would still require significant support but not guarantee a particular number of seats. It would also allow potentially more parties to qualify and prevent a party from gaining absolute control of Parliament.
I don’t see the current Government entertaining a return to single member electorates. To do so would potentially see the rise of strong local candidates, who could not win in the current system but may in individual electorates. It could also see the resurgence of the Fiji Labour Party either on its own or combined with Savenaca Narube’s Unity Party. Both have support in areas of Fiji. It appears they are avoiding holding Local Government elections for the same reason.
The potential Parties being announced would struggle under the current registration requirements to qualify given the number of supporters required (5000) and the amount that is needed from each Division. I don’t see FijiFirst reappearing either as they are too fragmented and have no recognizable leader, will need to reregister and may still be debt.
As for the ‘independents’ their days as a Member of Parliament, (unless they join a party) are over at the next election. Independents don’t survive in proportional voting systems.
I agree with your analysis GD about the rock star or big man attraction during elections. Am hoping that the Commander of the military would retire and stand in next year’s elections. He would do well. He currently is shying away from the spotlight but if he starts using his mandated role and dishes out narratives now that upholds the values that Fijians aspire to and then at the last minute, resign and stand for elections, he could unsettle Rabuka as the vote drawer.
Rabuka is 76 , Radrodro is 52 or 53 , Tabuya is 52 , Gavoka is 75 ,
By virtue of age the Tabuya’s & Radrodros of the world can bide their time.Age is on their side .
Insisting on the Education portfolio was very strategic by the overly ambitious & undeserving Radrodro .
Most of the kids he has presided over as Education Minister don’t know any better and so look up to him because of the authority his title confers and he will be a name they are familiar with as they come up to voting age in the years ahead .
(Think back to your own school days , when a Minister visited all the ceremonial courtesies bestowed on the big wigs) .
I think he will be hard to root out of Fiji politics permanently unless his support base’s rose coloured glasses fall off and the same goes for Tabuya .
Fiji needs an urgent injection of good people standing for government because otherwise power is gifted by the names and influencers you know and not the talent you need .
With so many proposed political parties and those names behind them, Fijians are in fact the most intelligent people in the world. All of them.
How’s that change in my rhetoric GD?
They are not only God fearing of a vulagi GOD, they do things the right way. The Fijian way – there is no better way of doing things. The vulagi will never understand.
Irony is not your string suit either. Please go back to being direct. 😉
Ok, let me put it this way. Anyone who votes for these new dodgy parties with dodgy leaders is an idiot. In fact anyone who votes for PAP, SODELPA and NFP is an idiot. How many do you think are there in Fiji???
I mean there are many in this forum who did that last time. Pls do not tell me you all were conned. You all are haters and prejudiced. That is the problem and nothing has changed.
Ha ha ha! Vinaka GD.
Churaga!!! Haven’t the upcoming parties learnt anything??? The more fragmented the weaker they are🤦!!!! Guess not… Join forces and get their act together… Sa levu na viavia leaders!!….
Very soon we’ll have as many political parties as we have breakaway/ splinter churches.
I vote for SOAP.
free soap for life. vujulaki
He has demonstrated to be a neutral person and comes across as very calm and intelligent. He would be good but he must make sure to have an extremely seasoned lawyer and economist/ banker by his side. Rabuka’s downfall are having lawyers in his cabinet who don’t know law well enough and having an economics academician. All with no charisma. All will old leadership style.
Don’t give up just yet!
Every challenge presents at least a window or door of opportunity. Kick it open! Let’s discuss openly and agree to disagree.
1. The 14 proposed parties signify one important point. As diverse as they may be, they share a common position. They don’t support the current coalition government.
2. First filtering process done. Leverage that. Start there.
3. The two registered parties, Unity Fiji Party and Fiji Labour Party should put aside their big egos and differences, unite and jointly invite the leaders of the other 14 proposed parties to a closed meeting first to test the waters. Who are they? What do they want? Do they even have a plan/manifesto? Or some inkling of one lol.
