An extraordinary conspiracy to oust the Vice Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, has emerged in a confidential unsigned email circulating at the highest levels in Fiji and the region that has been leaked to Grubsheet.
The author is someone using a pseudonym – “Hope Full” – at a “hopeful4change” gmail address which Grubsheet understands to be a group email of those involved in the plot. It has been forwarded to me by an impeccable high level source.
Assuming it is authentic – and there is no reason to doubt that it is – the secret campaign to remove Professor Ahluwalia involves the Tongan Prime Minister, Hu’akavemeiliku Siaosi Sovaleni, plus a who’s who of prominent officials at USP and the Pacific Islands Forum who are identified in the email by name.
It reveals one of the leaders of the plot as Fijian Filipe Jitoko, the head of the PacREF Facilitation Unit (PFU) at USP – which is officially described as a regional education policy framework under the oversight of ministers of education from the Pacific Forum countries.
Yet in an even more startling development, the leaked correspondence also reveals that Filipe Jitoko’s niece is Sainiana Radrodro – the wife of the recently reinstated Fijian Minister for Education, Aseri Radrodro – and discloses that she is being recruited to join the campaign.
The email specifically says Sainana’s role is to use her influence with her husband – who sits on the USP Council – to prevent Biman Prasad – Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister, leader of the NFP and former USP academic – from being able to intervene to save Pal Ahluwalia from dismissal.
QUOTE: “Filipe is to meet with Fiji Education Ministers wife Sainiana who is Filipe’s niece to stop DPM (Deputy Prime Minister) Prasad from attending any USP Council or PIFs so VC Pal can be removed”. UNQUOTE.
If this is true, the revelation not only has the potential to cause a great deal of angst at USP but poses a grave threat to the unity of Fiji’s Coalition government. Because the email reveals that the plot involves not only removing the Vice Chancellor but Biman Prasad’s wife, Dr Rajni Chand – a senior academic at USP and Director of the University’s Centre of Flexible Learning.
As Grubsheet readers will recall, Sainiana Radrodro was the wronged party in her husband’s sensational affair with Lynda Tabuya in Room 233 of the Windsor Hotel in Melbourne last August. Sainiana was left sleeping in an adjoining room while the Education Minister was enticed to engage in a “brutal” drug-fuelled sex encounter with the Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation while both were on a parliamentary delegation visit to Victoria.
Sainiana Radrodro accessed explosive text messages from Lynda Tabuya on her husband’s phone and triggered the scandal that cost Tabuya her position as deputy leader of the People’s Alliance by leaking them to Victor Lal at Fijileaks, But she has stuck by her husband despite his brazen infidelity and both Aseri Radrodro and Lynda Tabuya have survived in the Fijian cabinet as Education Minister and Minister for Women and Children respectively.
Sainiana Radrodro and Victor Lal are known to be close from their days working at the old Fiji Sun in Suva. So it may also be no coincidence – now that we know that Sainiana is the niece of Filipe Jitoko, one of the alleged plotters at USP – that Victor Lal has published a series of recent stories attacking Pal Ahluwalia and calling for him to be investigated by FICAC – the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption.
The leaked email below brings the secret conspiracy against the Vice Chancellor into the “cleansing sunlight” of public scrutiny and raises serious questions about the motivation of some of the principals involved in gunning for him when many USP students, parents and other stakeholders believe that what the University needs after years of turmoil is stability above all else.
Grubsheet understands that Pal Ahluwalia retains the confidence of the majority of members on the USP Council, including its Acting Pro-Chancellor and Chair – Professor Pat Walsh of New Zealand – plus other nations including Samoa, where Ahluwalia has lived for much of the time since his dead-of-night seizure and deportation from Fiji in 2021 after he fell out with the former FijiFirst government.
The Vice Chancellor was welcomed back to Fiji with a great deal of fanfare after the election of the Rabuka government but is still to move back permanently to the Laucala Bay campus – one of a number of points of contention that has reportedly triggered a staff rebellion against him. We’ll examine that rebellion in detail in a separate article tomorrow.
