The once unthinkable is beginning to dawn on Frank Bainimarama’s most loyal supporters – that the ousted prime minister will be on his way to prison after his sentencing hearing on March 28.
Yes, Frank and his loyal lieutenant – the suspended Police Commissioner, Sitiveni Qiliho – are heading for Naboro to join George Speight and the rest of the prison population and live in a confined cell with multiple inhabitants and a bucket.
Their lawyer, Devanesh Sharma, is the best that money can buy in Fiji. He did what he could for them on Monday by asking for a stay of sentencing because he intends to take their case to the Court of Appeal. But it was always a vain hope because that appeal can only come after Bainimarama and Qiliho have been sentenced.
A stay just isn’t legally possible and Devanesh Sharma would have known it. But Bainimarama and Qiliho would have been pressing for him to at least try because they now know that the game is up and avoiding Naboro just isn’t going to happen.
It is, of course, open to the magistrate, Seini Puamau – who has been instructed to sentence the pair after her acquittal of them was reversed by the Acting Chief Justice, Salesi Temo – to give them suspended sentences. But that isn’t a realistic hope when there will be a deterrence factor arising from their exalted positions and the grave conduct for which they have been found guilty – Frank Bainimarama for perverting the course of justice by telling Qiliho to stop an inquiry at USP and the suspended Police Commissioner for abuse of office in doing so.
So in nine day’s time – amid tight security in central Suva – the biggest name of the old order and his most loyal sidekick will be taken in handcuffs from the court and into custody. And then transported to Naboro to come face-to-face with George Speight, the man Bainimarama double-crossed in 2000 when he pretended to accommodate the rebel leader but instead ensured that he was put behind bars for life.
Imagine the scene. It is unlikely to be a local version of “Doctor Livingston, I presume” followed by tea and friendly advice on how to survive prison. George Speight is reputed to be in charge of the prison garden at Naboro so it is more likely that Frank will be presented with a vudi.
That it has come to this is something that a great many Bainimarama loyalists are struggling with. But there we are. They say the law eventually catches up with everyone and it has caught up with Frank Bainimarama and Sitiveni Qiliho. And guess who is likely to be next?
This is the way the Bainimarama era ends. Not with a bang but a whimper. *
* (Paraphrasing a line from The Hollow Men by the poet, T.S Eliot)
NOTE: Some comments are being edited for legal reasons.
There’s no hope of a life-line being thrown to Frank Bainimarama by the current RFMF Commander, judging from comments by Laisenia Qarase’s right hand man, Jioji Kotobalavu, in today’s Fiji Times.
We can be sure there is nothing coincidental about this. The old forces of indigenous supremacy are claiming Jone Kalouniwai as one of their own.
We’ll hear from Ro Kalouniwai himself tomorrow evening. It was once said that Frank Bainimarama’s freedom was non-negotiable for the military. But the days of Frank expecting that the RFMF would save him are evidently over.
Everyone seems to have forgotten that the appeal was lodged by the illegal Acting DPP.
Everything in a tinpot little country is a little twisted, but the people are proud to live in a Third World tinpot country. This is “their” country and we all must let ‘them’ do things ‘their’ way. “Theirs” is the right way as “they'” are now God’s chosen people, even though only a 150 years ago, just before the vulagi arrived, they were eating each other.
For all we know, if these chosen people were capable of eating each other and made soup of my boot, they most certainly must have consumed the inhabitants who were on their “chosen land” before them.
Frank could have been a transformational PM that took Fiji to greater heights but he became arrogant and thought that the laws did not apply to him and ASK.
He never rolled up his sleeve to do the hard work needed to transform Fiji but chose a life of luxury flying first class , 5 star hotels almost every month. His legacy will be one filled with leaving behind a huge national debt, crumbling infrastructure without any real economic achievement for Fiji.
It’s sad to see him fall from grace and no country wants to see a former PM go to jail but interfering and preventing the course of justice is a very serious crime.
The current commander has a short memory as these people who are in power are the same people who took Fiji to the abyss in the year 2000 coup.
Now the selfish and corrupt are back in power and the stupid natives are going along with it.
The decision was made even before the case got to Court. You have a senile PM, an illegal Acting DPP who has no integrity and an idiot of an AG. The one thing common in all of them is their desire to ethnically cleanse Fiji. In order to fulfill their extremist nationalist agenda, they need to put away Frank – the guy who actually truly brought about UNITY and ensured safety for the minorities.
Anyone who thinks this was a fair trial based on the rule of law and an impartial justice system is most certainly deluded.