4. If positive, go public and unpack the obvious. Coalition govt uses Fiji Times to do their biased PR. Give Fiji Sun a fighting chance, willya? There’s only one way to do this. UNITE as one Government-in-waiting Coalition. Even if wobbly at the knees at the inception.
5. Very important! Don’t accept any sitting MP in both Government and Opposition under any circumstances! It defeats the core campaign message: This coalition government has FAILED us. And failed us miserably. Especially the poor and marginalised. They raised their own salaries by a whopping 138% while you struggle to support your families daily.
6. What will be the main campaign platform. Simple. Look at all the weaknesses of this coalition government AND the lame duck Opposition.
7. Prioritise the bread and butter issues as your core campaign platform. And more importantly, commit to it. Voters have long memories.
8. First 100 days.
8(i). Reduce parliamentary salaries by 50% across the board. Reduce no of ministers to 15. Can you do that?
8(ii). Appoint assistant ministers only for the big portfolios (health, infrastructure, education, finance, agriculture).
8(iii). Reduce VAT to 9%.
8(iv). Clean up white collar corruption – starting in parliament! Use the COI report.
9. Start there! Don’t be too ambitious. Check those boxes within the first 100 days. If you can, you’re already campaigning for 2030. Keep going.
10. By this time, the key ministries should be already on a parallel track to move to the next big ticket items focusing on the economy. Job creation! Bread and butter issues. For Pete’s sakes, raise the blardy social welfare payments. Review budget allocation. Prioritise!
11. Don’t forget the people, alright?!
12. Focus on good governance. Put all ministers on ‘probation’ . Any substantiated immoral conduct, porn, adultery, nepotism, cronyism, etc., give them 24 hrs to resign voluntarily or fire them publicly. That’s the deal before they even take oath.
Deliver within 1 year or stand down.
If greed, corruption, same-same kilavata taxi, OB/OG club re-emerge, take them all to the cleaners. Enough already! Let’s warmly welcome the last option in the constitution for our children’s sake and our beloved country.
Last warning, all politicians and aspiring politicians out there. Shape up or we ship you all out to Naboro! If we can send former PMs to prison, the rest of you are a lazy walk in the park.
Any takers to add to the list?
Correct/amend, add, delete 😇
Fantastic. Vinaka!
The thoughts of a Third World, third- rate voter, who obviously regrets voting this mob in because he/she was blind. But I cannot hold that against you because the rest of the country is still blind.
Regarding the Friday update, that is a Curriculum Vitae that any autocratic Dictator of a third world country would be proud of, as he tramples over the starving bodies of his subjects whilst filling his bank account.
It’s such a pity that this country was once a democratically run entity that decided it would be better off to go it alone without the help of the people that were keeping it on the right track.
Thus allowing it to slowly slip into the decay of what is happening today with a failed government and even more failing roads, health, power, water, education, justice infrastructure whist a few at the top get richer and the ones paying the bills are leaving and the rest live in poverty.
A sickening reminder of what can happen when those that promise the best for the people get the ability to rule and succumb to the baubles of power.
The aim for the newbies may not be to have enough seats to form a new government. It’s sufficient just to get into parliament as an opposition. For the self serving the renumeration and perks of an MP without being in the governing party or being a minister is enough. Besides – they can cross over to the other side for some silver or maybe gold. So the goal is to just somehow get on the gravy bus into parliament – if you can’t beat them, join them at the trough. I don’t think the large number of party hopeful registrations necessarily mean dissatisfaction with the coalition govt.
Agreed. Parliament provides an employment opportunity without technical qualification . One can make a risk assessment and determine the probability of getting into it and getting a good ROI ( return on investment).
Its all a question of selling oneself!
Are you an excellent orator, like a good ol preacher, school teacher.
Well known personality. Military man, Rugby player. Mighty Administrator.
But most off all are you an excellent liar, bereft of morals and integrity, a real sell your mother kind of a guy, then you have all the makings of a Fijian politician and if allowed an excellent Western Politician, after all, if you become a PM you will need all these marvelous traits to deal with our Western overlords.
