Charlie Charters taunts me on Facebook for usually being wrong. But there’s another thing I got right in March 2025 when I predicted that local government elections wouldn’t be held before the national election.
And whaddayaknow? The Prime Minister announced this morning that the September local government elections are off.
He gives a number of reasons, all of them risible. The $18-million that it would cost to return our cities and towns to municipal control in September is too expensive at a time of economic challenge.
- FACT: Cost isn’t stopping the Coalition government from holding two other national polls – first a referendum on changing the Constitution and then the 2026/27 election itself. And as the Supervisor of Elections, Ana Mataiciwa, has explained, the infrastructure is already in place to hold all three. So the Prime Minister’s claim is rubbish.
The Prime Minister refers to “voter fatigue” as a reason the Fijian people might not turn up.
- FACT: The Fijian people can’t wait to exercise their democratic vote to get rid of these idiots – whether at municipal, national or any level – even a village bazaar – and Sitiveni Rabuka knows it.
So here’s the real reason the local government elections aren’t happening. And I explained it in an article in these columns in March last year.
Qori.
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The bullsh*t spin this morning…
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Oh really? And you think that will be your call to make? Anyone want to lay bets on that?
Here’s the thing, Fiji. The one thing I might have been wrong to predict 14 months ago is that Sitiveni Rabuka would win the coming general election. Why? Because no-one could have predicted how badly he would unravel. How terminally hopeless he has become.
Like a frightened mongoose in the headlights as one of those Fiji Water semi-trailers bears down on him and turns him into road kill.
The full March 2025 article:
If this is anything to go by, it means the government will use the “Fiji can’t afford the fuel” excuse to defer the General Elections as well. Indefinitely.
And the slobs in Fiji called Bainimarama a dictator???
Ah yes, the festering sore that is Local Government.
Whilst some have merit, as a whole the pack of narrow-minded/inexperienced/failed political candidates/otherwise unemployable SAs currently running municipal councils are reflective of growing criticism from ratepayers and the general public.
Declining standards, rhetoric and excuses.
Make their performance appraisals available for public scrutiny against their clearly defined responsibilities.
Old man Suva’s ‘experience’ is no more than ignorance and belligerence.
Swimming Pool still closed?
Pissed all the money up against the wall?
It is a Capital city.
It’s long overdue that ratepayers take control back over their assets and finances instead of central government using municipalities as their ‘play thing’ for political point scoring.
PSLG needs to grow some balls, or a spine at least, instead of being subservient to a master on matters critical to municipalities and financial sustainability.
No changes to fees and charges have got past MLG let alone to Parliament for years, if not decades and most, if not all Councils are probably technically insolvent.
Finances are the number one problem that councils face and yet;
The rates model remains unsustainable whilst UCV is used. Councils need to move to RV which includes improvements on the land.
Before I’m called the anti-christ for putting this forward, every single property owner who has developed and/or generated rental income and/or capital gain has done so without a return to the municipality and that needs to change.
If you can contain your rage for a . moment, that’s how further development is funded that in turn increases (your) property value and is the only model that works for everyone.
Financing for Social and Public Housing is another positive outcome.
You will never have your Singapore any other way.
Then garbage fees could be done away with as that system is being cheated by property owners that are too miserable to pay another $25 a year in garbage fees at their million dollar property because they have an additional tenant whilst it’s actually costing council $500-$1000 per year to collect and dispose of your waste.
Every squatter settlement being provided waste services by and at a cost to Council has a ‘residents association’ that collects fees for amongst other things rubbish collection (grog money). Effectively they are running their own little councils within municipalities and they are going to allow these people who have made conscious decisions not to abide by normal society and laws the ability to vote in municipal elections where they are not rate payers and pay nothing for the same services that ratepayers do?
Sounds like political suicide with unreliable voters to me.
The inability to drive digital transformation across all of council means that there is still significant leakage and opportunities to do the wrong thing remain. Digitalization has been talked about for years but public servants are unfortunately not the ones to drive it.
I do however genuinely commend the Honorable Minister Local Government for appearing to be the only person in all of Government that understands the difference between digitization and digitalization.