Unity and safety of minorities in Fiji can only be brought about through goodwill and especially the goodwill of the landowners who own majority of the land we need to live or do business in. Forcing unity through the barrel of a gun is definitely not sustainable as we can clearly see through all the coups since ’87. Forget about Bai as he is going to jail and will never be able to stand for elections again. Change your perceptions and be willing to work with whoever is there to foster actual unity which is sustainable.
The long arm of the law has evaded Rabuka for so long when in fact he should have been the first person to be locked away when Bainimarama came into power. That’s the biggest mistake of Bai and Kai Era which has come back to haunt them. Ethno nationalists are back in power and will ensure they rule the country for long, long years with ethnic cleansing, appointment of iTaukei in major govt positions, high corruption, no regard for law and order, interference in judiciary and every arm of govt through their crony appointments, abuse of office and law breaches. Classic examples being Tabuya and Siromi. Elite iTaukei will prosper whilst poor iTaukei will remain poorer, feeding off the robbery of Indians and other races and come next election Biman will be history and regret ever supporting Rabuka the snake getting back into power and carrying out his nationalist agenda.
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” Mathew 7;12
In the history of this country, Frank dug his own hole by setting the precedent to send a former PM (Qarase) to prison! Surely he should have known then that he would now be judged by the same ruler of vengence and to remove any likelihood of contesting the next elections for at least 8yrs according to Law.
Frank goes in now for an administrative decision his supposed to have taken. Rabuka of all people could have stopped this madness of avenging ones enemy. But like Frank before him, his not too bright too! He doesn’t see the need for Fiji to heal and address the current racial biases!
So GD, each one of them shall have blood on their hands from Frank to his advisers when they send FB and SQ to jail next week .
At least Frank developed Fiji to become what it is now . The once stinking Albert Park. The GPH, most of our roads and bridges in Vatuwaqa, Suva and the Nasese foreshore, Nadi airport , Damodar shopping complex and Rups , as well as the Nausori Market and Nausori new Mall. All under his leadership .
Rabuka and his band of thieves? Nah! Nothing yet and they only leave us with a bad taste on our mouths .
Sadly for Frank he started the process of sending former PM’s to prison ! Each MP and PM shall now onwards be prepared to face the same including Rabuka !
Frank and Stevie may only have to eat bread and tea and rise at the siren for a short time. Once there is a change of government, any new government will reverse illegal appointments and declare Rabuku’s actions null and void, and Frank and Stevie will be released, exonerated and hailed as martyrs. Don’t put away Frank’s red carpet too soon as on that day he may be needing it again.
It reminds us of the words of the Holy Spirit mentioned in Ecclesiastes 3 via the Great King of Israel, King Solomon (New International Version)
A Time for Everything:
3 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.
King’s Solomon Final Words of Wisdom to remind us are precisely stated in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 King James Version (KJV):
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
AMEN!
Nice to quote from a vulagi religion and a vulagi Holy Book. The transformation of embracing a vulagi religion with so much passion is amazing in a very short time in the timeline of evolution.
There is no “Vulagi Holy Book or Religion for that matter, the Holy Book-Bible is the Living God, Yahweh’s instructions to all men including the Gentiles…unfortunately Vulagi like you, Belinda, are full of hypocrisy and self-righteous …be kind and be gentle to all people…
As are you Paula, self righteous and hypocrite. All of us are earn’t we? Set that aside. Vulagi religion is the talking point. No harm to humbly accept that as a fact as prior to vulagi holy books, you had (and still have?) degei, dakuwaqa, ratumaibulu, no? We hope to learn more and understand the culture better. May the higher being bless us all.
It shows the deception of your heart Belinda, full of hypocrisies and self-righteous…all those traditional Fijian Gods are Lucifer’s fallen angels from heaven and you can be one of them if do not accept the Living God, Yahweh as your Saviour…be gentle with everyone even to the Gentiles like us because some of us have accepted Him (Jesus Christ) as the Son of Living God, Yahweh, and they’re are One (God, Yahweh, Son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit)…my point is there is “time for everything…time to rule with guns and time to rule without guns…so time to serve in prison and time to come out of prison…even our current PM will eventually be tried in court when the time arrives…no one will escape God’s judgement even you and me we will reap what we sowed in this earth….therefore we should be at peace with everyone and seek His forgiveness for our sins…God Bless you!
Fiji what happened to you?
Ps I’m quite sure it will be a vudi levu (x 2)…..
Only one person behind this and he is keeping a silent profile…
Sitiveni Rabuka
Now time for Indians to get together and take Rabuka to International Court of Justice for 1987.