One of the main questions arising from this leaked email is whether Fiji – which still reportedly owes USP more than $80-million in outstanding contributions withheld by the previous government – has turned on Pal Ahluwalia. Is Aseri Radrodro, as Minister for Education, now also among those who want him gone? That’s certainly the inference if Radrodro’s wife, Sainiana, is being recruited by her uncle, Filipe Jitoko, to use her influence to keep Biman Prasad away from USP until the plotters can remove Pal Ahluwalia and Biman Prasad’s wife.
Read on for an astonishing missive that will be causing a great deal of dyspepsia all over Suva and the region’s other capitals this morning as the principals in the conspiracy find themselves publicly unmasked. This plot is now well and truly out in the open and the University Council at USP will have to move quickly to staunch the flow of blood and try to avert a major internal schism plus a potential diplomatic confrontation in the region
Coming soon, why Pal Ahluwalia has gone from “hero to zero” in the eyes of his critics at USP. And why the young people of Fiji and the Pacific are again having their educations disrupted by political power plays at the region’s pre-eminent institution of learning in a struggle that threatens not only the stability of the university but regional cohesion.
The USP email: Recipient’s name redacted but identity verified by Grubsheet. We will try to decipher the acronyms as the day progresses.
Background on one of the supposed coup leaders, Filipe Jitoko – uncle of Sainiana Radrodro, who is the wife of Fiji’s Education Minister.
I have 2 questions GD.
First being, do you really think Sainiana the wife of the love rat Radrodro would allow herself to be involved in such a scandal?
Secondly, why would she speak to Radrodro about this issue when it gains her nothing ?
I’m hopeful that the beautiful lady will stay far away from the USP saga and likewise stay far away from any work her c**t crazed husband does.
I’ve quite admired the way she has carried herself during the disgusting scandal between her love rat husband and the Minister for Bonking Lynda Tabuya who get to keep their rotten jobs at the expense of Sainiana’s public humiliation along with her children.
GD there has been a lot of interesting developments of late! It seems at the recent Sodelpa Women’s AGM, it was announced that Sainiana is also contesting the next General Elections under the Sodelpa banner, alongside her husband! That would be the first for Fiji to have a husband and wife contesting any General Elections together. Whilst it may be strange, precedent has been set with the Speaker Rt Naiqama Lalabalavu and his son current Minister for Health Ro Antonio Lalabalavu contesting under the People’s Alliance Party together in the 2022 General Elections.
The funny thing is, as soon as it was announced that Sainiana would be contesting elections , her karua using the name Harley Quinn as a pseudo name on Facebook, took to town in various posts attacking Sainiana and accusing her of a string of obsenities and crime including running down Sainiana’s past (before she married the love rat).
So stay tuned for more cat fight as disgraced Lynda Tabuya realizes the woman she tried to get her lover to leave and to marry her instead, will be sharing the campaign trail against the once popular LT.
My bet is on Sainiana being successful as a candidate. She has been notably the driving force behind Sodelpa campaigns as evident on social media and in media news from as far back as 2014.
It’s party time folks and popcorn time !
Get yourselves ready for some revealing battles ahead.
As for Professor A Pal, he’s a lost cause. Don’t get involved Mrs Radrodro! Not worth your time!
Mrs Radrodro leaked the messages herself, so if any matrimonial humiliation became public, she was the one who made it so.
A nation deserves the leaders it has, and Fiji deserve the shithole we are in and getting deeper into.
There was a reason why Pal was being removed previously, and his persistence with his antics now brings forth further drama.
Hero to Zero should be the title of the book for this collision government. The economic plan from the pongo professor and his legal advisor / journalist / economic expert:
Captain Conflict has been a total disaster. The bright idea was to shrink the economy, tax holidays for billionaires and punish the poor with more VAT. Then when people ask public interest questions about things like tax how does Pongo professor and captain conflict react?