Good morning GD. There is a shift into election mode and so what will be your position with Grubsheet and its policies towards support or not of parties and candidates. Will you make a pick and support it to the end or open up to all prospects, at least, until they show a clear hand what they represent and how successful they may be.
Too soon to say, Ian. But I will not make the same mistake and take people on trust. And neither should anyone else.
From the day they banished Ratu Mara to his island, the country has been doomed. He said in his last interview with Richard Broadbridge, that Fiji would never be the same nor recover…and it hasn’t. Sad but true….. Agree with the comments, re Mahend without Rajend, sadly, Chaudhry Snr’s weak link…
Despite an unimpressive track record, if Rabuka emerges as the winner, it would raise serious questions about the judgment of our voters. Educated and compassionate Fijians, regardless of race, are unlikely to be easily swayed by mere race-based politics and failed leadership. They will consider the current state of affairs—right now, it’s a zero. What more can Rabuka accomplish in the next 12 to 18 months with a Finance Minister who seems lost and a cabinet of ministers preoccupied with foreign trips, neglecting the urgent domestic needs? Ordinary Fijians are suffering.
The new parties are still hard to assess, but we shouldn’t discount former FFP MPs. While they may appear inactive, many have been working in the field. Some have been making great interventions in and outside the parliament. For Labor and Unity Parties, they have a big challenge ahead as they struggled in the past elections. It will be much clearer by the end of this year on the strengths of the parties. But GD, your analysis is an eye-opener for the voters.
We must ensure that Rabuka, with his divisive politics and his ally, the deceptive NFP leader Biman, don’t once again deceive the voters.
Unity, Labour, Fijians First can reign together. Without Bai and Kai.
Banishing Ratu Mara in the most demeaning, disrespectful way possible is the shame the country and corrupt Rolex man, the Veiuto thugs of 2000, isikia Savua, the pardoned treasonous thugs, the military, and particularly his very own people from his very own group of islands must live with forever.
So much for the bullsh1t of the
bati-warriors protecting their chief with their lives.
The land and its people are cursed.
Even educated folks still back this crew, maybe blinded by their own biases I suppose.
Stability’s the buzzword, most can’t really grasp what it means…. did anyone notice within a few months of the new crew starting drugs suddenly became rampant…changing priorities maybe
I wonder if anyone will bite the bullet and maybe just maybe introduce a new law which says if the budget deficit exceeds say 3% in any given year the gang who passed it can never stand for election again
GD is 100% correct: nobody but an (indigenous) bigman will ever lead this country – and right now, Rambo appears to be the only candidate fitting that bill.
Accordingly, all those new micro-parties are nothing but silly vanity projects with zero chances of success who achieve strictly nothing except helping the PA by splitting the vote.
That said, the real kingmaker remains the military, and those prime ministers and even presidents all merely serve at their pleasure.
You may not like it, and they may even vehemently deny it – but it is the simple truth and everybody knows it to be so.
With that in mind, and in view of the seemingly irreversible catastrophic trajectory the country appears to be set upon, we might once again be in dire need of an intervention.
No, not a coup.
How about this time, the military openly field a competent management team (who would have to resign from the force in order to be eligible) to formulate a coherent and inclusive vision and path forward, and put the country back on the right track: much like Frank’s initial cleanup campaign – but this time, sans coercion and fully transparently, democratically and legally.
The aim should be to form a government of national unity, where the best people for the specific tasks would be invited to join as heads of the various ministries, departments and organizations.
And given the right a) leadership, b) remuneration and incentives, and c) accountability and obviously, d) funding, I’m confident that the civil service has already more than enough competence to then execute the given tasks and turn things around.
And yes: strictly no more kleptocracy: goodbye keke, kalavata and salusalus , and strictly no more gabfests, junkets and per diems all the way to those exorbitant salaries, rampant nepotism and lawlessness, 150k Prados and gold Rolexes!
And the current gang will need to be held to account as their conduct is just simply unbearable.
If done transparently and inclusively, I’m sure that grouping would win the election in a landslide.