No man should be given a life line after the abuse they inflicted on thousands of women. Get ready.
Bainimarama’s illegal action (even if fabricated under an illegally appointed Assiistant DPP) is a drop in the ocean to what Rabuka did to thousands.
Nah, they also voted for him with no regard for history. Fiji Indians have yet to even get recognition let alone an apology from CSR during girmit era for all the atrocities. We talk and give up rather than have full commitment to a course
There is a saying, “a true political leader does not need the people, the people need the true political leader,” For me, I am not concerned abt whether or not those who put Frank away were properly appointed according to the Constitution. For Fiji to move forward to the next level as a nation Voreqe and his close cohorts need to be put away behind bars in a very public way.
Only then will the vast majority of Kai dia and itaukei mainly fm western Fiji who see Voreqe as a God and protector can be awakened from their slumber and start using their brain for a change when selecting our next leaders to lead the country onwards and upwards.
Voreqe we’re given a set of cards, he played his hand according to what he saw before him. Some cards he played right. We thank him for that. Some he took risks, was caught out and now has to account for his poor choices.
Those are the tough rules of the game when u project yourself into political leadership. He deserves no sympathy. Next one please, it’s become apparent now that this next lot is ready to be put out to pasture.
They are just an interim govt whose role is to clean up the mess left behind by the previous administration, then they move on for the next set of leaders to take over and run the country for the benefit of all, and unfettered by the baggage from the past.
It is unfortunate as Bai had good support to have taken Fiji even further ahead in the early years after the coup. When he started trying to change the rules to stay in power forever, that is when he lost the plot. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”. He would have been acutely aware of what happened to Augusto Pinochet having spent some time in the Chilean navy. But as they say, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Whilst Pinochet spent the remainder of his life under house arrest at his own home, Bai will go to Naboro based on the Crimes Act and sentencing guidelines he railroaded in for approval in 2009. While Christians will spend next weekend remembering Christ who died for their sins, Bai will be paying for his wrong doing on laws he approved to put Qarase et al in. Karma is indeed a bitch 🙂
Now just picture this news hitting the world news soon.
Everywhere from #CNN to all big news hitters.
And in that news there will be an announcement that the current acting DPP is illegally appointed.
And these men are all more out for power than serving.
Given Bainimarama’s past credibility and the way he was removed from the government all this is going to make Fiji look so bad. And then what?
Investor confidence falls.
Remittances will be your main income.
Tourism will fear the state Fiji will be in given Fiji’s past coup nature.
AG under investigation.
DPM Biman under investigation.
Australia and NZ will open their doors wider and migration will rise rapidly.
We will be back to 1987.
Fear not. Bainimarama has supporters in thousands. Get out on the streets and raise your voices about the illegal justice system now Fiji. This is what Democracy and Rights is about. If it can happen to leaders than an ordinary Fijian has no say in Courts. Don’t sit quietly. It will hurt the poor the most. Do a silent stand of solidarity.
Why don’t you lead the protest in the streets rather than hide behind Grubsheet’s sulu.
Under this man many Fijians got free education.
Fiji took off on Global forefront everywhere.
Now we have nothing to show.
Fiji can choose who is the better leader.
I have no confidence in Fiji’s judiciary system and this is why I have closed my business as an overseas investor this year. It is the worst country in the Pacific when it comes to legal priviledge.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. We need reputable investors. Not those who can call Kai to grease the machinery to suit their purpose.
Reputable investors who employed many Fijians, right.
More to come.
Some of you can only see to the tip of your nose. No further.
It’s ok bhai do you know what is your main income is now?
Tourism (running thin as of high prices) and remittances.
Thank the investors later who are already tired and leaving. Not only me.
Aid money is not revenue too. Dumbbells.
Don’t worry brada. When investors leave, someone else will invest there. You take your FJD and we wish you all the best in Oz or NZ or wherever you go.
Fiji will be OK. We have the Professor and he has collected so much tax in only half the year. Now he will go after all the money made by Kai’s crooks and tax them left right and centre. So that he can give some extra $200 a month to us kaiviti to buy grog from our tavale :). We will relax and have our true kaidia brothers who stay behind make more money and we just chill ok brada hahaha.
Hey thicko.
Many of us had nothing to do with anyone in government.
We didn’t believe in fraudulent practices.
We just operated and invested with good faith in good systems.
Not now.
Sayonara you ulukau levu.
Go and get schooled.
Fijians are so stupid that it is ok to say anything just to get baseless political points.
