The revelation by Sitiveni Rabuka that Mosese Bulitavu is his nephew and they have long been communicating adds a whole new layer of intrigue to this weekend’s meeting between the Prime Minister and former FijiFirst MPs who are interested in joining or supporting his government. Has Bulitavu been a rat in the ranks of FijiFirst ever since he was lured from SODELPA by Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum to contest the 2022 election?
This is what the Prime Minister said yesterday when he announced that he will be meeting the group of ex-FijiFirst MPs:“Bulitavu is my nephew. We have been communicating when we were in SODELPA and it continues”, Rabuka said.
It falls short of the Prime Minister identifying his nephew as a traitor and informant but only just. How much inside information was Mosese Bulitavu passing to Rabuka during his time as a FijiFirst candidate and MP? And what on earth possessed Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and Frank Bainimarama to recruit Bulitavu in the first place? Weren’t they aware of the family relationship? After all, they say blood is thicker than water and never more so than in Fiji.
Precisely what game is Mosese Bulitavu playing right now? He said a couple of days ago that he intended to remain independent rather than join his uncle in the People’s Alliance. Yet now it seems he will be leading, or at least be part of, the conga line of ex FijiFirst MPs making their way into the Prime Minister’s lair. Have the two been working together on this plan all along?
Today’s main front page story in the Fiji Sun reports tensions in the Coalition at the prospect of the People’s Alliance and the newly independent FijiFirst MPs winding up as dance partners. You bet there’s tension. Because if more than eight of them are part of this delegation, that equals the rest of the “three-legged stool” that currently makes up the government (five NFP members and three from SODELPA). And suddenly they must be feeling very wobbly indeed.
Imagine. The wily old fox lures eight (or nine to be sure) ex FijiFirst MPs to join him in the PAP or in a “government of national unity” with the promise of cabinet positions or other baubles down the track. Who needs a Coalition then?
The whole notion will have triggered sickening rumblings in the bowels of Biman Prasad and Aseri Radrodro and their respective members. Because would you trust Sitiveni Rabuka to be a faithful partner even at the best of times, let alone when there has been almost continual tension within the Coalition for the past 18 months? Qori.
Oh, and never mind how Sitiveni Rabuka must feel every time he lays eyes on Aseri Radrodro – the SODELPA leader and Education Minister forced on him who almost killed his daughter in a domestic violence attack more than a decade ago. Any father would understand the Prime Minister wanting to drive a stake into the serial “love rat” at the first opportunity.
Tensions in the Coalition. Today’s Fiji Sun front page:
Sitiveni just wants a 28 member majority to form government after the next election.
Nope, he wants the numbers to first change the Constitution. ASK’s complete lack of strategic thinking is what led to the creation of the space needed to garner 3/4 support of the House as a first step towards modifying the 2013 Constitution. He already has a compliant RFMF and a subservient GCC; now he has the time, space and means to affect it.
Brother Naqica, the constitution also requires 75% vote from the people via referendum. It’s not just a parliamentary majority. Please read the 2013 before expressing excitement of change . The referendum may not allow the change.
Aiyaz’s didn’t put his strategic thinking cap on when they were first to the table with SODELPA. Had he compromised on some of the things, they would’ve formed government.
Secondly, nothing can deter ants from the sugar, in this case, the opportunistic and greedy politicians from the mulah. FF MPs have shown their true colours.
Inia the reverend gets a hefty boost to his salary and it will serve him better being LOP than being in government. He also gets a lifetime of pensions at an exorbitant salary!! He can import his vehicles, keeps his computer devices, gets sitting allowances, housing, etc. All other MPs get a hefty pay rise.
Rabuka and his cronies have truly shown how easily it is to sway politicians with little moral compass. These benefits were available during the SVT era and have been conveniently brought back at the taxpayers expense.
I don’t see these politicians delivering even an iota of what would be considered deserving of these benefits. The average garbage collector lives at a higher moral standard and puts in more sweat than any member of parliament currently.
None of the members of parliament would’ve done an all-nighter. The only parliament session that went over time in the last 18 months was to increase salaries!!
As much as one dislikes ASK for his arrogance, pettiness and vengefulness, he used to put in a hell of an effort each and every day.
