The extent of the challenge facing the Coalition parties as they seek a second term in government is laid bare in a landmark report by the nation’s foremost policy institute – Dialogue Fiji – that reveals cost-of-living pressures are the top priority of most Fijians.
Not crime and drugs. Not iTaukei rights. Not changing the Constitution or the electoral system. But the basic challenge of simply surviving. Of putting food on the table (or mat) at a time of escalating costs which the survey finds is putting unprecedented pressure on the Fijian people.
By the time the election comes around in nine month’s time at the latest – assuming it isn’t delayed or cancelled on some “national security” pretext – those pressures are going to be a lot worse, some of them because of external events beyond the control of the nation’s leaders. But what they can control is going to come into sharp focus.
- Why did the Coalition – having promised to relieve cost-of-living pressures – grant a seven year tax holiday to the billionaire owners of the nation’s biggest export, Fiji Water, while at the same time, increasing VAT on a range of items from nine to 15 per cent?
- Why did the nation’s MPs vote themselves pay rises of an average 138 per cent plus equally unconscionable benefits such as the ability to import duty-free vehicles and make profits from on-selling those vehicles? Taking a 20 per cent pay cut now does nothing to address the obscene scale of the parliamentary trough-fest.
- Why has the Coalition collectively spent like a bunch of drunken sailors on shore leave, increasing the national debt from $9.5-billion dollars when it took office to $10.9-billion dollars and counting? The notion of austerity is foreign to this government as it members gallivant around the world and indulge their every whim.
- Why do we have a Prime Minister who flaunts a $150,000 gold Rolex watch and refuses to tell us who gave it to him and in exchange for what? When ordinary people are struggling to even survive, this is a gross obscenity in itself.
- Why on top of all of this do our leaders seem perpetually pleased to pose with the representatives of foreign governments who are keeping Fiji afloat? They deport themselves like royalty but are beggars from a beggar nation living off the global drip.
- When the Dialogue Fiji survey also shows that health is a community priority, why can’t the government fix the nation’s biggest hospital, CWM, once and for all instead of attacking volunteers like Judy Compain who take it upon themselves to do what the government won’t? The Coalition has turned buck-passing into an art form. It is always someone else’s fault.
All these chickens are going to come home to roost when the Fijian people finally decide where their votes will go come election day. Don’t take my word for it, Dear Reader. It’s all there in the Dialogue Fiji report. Extracts below but you can read the full findings at:
https://www.dialoguefiji.org/_files/ugd/d637e8_9f09ec0369114b44b5756efe1bc82942.pdf
https://www.dialoguefiji.org/_files/ugd/d637e8_9f09ec0369114b44b5756efe1bc82942.pdf
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Yes, more help for the Beggar Nation is on the way. But it ain’t because we deserve it. Because under this government, Fiji has abandoned any notion of being able to stand on its own two feet, let alone take proper care of its citizens.
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Wake up people! This government is doing a terrible job of running this country. They are ruining it! Stuffing their pockets. Look around at the mess this country is in. They did this. Vote them out!!
Well they are doing a terrible job for sure, but election time they will just blame everything on the previous regime. very convienient- and sadly and unfortunately a whole lot of the masses will jump onboard with the claim and will likely vote for these lot again!
I think blaming Frank and Aiyaz is wearing a bit thin. The way things are, most sensible people with a view to their own survival would vote for Frank and Aiyaz in a heartbeat if they were given a chance to do so again, just as most people did in 2022 and were thwarted by the “power of one” that produced this miserable, incompetent Coalition. Alas…
Yes, I know. I am partly to blame for advocating a vote for the NFP, something I bitterly regret. My apologies.
Graham, thank you for your honesty and for acknowledging your regrets openly and candidly.
Many people across Fiji are now reflecting on the direction the country has taken and know and realize that the promises made in 2022 have not been delivered and there is no stability, no confidence and no development and progress for ordinary Fijians, in particular for the working class and poor.
Since there is also a lot of racialised thinking, we also want to say that many of us iTaukei, the quiet ones realise this also.
Many of us also don’t think along ethnic lines. We just want good stable government, good governance, focus on the economy and for it to do well, to say no to the growing provincialism and we want smart and unselfish people in government.
At the moment one of the main issues is the continued delay in the judgement for the DPP vs Mohammed Saneem and ASK matter. It will be nearly 7 months on 14 May 2026 since the trial concluded. 14 May 2026, ironically is Girmit Day and the day of the first Rabuka coup, is the the day that the judgement is to be delivered.