Do they do what they said they would and answer the questions? Hell no.
They don’t because the only people who take the Pongo professor and captain conflict seriously is Pongo Prof and captain conflict.
So clever as critics but so clueless in government. Hated Aiyaz but incredibly have done worse job than even him!
Are the conspirators trying to cover up some wrong-doing on their part by trying to oust Professor Pal? He must be doing something right in order to trigger this revolt from within the ranks. Let’s hope right minded people in authority will stand with him. And SLR is probably regretting his decision to hand the MoE portfolio to AR given these revelations. At least the cat is out of the bag now and all eyes will be focused on the so-called premier institution of higher learning in the Pacific, albeit for all the wrong reasons.
Ahuwalia is not fit for the Pacific. He must go.
This is a regional upheaval that could go sour and have concerning political disarray within the region. It is boiling up.
The question is who is doing the boiling. It certainly isn’t the Vice Chancellor but his critics.
How many leaders in the Pacific government have to go to prison because of this one man who is not even from the Pacific?
Good luck. When ASK said ooenly about USP and Ahuwalia, Fiji was against our own leaders. What a grave we dug for Fiji government and now others because of Ahuwalia.
He must be enjoying Samoa’s luxury resort stay while the poor Pacific Island students and taxpayers contribute towards his hefty salary and allowance. Good job Pasifika!
The notion that Pal Ahluwalia is responsible for Frank Bainimarama and Sitiveni Qiliho going to prison is ludicrous. Whatever they did, they brought it upon themselves. And if you want to blame anyone, blame the Coalition for its appointments in the criminal justice system and its mentality of revenge.
More tomorrow that will expose some of the real agendas here – not only the misguided notion that outsiders should be replaced by locals whether or not they are qualified to do so but academic snouts in the trough demanding pay rises that are completely over the top.
Is this the same Sainiana who was the spokesperson at Ministry of Works ?
The one who was collecting cash from contractors for magitis and birthdays?
Not sure but she looks like that one.
The same.
There we go.
Part of her CV
She wants to get rid of corruption ehh!
Kana keke squad.
I remember she was wearing sunglasses on a rainy day in Suva when she was spokeswoman.
Appearing on Fiji TV everytime.
Flying high.
Now they want to lead the nation.
Fiji and the pacific is known for shadowy figures conspiring to go after people or corruptly siphon money into lazy hands. Fiji has its own stories but it is alleged that one or many of PNG’s Prime ministers had gangs behind them bringing into the country guns and drugs. A lot of these corrupt practices have not been foiled, justice not served and shadowy figures have passed on their skills and crime programs to the next generation to continue what is being reported here.
On the other hand I would really like to know what this Professor of Alloo and Paratha is doing to catch the ire of so many people in several counties of the pacific over a very short time. He is not a mahatma from India. He is on a short term work permit from all I can remember so what skin does he have in the game. He could be a really divisive figure which isn’t a good sign of leadership needed in the area he is employed. I would like to learn more.
Coming soon.
I guess you are true here. Why should the professor of “aloo and paratha” worry about the education of the mainly affirmative action i-taukei who would still “graduate” with tailored courses to match their intellectual capacity, only to extend their beggar hands to the NGOs and lining up the government buildings for government jobs. Aloo and Paratha is not for everyone. The current setup of the government and the heads of the various departments are the obvious examples.
The appointment of PA appears to be a misstep, given his questionable leadership record at USP. The appointing authority must bear responsibility for this decision, and it is crucial to exercise greater diligence in future senior-level appointments. The regional (and global academic) community is closely monitoring the quality, standards, and strategic direction under this leadership. The momentum achieved in the past, particularly before 1987, has significantly waned, partly due to our history of coups which have hindered our ability to attract top talent for such positions.
We are still awaiting the review report on universities commissioned by the Fiji Government last year. If conducted thoroughly, this report should illuminate the future direction of our universities, especially USP amidst its current challenges. Universities worldwide, particularly in neighboring countries like New Zealand and Australia, are innovating and pushing boundaries to ensure their leadership and roles foster high-quality public service and produce leaders of international caliber who inspire their students and communities.