He should remove the immunity clause while he’s at it “modifying”
Add that no vulagi shall ever be PM, president, or in the gcici, and re-instate his life membership. This is our chance to suggest more ideas. Let’s go people
Got any ideas who is going to pay tax for all your programs when the vulagi leave? Isa Viti. One big teitei in which the natives smile and dance for the genuine vulagi and are a beggar nation totally dependent on outsiders.
The best thing will be when Rabuka kicks out NFP and SODELPA from the Collision and forms a Government with the Independent members. It will have more stability in the Government. Just do it RABUKA.
Other than giving him the numbers I cant see how the FFP likes of Bulitavu, Naupoto, Naivalurua, Koroilavesau et al can add value to Government.
Numbers are the only thing that matters in politics. In Fiji and any other democracy.
GD ,thanks for providing highlights of major happenings on the political front in Fiji.
Heaps happened within a week .
One news here I would like to highlight is the corruption at Corrections department .
How the president of Grace Road managed to use his skills to get all the services he requested with some greedy prison officers into his remand cell.
Phone,food,clothes ,signing documents etc.
Those prison officers sold their integrity for a serve of chopsui and cigarettes with some groceries.
Now if he can do that in prison imagine the level of corruption happened between this GR president and Fiji First party.
The amount of goodies that may have been involved.
FF government was silent on all their dirty deals
Grace road were spreading like wild fire all around Fiji.
How much ASK must have pocketed ,looking at the size of thier business.
Due to Grace road many small time business closed,one of them were my aunt selling fish and lolo. She couldn’t compete.
Yet FFP were quiet.
I did not know GR sell kakana dina meals too nor that GR had cornered the fish and lolo market. But there you go.
One thing though, cuts through any society –grèed. Put the blame where it belongs – greedy, hungry, broke, thuggish prisons wardens.
Grifters from top to bottom in this goverment. Plus lotsa weed and jack daniels, and bonking. All while Nero is fiddling with his thing.
Fishy!
My aunt is an old lady
Neither she could fish nor she had farm to plant cassava.
Every ingredients used had to come from Suva market apart from salt.
Grace road had all their products come from thier own farm including smallest of the lot,chili’s.
They had acquired some of the best lands ,how,anyone’s guess.
Recieved government contarcts.
One good example was fencing of the Presidential house.
They received many other contacts to supply goods and services.
Couldn’t a local company do fencing.
Koreans were smuggled without proper documentation. Does anyone know how many ?
Who had given work visa’s to serve as waiters in a cafe of a small island state.
Yes,this government has gone in the same path,but tax payers shouldn’t be fooled .
Culprits must be brought to justice.
Wrong. Very wrong.
Here is the difference.
Grace Road works hard.
They don’t stop from 8am to 5pm.
They plant and they sell.
They did not take all prime land.
Check the land near Savusavu that they occupy.
It is red soil mostly.
That land lay idle by the I-taukei all these years.
Never once did they even plant dalo there.
They let that huge land be covered by para grass.
Don’t blame the Grace Road people for utilising and profiting from the land that others didn’t.
Use your land and stop complaining.
What’s stopping you all?
Laziness is the answer to many things.
There are many sugarcane farms around too. Start using your land.
Bula Mr .Blaming
Yes ,blame game is always been there for few decades now.
Agree,itaukei has land and are unproductive.
Did you ever realized ,majority of farming equipment we received was forks,knives and spade.
Are these what today’s world using.
When we were given ? as elections were closer.
Or a
tractor ,Chinese made with some chemicals for the whole community
A unknown kungfu brand where parts are very difficult to find or no one is specialized to fix them as everything is written in Chinese.
Than if we take it to a garage, we are charged half the price of that tractor or machine.
You are lucky to find parts or some one will get it for you for 5 times it’s normal price.
Why there are no equipment from Germany of Japan given,that can last for ages.
Why not train people and have specialist people locally to service these equipment.
Countries are always developing thier agriculture sector, how much has successive governments done.
Just distributing donated cheap machinery for politicalmileage.
We neither have goat and chickens to feed farm advisers for special favors. We can share a loaf of bread and black tea only.
We need well equipped and trained people for farm management.
Recent data shows, Fijian seasonal workers are doing very well
A bit of training and experience, farms are managed by our own people working on overseas.
These days everything is automated. You even don’t need land to plant.
Chemicals and fertilizers are used in abundance for production of greens.
Soil neither
have to be black,red, blue or sandy ,
Spend money and one can do wonders .