So if you don’t have anything to do with anyone in government, then why does a change in govt affect you so much?
Everyone is now equal under the law including your Messiah and that only 1 smart kaidia. That is what investors want. Equal application of the law. Start looking for a new gullible Fijian uncle to lead you in the next election, Bai will be too old by the time he is eligible again. Kai won’t be able to as the number of cases against him, he will be in for the rest of his life.
Fiji has been my home since birth – call me a Vulagi or whatever! I’ve sincerely and wholeheartedly cheered for Fiji to win when it came to rugby, prayed for our people’s safety regardless of race, religion and color during difficult times, generously opened my home to share food and goodies with those in need, rose proudly to my feet when our national anthem plays…
Alas now I’m fearful for the safety of my family and I in a country that has transformed for the worse, increased crime rate, high corruption, depletion of moral values, racism, vindictiveness, soaring cost of living, low investor confidence, terrible medical system, lack of opportunities and decent future for my children and list is endless. As I depart our shores my heart is heavy with what has become of the country I fondly refer to as HOME.
Very sad to read this but in the main it’s true. I’ll forever remain loyal to Fiji because-just because….Investors are leaving. They have also stopped arriving. I had a rude awakening from my paradise bubble recently when I was car jacked and pickpocketed all in one go. We gave chase only to empty the backpack of one of the offenders to find only cash. The rest they had ditched. We did however find needles and little foils of something. Devastated. How did this happen? One of the two offenders jumped in front of my car. I got such a shock I pressed unlock doors not unlock windows…..stupid of me. The police? Useless. USELESS. Most of them look 15 years old anyway.
So Fiji beloved Fiji -to where from here. This turmoil has set us back so far I fear recovery is impossible. Additionally the cringe factor is worse than 1987.
That is the same cry all the kaivitis were praying about the last 16 years, corruption, marginalised, forced to retire at 55, on temporary work contracts, cant be a director unless you’re a kai India, viavialevu from govt officials to taxi drivers, traditional leaders ridiculed, etc. So the kaivitis have to resort to care giving and seasonal work to survive. Don’t worry, the door will always be open and you can come back, no visa required! But send MPaisa from over the sea first acha. For the next GCC lovo and grog.
This situation with Rabuka covering up for Tabuya is the final straw.
I won’t invest in a country that doesn’t value women and children.
I’m done with it Fiji as well. I am so disgusted and saddened but I’ll take my money elsewhere.
The deviation from the 2006 military council plans to quickly have another election and move on was thawted by an idiot who had his own agenda. All those that were guiding the Interim PM towards upholding the 1997 constitution and to guide the country back to normality were booted out by this swine who instead brought his family into the new stupidity of 2009 Easter weekend. His aunty freeloaded, his brother freeloaded, his girlfriends freeloaded. Unknown pipsqueaks entered the fray and started pretending that they were doing the best for the country whilst in real-time they were robbing the coffers and laughing all the way to their bank accounts in Geneva, hosted there by the official government embassy.
Now the words from the movie SHOLAY come to mind.
IN JAIL BURIA CHAKI PISSING AND PISSING FOR a long time.
An aircraft took them to Singapore under the guise of a C CHECK , which doubled up as family business jet whilst there for medical interventions. It should be noted that in line with claiming the Israeli charter money, the government should investigate the manager engineering for the airline who under the orders of a certain woman from the airline lied and sent the free aircraft to Singapore to support the family rather than any C CHECKS.
Bai would have been PM now if he’d got rid of his smart man Kai who was Bai’s political liability at the last General Election.
Bai did some good but he also filled his pocket as well. His family benefitted a lot. Now is his payback time.
Unfortunately, Rambo, the father of coups in Fiji. is safe for time being. But it is he who should be tried at the International Criminal Court for the 1987 coups.
At least under Bai we all could live peacefully and had equality, the public were looked after. Covid handling was excellent.
Now it seems it’s the era of the villains.
No Minister or Assistant Minister should sleep well now . You can all wait for your turn in prison ! Bet you all civil servants will now be recording all your directives ! First guys to go to prison will be Biman Prasad for the $200,000 girmit funds handed to his wife , Gavoka for the Israel trip, Manoa K for the fundraising at Fantasy Island and many others, Lynda for not declaring a conflict of interest in her husbands bidding for the GCC renovations whilst in Cabinet etc etc . Rabuka for a whole lot of abuse of office charges and so forth ! Your turns will come . You open the floodgates when you can instead forgive and rebuild Fiji, but you choose retribution.