The Honourable Chief Justice, who some of us like, himself has often spoken about the importance of timely delivery of judgments. Yet in this particular case he has continued to postpone the judgment despite the trial concluding about 7 months ago.
Normally judgements in criminal matters are delivered within a week or two maximum. By the way, it is also very unusual for the Chief Justice to hear a criminal matter in the first instance because after all he is the head of the judiciary and the President of the Supreme Court – what if the Honorable Chief’s judgment goes on appeal to the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court?
This case was presented publicly through the very biased media as something very criminally serious but throughout the trial, key evidence and witness testimony showed major weaknesses in the charges that were laid. The Acting DPP’s own key witnesses acknowledged that it was an employment contractual matter or administrative in nature rather than criminal. Evidence also showed that no unauthorized payments were personally received by Saneem beyond the approved amounts and that the decision of the COC was followed.
Some of us also were ashamed of the way Nancy Tikoisuva conducted herself and her lack of calibre against people like Devanesh Sharma. Some of us, if we were in her position, would have withdrawn the case after the first few witnesses. It was also apparent that Tikoisuva was not an objective prosecutor. Actually if she was she would not have brought this case in the first place. Her lack of independence also came out in the manner in which she personalized her cross examination of ASK, including attacking his religious beliefs.
The judiciary is one of the most important institutions in any parliamentary democracy. It would appear that at the moment it is the most compromised independent body. People want confidence that judge’s decisions are based purely on law, evidence and justice-not political pressure, ethnicity, race, provincialism, commoner v chiefs, religion or political or personal agendas.The Honorable Chief Justice has decades of legal experience and understands very well that the moment doubt exists, accused persons must be acquitted.
Many of us still want to believe in the integrity of Fiji’s judiciary and hope that justice will always be delivered, impartially regardless of who the accused maybe. That is the way we get respect as a country.
Honorable Chief Justice Temo who needs to succeed as an independent Chief Justice, we are sure realizes that if he despite the lack of evidence and the law convicts the two or either of them, then, he will completely undermine his credibility and integrity and the independence of the judiciary and then no one will ever trust him again and reputation of the judiciary under his leadership will be beyond redemption both with us and our development partners, who are also watching these cases closely.
By the way these development partners, some of who we work for, say a lot privately and ultimately informs their long term decisions and image of us. Fiji needs strong institutions, fair and just leadership and decisions that restore and public trust, stability and confidence in the country again.
You have a whole lot more confidence in the integrity of Temo than I do. Why the delay?
The proof will be in his judgment and the reasons for it. I’m not holding my breath.
A lot of people in Fiji, including the current despicable lot running the racist iTaiukei government and judiciary have developed the Animal Farm mentality and simply blame Snowball for everything, whether he responsible or not.
Yes, Biman is Squealer.
The Government will blame the Middle East conflict, but that only started in February this year. The position Fiji finds itself in started well before that and the blame is squarely the Government’ own policies and actions.
The projected population of Fiji in 2026, according to the Bureau of Statistics is 902,623. The lack of growth is projected to be a result of an accelerated exodus of Fijians and others from Fiji since 2023. The estimated number who have left is now at 140,000 and may continue as the current Government seek to continue discriminatory policies in employment and service provision.
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.
Now Fiji has a government who are fiscally dumb, with a raging drug problem and all they seem interested in amending the Constitution and the electoral laws to ensure they remain in power! And now hinting at a State of Emergency!
What is next? One can only imagine!
It’s not enough to mis-use their own funds, they need to misuse those of their neighbouring countries and ‘vuvale’ too. The reason I use inverted commas is that too often the concept of vuvale is used as a way to extract funds, but rarely is it a two way relationship, and too often it’s only vuvale when it suits the government.
There’s also the problem of who an appealing alternative political option would be? Much as they try, the old alternatives (include old in new clothing) don’t have the charisma, and the new ones are largely led by unknowns without the national profile. Is that what this government is relying on? Will the voting population discern?
One of the biggest disasters for the economy was increasing VAT to 15%. It was a political disaster for the government, and it did nothing to reduce the national debt. All it did was increase the cost of living for the poorest in our society. The same people bastard Biman went to begging for votes he betrayed.
Traitor Biman Prasad deserves the reputation of worst Finance minister in the history of Fiji. With his ineptness Biman proved his university Professor degree was garbage.