That we don’t have,finance.
Now for Grace Road ,they came into Fiji as a church group. Later we found it is a cult group with their leaders locked up.
Mother in Korean jail and son in Suva.
FFP government opened Fiji development bank doors wide open for them.
They are one of the biggest customers of FDB.
Investors when they come into a country, they need to bring in capital to finance thier operations.
Where has all thier profits gone
I am sure their haven’t paid all to their few hundred worker’s
There is lots of questions and answers
We can keep makingassumptions but facts are always hidden.
Just talk about land ,land and land.
One good example was fencing of the Presidential house.
That was China not GR. Small but important difference.
The land in Navua was there long before GR arrived. Sat idle for years. Many tried and failed to make profitable use of the land.
Why do we contantly pick on people who work hard and employ hundreds of locals in their businesses.
Any investor will want their own people to protect, maintain certain standards to develop a sustainable model to advance the business.
People need back up claims of corruption, report it to police/fiacac, present some semblance of proof other than repeating unsubstantiated claims of ‘corruption.’
Live and let live.
Dear Semisi.
These days if you have vertical farms or hydroponics farm you still need land. Land to build these on. Land for rain water collection to irrigate these types of land-less farms.
Tractors and other machinery are derived from the land – iron ore for steel, aluminium ore. Rubber from rubber trees. For the engine parts. For the tractor tyres. Oil from the ground to refine into fuel . Diesel for tractor.
Hydro water over land to generate electricity.
If landowners prefer their land to be run over with paragrass and bush, which is their right, if landowners don’t want mining or hydro, where will the tractors come from. It will be back to using stones, animal bone tools and fire for survival. And it’s hypocrisy for the Fijian landowner farmer to want a Massey Ferguson from overseas but don’t want resource extraction in Fiji. Resource extraction and industrial application are the basis of the tech that can commercialise farming and increase production to increase the wealth of the farmer and feed society.
And those overseas farmers who drive tractors and combined harvesters today started with forks, ploughs and horses, then came steam power and the industrial revolution.
Humans showed enterprise, someone worked to save money, invested that money to make a small machine or buy a pair of oxen, then a small tractor, then a bigger farm, then a few bigger tractor. Here in Fiji a begging hand is out for a New Holland euro or a Kubota tractor before the basics and the hard grafting is done.
LAND and Water are critical aspects of human society’s development. And in Fiji who are the majority landowners.
If someone can not succeed at a level of fork and spade and basic tools but has the land, then they probably will not do better given bigger resources , especially if given as handouts.
I agree with you that farm machinery given as aid or even from commercial importers who don’t provide after sales service or spares are a waste. It only benefits the original seller or govt as a PR exercise.
On the other hand I have experience that local people do not operate the best of Japanese or European light or heavy machinery in a way that enables a long service life. Just have a look at all the machinery rusting away in fields and depots. Some for lack of spares. Others for operator misuse and damage. The owner of a local excavator or heavy truck etc is usually worried how the workers will abuse or incorrectly use the expensive company machinery.
There are no easy answers.
If govt officials, like the names of Aiyaz K and Bainimarama that keep coming up in these corruption allegations, have abused their position in office to corruptly benefit themselves, this has got to be the era that investigations are done. Isn’t the current coalition govt the best chance for this to happen, the crowd has been and is still wanting the heads of especially ASK. If they are fairly tried and found guilty then not only should the goal be to put them behind bars, but to recover the proceeds of their corrupt gains. Like cash, property, any form of assets that are able to be traced as proceeds of crime. These may be located in Fiji or offshore like in Singapore as the wild rumours have been pronouncing.
Blow the whistle, start the investigations, show the proof, show the evidence. Trace the money. Recover assets and return them to the taxpayer if they were looted from the people. If the gains were from private entities then to the extent that the law allows, restrain those assets as proceeds of crime/corruption. Don’t spare either those who offered gifts in exchange for favours and permits.
But don’t just come up with must have or could have or we know they stole the money. Let’s get it out.
Or forever stop coming up with false allegations based on jealousy or other inadmissible facts or imaginings.
On the matter of Grace Road eateries, they have grown exponentially because the consumers like what they offer, and they choose to spend their money on the pretty expensive meals and treats at GR rather than the smaller outlets like Auntys Traditional Food outlet selling Fish in Lolo. I can only sympathise with her that her efforts to earn an honest living did not work out. Good on her for trying. Please don’t give up Aunty.