The FRA-Municipal Council MOU was a cluster fork from the start with neither party understanding the technical applications and responsibilities let alone financial implications. Giving the Councils responsibility for footpaths and streetlights back does not fix the underlying financial challenges in fact it only exacerbates them.
Best wishes with how that feels good agenda driven by some SAs turns out for everyone.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
In the upcoming national budget there is likely to be a moratorium on second hand car imports.
That doesn’t fix the traffic nor fuel problem.
Change the FRA Act to allow FRA to apply tolls and generate revenue as the country can’t afford to continue to fund infrastructure through central government budget allocations (and thinning tax base thanks to that Lawyer and water company) and must move towards user pays.
Allow Councils to increase metered parking space fees in line with private sector car park operators and it improves council revenue, deters unnecessary car/fuel use, promotes public transport and reduces traffic congestion.
There is no such thing as ‘hardship’ with ratepayers and rate defaulters. They have equity in their property.
Time to down size and pay their dues. Councils are secured as first charge over the land under s.75 of the LGA. That means the bank stands in line if there is a mortgage.
Sell a few houses due to unpaid rates and .ale sure it is front pages news. I’m sure many of the remaining defaulters will correct their behavior very quickly.
Everyone else gets to increase their prices but not Councils?
Smells like vote buying and legalized causing a loss because no one wants to challenge it or combine together to take a class action.
Whole generations who think their grog or bh every day is more important than their cost to society and council.
There is no discipline.
In one breath MLG promotes municipalities to be self sufficient whilst in another breath inhibits their ability to do so.
And when someone is aggrieved by Council decisions and resolution they run to the Ministry or higher offices who then directs you to cease or revert to previous practices.
So, Municipal Elections…return to the days of Councillors who line their own pockets or;
Continue with suitably qualified, experienced and apolitical SAs and CEOs appointed through transparent open merit recruitment with a Top 3 global company e.g. PWC, KPMG.
Repeated Municipal CEO advertisements without appointments being made point to political interference and incompatibility with preferred candidates.
This ladies and gentlemen is why there has been no development nor change in decades
That’s my $2.00 worth, yes inflation has got to that as well.
The ‘deferment’ has nothing to do with the fuel issue and everything to do with political survival!
As having an election before the general election will expose just how incompetent this Government is in both leadership and economic management. It would also allow the opposition parties a perfect opportunity to expose just what this government promised and has not done and just how bad they have managed Fiji.
We have Ministers advocating unaffordable pay rises, PM and Ministers saying different things and a shambles in Government management of the country and finances. As I pointed out previously, the number of Civil Servants and General Workers Employed has grown substantially over the last three years under this Government. When they came to power there were 24255, now it has grown to 30,164 (1 in 30 Fijians). Whilst the population has not grown, Government has!
The projected Operating Cost of Government at the 2022-23 Budget was $2,600,743,100 whilst in the 2025-26 Budget the projected cost is $3,906,866,100 an increase in 3 years of $1,306,123,000. The debt level has gone from Fiji First government debt of $9.5 in 2022 to a government debt now at $ 10.933.8 Billion and climbing.
As for voter fatigue, what a joke! I think the voters of Fiji can hardly wait to vote on this Government’s performance!
Also prevents corruption in the Local Government from being exposed pre-General Elections.
Major reason for deferring the elections is that closet industrialist from Ba in his FB questioned the wisdom of spending so much money.
slr cannot afford to get one of his biggest financial backers offside.
GD, the biggest concern right now in Fiji is the rising costs. These will have serious impacts for all Fijians (except the elite) – will the government reactivate the fiscal review committee?
Last time though that only resulted in more tax for the poor and tax holidays for the richest.
So perhaps, just a thought, the government could change its mind now and use fiscal measures to improve revenue, question whether the tax holiday was mired in conflict of interest and seek reimbursement? Also reduce VAT.
Not sure if the same people should be in the fiscal review committee – but maybe they know more now as they have experience of what went wrong?
Hi GD – if this war continues where fuel price keeps going higher ..can /or does constitution of fiji allow cancelling of national elections altogether ?
Fiji is a price taker and not a price maker..