The dogla from Dreketi Baiman ignore that advice from his own ministry of finance team and listened to that bastard lawyer Richard Naidu to increase VAT.
In fact, they were working in cahoots. Baiman appointed Richard Naidu chair person of the Fiscal Review Committee to facilitate the 15% vat increase to subsidize the parliamentary pay increase, and the 7 dear tax holiday to Fiji Water, which is the client of Richard’s law firm Munro Leys. What we were witnessing was high-level, political wheeling, and dealing through connections and networks.
What Mahen Chaudhry has always said – that NFP is a party for the elites – Baiman and Richard proved correct. Baiman especially is an arse licker of the elites. Biman will also go down as the worst political leader in Fiji’s history because NFP will suffer such a defeat that it will never return. So he is the destroyer of NFP .
What a pathetic excuse of a Finance minister. The best thing to happen to Fiji was for him to get kicked out. Baiman actually appointed his alleged mistress, Kiriti Patel to 3 boards and committees, even though she qualified for none. Well maybe she’s qualified in ways that only Baiman the horny dog knows, hahaha..,because there’s no other explanation.
Besides the fiscal review committee, he appointed her to the Tertiary loans and Scholarships board and the Unit Trust of Fiji board. But she was kicked out from the unit trust of Fiji board by the reserve bank governor because she did not qualify even remotely.
The people of Fiji are care free and oblivious. The vast majority are prejudiced imbeciles. These characteristics are part of the tradition and culture. Nothing will ever change that so Fiji is kinda stuck.
GD don’t be too hard on yourself.
We all thought the same – that a change in Government will improve our lives.
We all fell for it – to the imbeciles, low life greedy bastards who don’t even have the competency to run a roadside bean cart. Integrity and honesty. Don’t get me started. Am enjoying my coffee and keep up the great job “Kai Lakeba.”
Don’t hold your breath that another change of government will improve the lives of the majority of citizens. Only Migration to another developed country will provide that relief. Or by getting into government – that way you can give yourself and your family and mates a higher standard of living and ( tax breaks).
There is, like someone who destroyed Fiji once wrote: No Other Way – SL Rabuka. And there are all sorts of pretenders waiting to get on the government gravy train. And the mindset of the public does not help – soon as someone does actual good in the community , like Shashi Kiran or Judy Compain – there is a cry for them to stand for elections and join government! Why! Why! Don’t we want the good work to continue!!
Grubsheet is jealous of Lynda and smearing her and misrepresenting her. Here is the evidence from today’s Fiji Times:
“Information Minister Lynda Tabuya has warned that Government processes must remain people-focused, saying compliance alone is not enough if communities feel excluded from key development decisions.
She said government systems must be judged not only on whether procedures were followed, but on whether they worked for the people they affect.
“We must always keep front and center the human face of our work, our people, and how we can make things easier for our people as a government.
“There is no point having processes and ticking the boxes or complying with legislation and laws if it’s not working for our people,” she said.
Speaking at the launch of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategic Development Plan 2026-2031, Ms Tabuya said recent tensions around major projects highlighted gaps in how consultations were being carried out.
She referred to the backlash over the Waste to Energy project, the Dreketi River project and the proposed Namosi Hydro project.
She said a recurring concern was that resource owners and landowners were being engaged only after projects had already entered formal government approval processes.
“You can see a pattern where our resource owners and landowners are up in arms for not being fully consulted.”
Ms Tabuya questioned whether investors were effectively engaging communities before approaching Government, or whether consultation was occurring too late in the approval chain.
“What are we not doing right where we are going ahead with enabling investors to come directly to Government without doing the proper consultations first with resource owners?”
She said while regulatory requirements such as environmental impact assessments were being completed, they were not addressing what she described as an earlier breakdown in engagement.
Ms Tabuya said Government needed to clarify responsibility for consultation between investors and agencies, warning that uncertainty in the system was contributing to backlash and threatening project outcomes.
“We cannot afford that kind of backlash that affects our people on the ground.”
Are you the matanivanua for the Minister for Bonking and Weed? What do you get in return for this kind of unofficial PR? A toke? A leg-over? I really think we should be told.
People now have regrets!
Voting for a well known donkey from 40 years ago to fix things and now they have regrets.
Are they blind, dumb or just have no idea? Is it all of the above.
How many are there in this forum in that boat. Seeming smart people are stupid as well. Who do you trust?
We’ll wait and see if anything has changed next time. I will not be holding my breath.