Unfortunately that is another debate on freedom of consumer choice and also consumers’ support of the smaller operator without govt intervention.
No one is trying to crucify ASK
He was in control for almost 16 years.
He was the chief financial officer for Fiji.
Under his management Fiji used over 60 billion dollars
Where has all this money gone.
That’s is a lot of money .
We understand about covid and natural disasters consumed a lot of money, but our neighboring countries always jumped in with help and aid money.
If a billion dollars was used for CWM hospital upgrade, Today we would have had a state of art hospital.
CWM hospital is in a bad shape due to negligence.
We are educated generation, many has painted us Fijians as lazy and uneducated.
Yes, there are some but not all are same.
Other races too have some form of drawbacks.
We understand what is happening around us.
We have been fooled for very long time.
Not just previous politicians but current as well.
We are equally contributing as tax payers.
Today remittance coming into Fiji is huge.
Through sports,seasonal workers, families leaving abroad and others
Hopefully in years to come ,we will have better people to lead us.
That is interesting a foreigner gets some goodies in prison. That’s happened before GR and will happen after. I don’t see why that is so worthy of public interest from the media and debate. When there are Elephants in the room with hard drugs use in prisons. There are people in Fiji who have done a lot more crime and have had less time in Remand than Daniel Kim. The level of justice in Fiji is not good enough. The Law is the Law. No one should be above it I agree.
Interestingly mentioned is FF dirty deals with GR. I actually find thanks to Grace Road a lot more cleanliness now in Fiji thanks to the level of service. Previously we had to put up with other businesses unhygienic conditions in the toilets, no parking, mice in the food warmer etc, dishonesty with no receipts incorrect change and open deification in public road sides thanks to lack of toilets all this.
I also would like to add I could not find on INTERPOLS wanted list Daniel Kim’s name. INTERPOLS Wanted list is published online and his name or picture has never been on this list. Why is he even locked up anyway? What exactly has he done?
The amount of Land Utilisation for modern farming techniques, Jobs Creation and Service Grace Road has done in Fiji is unsurpassed. I really feel the Grace Road leader Daniel Kim has been unfairly treated.
Daniel Kim from remand has done a lot for Fiji and deserves our support.
An a$$h0lə never changes its spots.
Well, one thing I will give credit to the nephew for is that he spoke for Fiji Airways during COVID when all those pissheads who are now riding on the wave of Fiji Airways good fortune wanted the airline closed. They all seem to have forgotten what they said about Fiji Airways at the time. F**king opportunistic fakes and imbeciles, from the PM to Gavoka to Biman etc. Where are all the investigations which they were talking about for Fiji Airways? What happened to investigations into Waqavuka etc.
These shitheads who run the country really piss me off. These Jews from Fiji are all so proud to be so arrogant and stupid. They do not even know whether they are Christians or Jews. The whole thing is really twisted and f**cked.
And then they all wonder why the country is where it is!!!
What would Fiji do without a dickhead as PM?
In fact, what would Fiji have been without a dickhead who has been around for 37 years?
It is like a lingering bad smell for 37 years and the people of Fiji cannot get enough of the bad smell……still. Fijians are idiots, no doubt in my mind.
The sad thing is they do not know they are idiots, therefore they cannot do anything about it. That is why the country is where it is and then they all wonder why they are where they are!!!!
Then they all blame everyone and everything else.
Sorry to throw you off Centre line GD but the truth is Radrodro has been Rabuka’s man in SODELPA all along.
You have been making some critically flawed assumptions all this time.
Welcome to Fijian politics where treachery knows no bounds.
Then a man who aligns himself with another who almost took the life of his child is not a man. He is a savage. If what you say is true, those images of Rabuka gazing upwards towards his maker in the govt propaganda video are obscene. He is on a fast track to hell.
I have always wondered if any journalist or anyone for that matter has sought to interview or get the opinions of Rabuka’s daughter, or is that off limits due to cultural reasons. Or is that the order from the big crackpot so that he can pretend everything is ok as he basks in the glory. Or is it the case that the traditional apology overrides the law of the land. I would not be surprised if traditional beliefs are used in specific circumstances for specific people and specific reasons and apply only selectively when the circumstances dictate. This is Fiji afterall.