The health of a nation is intrinsically linked to its education system, with universities at the pinnacle, generating the talent needed to drive national progress. What strategic contributions has USP made to Fiji and the region recently? Our universities, as public institutions, must be rigorously monitored and evaluated for their direction and quality of output. While we assume that this oversight is occurring behind the scenes, the current situation suggests otherwise.
Modernization is key to progress, necessitating updated systems, processes, and leadership that is both modern and contextually relevant. Universities must maintain and demonstrate their fiduciary responsibility to all stakeholders. Leadership may change, but the institutions must be strengthened through collective effort. We urge our government to acknowledge the critical roles and responsibilities of our universities and to support them accordingly.
Performance management and development for an effective workforce should be governed by institutional policies and quality governance processes. It is essential to invest in our educational institutions to enhance our society’s quality and international reputation, ultimately doing justice to our people. Best wishes
You seem to be under the misapprehension that USP is a Fijian university when it isn’t. It is a regional university in which other Pacific countries have a legitimate stake.
As I understand it, Fiji’s outstanding contributions to the running of the university currently amount to more than $83-million dollars.
As the old saying goes, he who pays the piper calls the tune. And while Fiji refuses to pay its way, what right does it have to conduct the music at USP?
USP is located in one of the best prime land in Suva.
The way things were unfolding in past few years I thought this University will close and you guys guess who would have had a hand on their property at below market value or their family friends would have won the tender.
China would have also shown interest.
The story is deep.
Pal Ahulawallia has been a disaster for USP and the region and he must go. He has been responsible for the demise of the most successful regional institution. Currently, rather than focusing on research and scholarship the staff are watching their backs as the place is completely divided between the pro and anti Pal factions.
What is interesting, however, is how some players are showing their opportunism. Prominent amongst them is Beth Holland whose performance left a lot to be desired and was responsible for many capable regionals being removed, now has suddenly changed ship. Her self-serving agenda saw her being close to Chandra and the previous government, then a Pal peddler and now has turned against him when her contract was not renewed.
Biman Chand, who used to criticise Khaiyum for intervening in USP Council matters, should not be allowed to usurp the role of the official Minister of Education.
80 million is a very big amount.
USP is still operating without this money.
One can imagine the level of wastage and corruption at USP.
We have every right as tax payers to know where and who is responsible.
No one is charged yet but the former PM has gone to prison.
Shut the whole campus including the satellites. USP is a joke…rather than teachings of practical value to its customers, yes students are customers, who should get value for the fees whether private or externally funded, the staff and academics seem to be more into extra curricular pursuits.
In my opinion an institution like the USP is generally a gravy train for the staff and academics to further their own nests.
Island states would benefit more from practical Polytech type of institutions where trades and apprenticeships enable students to learn more real life skills.
What use is the School of Economics for instance if the teacher or professor can’t apply academia in real life – professor to Min of Finance. This is the most litmus test of the usefulness of a professor who teaches from within a glass bubble. Yet Professor Sir is venerated and adored.
Graham – rather lengthy – edit as you see fit!
Amid all the heat over USP, there may not be a lot of light. There is talk of ‘management’, but management of what? ‘Accountability’, but accountability for what? ‘Quality’ – always a doubtful concept – but how does it apply to a University?
As far as I know, it was Blair who came up with the entirely arbitrary concept that 50% of the nation’s school-leavers should go to university. They would thus become leaders of industry and enrich the nation. In time they would become the new leaders of the nation. Worked out well for England, didn’t it?
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to consider what we expect University education to do for our students. As a starting-point, I would propose the following:
Undergraduates: we are teaching our students how to think. To determine what information they may need. What resources are available to them. How to find information and, just as importantly, how to evaluate it. How to collate and understand the information, and how to draw valid conclusions. An undergraduate degree is a beginners level.
Masters: Now our students will focus on some area of knowledge that interests them. In order that they may be able to contribute to knowledge, we teach them research methods, and let them try their hands on simple projects, building up to a thesis which may well contain information of value to the world.
Doctors: By now the student is ready to focus on a particular area of interest. He will become an authority in this area. A doctoral dissertation should produce new information of benefit to the world.
What on earth has any of this to do with being leaders of industry, or future leaders of the nation?
The first question that this analysis raises is, why would anyone think that 50% of school-leavers could benefit even from undergraduate training? In the past, various schemes such as matriculation examinations (a very blunt tool) were devised to weed out those unlikely to benefit from what is, after all, expensive training. Casting too broad a net has two effects: it clutters up classes with students who cannot cope, and makes demands on the Exchequer which Governments are increasingly unwilling to meet.
So the Universities are required to accept overseas students – often with very limited command of English – because they can be charged steep fees and so subsidise the local students. Because “We need their fees next year”, woe betide the lecturer who fails an overseas student. This is not a recipe for a high quality output.
At postgraduate level, students are required to contribute in seminars. How is a student with limited command of English supposed to participate? If they do try, their prolonged hesitations make proceedings so drawn out that they fade away. Alternatively, the students sit silently – goodness knows whether they are absorbing anything, but they are certainly not contributing. Again, not a recipe for a high quality output.
A thesis or dissertation will be assessed on its quality, regardless of any difficulty that a student may have with the English language. In theory.
All this is to suggest that the explosive problems at USP may not be the fault of any individual. Rather, they may arise because the USP is being required, like so many others, to do the impossible. It might be beneficial to pause, take a deep breath, and figure out what we would like USP to do, and how best to achieve this.
Good points. the relevance of universities to society needs to be re-looked at. However good luck to any reforms in this sector which may dethrone the elite academics and chancellors and even lowly tutors who may be textbook educated but educated fools generally as far as being able to participate in the productive workforce at the coal face.
Universities may have produced too many Chiefs and far too little Indians.
All of the manipulative cloaks and daggers power struggles and callous disregard for proper process means that outside observers can’t tell which government or leaders are worse than the others. No one can see the wood for the trees. Though they all appear untrustworthy to say the least. Whichever government wins the most votes ends up being only for themselves and their own. I think Fiji is many decades away from a true democracy that aims to govern for all.
This poorly strategised coup has the hallmarks of a myopic Fijian who is neither well versed with process, not policy. That Filipe Jitoko’s (a very average civil servant promoted well beyond his ability and solely through the Qarase nepotistic channels pre-2006) name as leader is being disclosed matches perfectly with this amateurish move. That he is engaging his niece to effect a vakavanua move in what requires intellectual and procedural scrummaging shows that Jitoko has not matured one bit since his deserved exit from the Ministry of Education.
I’m no fan of Baimaan, nor of Rajni, with who I have worked. They will get their comeuppance. Yet, this bunch of hicks from Amateurville in Fiji are making a fool of themselves.
The only strategy I see is the engagement of Tongans including Masaso, all of who have had strong anti-Fiji sentiments for over a decade now. The Fijians are too stupid to see that what they see themselves as articles of is really a puppet show where strings are nowhere’s near their tainted hands. This is the third of probably fourth attempt of a Tongan takeover of USP’s leadership.
So Beth Holland will be the DFL Coordinator? Has Beth ever taught a class in her life? She’s pure research! And quite overrated.
And the racist academic from Education (who I shall not name but everyone probably has guessed the identity of), the new incarnation of her other racist Tongan peer and pathetic poet, KHT. Of course the very average, research-sterile education academic would be involved as this is the only way she can ever advance her dying academic career. She is unemployable in any university outside of the Pacific.
I’m curious to know what role the ineffective president of the AUSPS, formerly one of Pal’s cheerleaders and now anti-Pal is playing in all of this. How does it feel to have completely been caught napping, and played, Elizabeth?
Elizabeth is no more AUSPS President and this is since long. An observer of USP policies should, must know this to be credible.
Ahuwalia: Fiji Indians are like the first convicts of Australia. Girmit Day 2023, Fiji.
Yup, we paid him how much to give that speech and run us down?
Throw him out.
I just want to sit back and enjoy this show now.
How easy it is to manipulate people in Fiji and the Pacific. Pal is an ace at that. The way he used his deportation to bring down a government. If it wasn’t for the USP saga I don’t think many people who voted for NFP would have done that.
Myself like many saw USP too important for our future to vote against the better judgment of voting for a government that was at least holding the country in place.
Now we are on a roller skate with no brakes. We only deserve what we work for. We did work for this circus to come to town, now lets enjoy the show and either laugh or shed tears.
The show must go on .
What many Fiji MPs can do (to increase their own remuneration) USP VCP did already earlier: to enhance the per diem he receives when he visits Fiji as his residence is listed as Samoa. Per diems for Suva (GPH, Holiday Inn) and Nadi were never this high before he became a visitor to Fiji.
As far as Suva is concerned, he and his partner have a big house on USP campus, no need to stay in Holiday Inn, and in case they prefer to stay there instead in their huge house provided by USP free of cost it is their own business, and I hope that they do not charge USP excessive per diems the VCP has approved.
USP has hundreds of positions unfilled, despite in the last Fiji Government budget USP got an additional FJD 20 m (https://www.usp.ac.fj/wansolwaranews/news/fiji-government-allocates-53-5m-for-usp-in-national-budget-restores-annual-grant/#:~:text=The%20University%20of%20the%20South,and%20Minister%20for%20Finance%20Professor ).
Where is this money going as it is not used for advertising and filling vacant positions. There are academic staff who teach more than double loads since several semesters. Some are in medical treatment for various diseases that relate to overwork like burn-out, musculoskeletal disorders, eye problems (the latter two for doing far too much computer work).
For many years it has been USP policy that University staff get 75% of the United Nations per diem rates when they travel on USP business. This policy is still observed for most destinations but not in case of travel to Suva and Nadi which attracts a considerable higher per diem rate than the UN would pay their staff according to USP documents.
According to official USP documents (see attached) the United Nations per diem rate for Suva is FJD 510 per day. The USP per diem rate thus was FJD 383 a day until 2022.
According to documents from USP the per diem rates for USP staff increased in the year 2023 to FJD 615, an increase of 60.6 percent compared to the year before. In 2024 it further increased to FJD 731, but only for those staff staying at GPH, Tanoa & Holiday Inn. For USP staff traveling on USP business per diem rates for other hotels in Suva declined to FJD 477 per day.
What GPH, Tanoa and Holyday Inn are concerned per diem rates increased from FJD 383 by the end of 2022 to FJD 731 by March 2024. This is an increase by 90.9 percent within 14 months.
Many at USP who are aware of these changes say that the main person who benefited from these huge increases in per diem rates is the VCP பால் Ahluwalia. Since he runs USP out of Samoa he is entitled to receive a per diem for every day he spends in Suva. This has been fairly often over the months. He usually stays at Holiday Inn, meaning that his per diem is FJD 731 per day in 2024, and FJD 615 in 2023 although he has a huge residence at USP campus he can use.
It is also strange that the VCP obviously approved the changes in per diem rates. This means a conflict of interest as he is the one who would benefit most from the sharp increase in USP per diem rates for Suva. When people ask how MPs possibly can decide their own remuneration the same question can be put in this case: how can Professor Ahluwalia approve per diems rates he would benefit this much (per diem rates other than for Suva and Nadi/Denarau did not change to such extend, most rates did not change at all).
While others at USP are severely suffering because everybody says that there is not enough money to fill a huge number of vacant positions (https://www.fbcnews.com.fj/news/concerns-over-vacant-positions-at-usp/) Professor Ahluwalia obviously has no twinges of remorse to dig deep into USP’s coffers.