I ask again, has anyone ever spoken to the daughter?
It was Rabuka’s daughter who said she didn’t want Aseri Radrodro to be prosecuted. But it was a course of action that was contrary to the 2009 Domestic Violence Act, which obliges the police to bring perpetrators to justice irrespective of the wishes of anyone.
It is on this basis that the women’s movement has chosen to side with the victim’s wishes not to prosecute, to turn a blind eye to a situation in which a man who beat his wife to within an inch of her life was able to get away with it.
It was a particularly egregious attack. Aseri Radrodro not only beat the woman in question to the point in which she was semi conscious and near death but anally raped her. Sitiveni Rabuka found her just in time to save her life. Which was obviously fortunate for her but also for Aseri Radrodro, or he would now be in Naboro serving a long prison sentence for murder, not in the parliament and with one of cabinet’s most important portfolios.
Incidentally, the daughter suffered life-long injuries, including a permanent limp when she walks. While the person who did this to her is the SODELPA leader and Minister for Education.
If this is Fiji, after all – as you put it – then it is a disgrace. But irrespective of the woman’s choice not to bring her husband to justice, do you honestly think that he is an appropriate role model for the nation’s children as Education Minister? Is that what Fiji wants to be – a savage and brutal place where men can get away with crimes against women because of the social pressure this victim came under not to prosecute? And for perpetrators to be rewarded with high office?
No wonder we have the highest incidence per capita of domestic violence in the world. The same tolerance of savagery that once permitted humans to eat each other is still at the core of the national psyche when it comes to violence against women. And it is not acceptable at any level.
It is not “friendly Fiji” – the tourism catch cry – but a place of savagery and shame.
So why doesn’t a journalist in Fiji interview Rabuka’s daughter? Don’t any of them have the balls? I am sure she wants to tell her side of the story. She is a big girl after all. Or is she being held captive? Is she seen in public? Does she attend functions, weddings etc? Does she go shopping? Is she being deliberately held out of public view against her wishes? Is she a free woman?
Has anyone asked these questions or are the people of Fiji silent for convenience sake. I mean, do the journalists want to “respect her wishes” without asking her. Is it a case of let sleeping dogs lie. I have never seen a picture of her.
Or is it a case of vulagis should stay in their place and not interfere with iTaukei bullsit?
would be really interesting hear what ASK has to say, maybe a podcast with Grubsheet
#RecordViews
Unfreaking believable that after 18 months past the general elections we are still dealing with this bs.
No wonder all other priorities have taken a backseat. The current government is just too busy trying to form another government with liers and traitors.
How about trying to focus on what you have upfront of you now and making that work.
Seems like all Rabuka will do is keep changing MPs all through to the next elections.
Well done Fiji, you deserve all this and more that’s coming your way.
World wide problem, especially third world countries.
Corruption is a pandemic.
If evidence were easy to come,there wouldn’t be any corruption at all.
One of the hardest cases to prove in courts.
Latest data shows how money laundering is happening around the world .
Bitcoin uses, drugs,money exchange agencies hiding cash.
All are connected to each other .
Now we all ask ourselves, where is the evidence.
We only happen to know when someone is caught with evidence.
As the saying goes “those who get caught are thieves, those that doesn’t are not”.
Joji sounds right. Really sad to see the Constitution being prioritized over deteriorating public services – health, education, police, immigration, water, roads, electricity etc. Our Leaders don’t feel the pain.
Question: is there a single public service that the people are satisfied with?
Answer: Ministers, Speaker, HE and LOO (Leader of Opposition) got pay hikes following their self-evaluated performance.
Sorry to comment off subject but does anyone know why the Government is paying out to Vatukoula miners when the state does not own this company? Why is the taxpayer forking out what presumably should be funds owed from the company and its Chinese successors.
Absolutely 100 per cent correct, Brian. It is the state using taxpayer funds to intervene in a commercial dispute on the side of striking unionists. Instead of sitting down with both sides and trying to work out a sensible solution to a long-running dispute, it simply sides with the workers and the tax payers are obliged to pick up the tab.
They have sent a message to every Fijian that it doesn’t matter what the merits are of any demand, you can always rely on the government to back you. We are seeing what happens when prominent trades unionists who have been marginalised for years suddenly sit at the heart of government. Not only abysmal public policy but sectional interests continually on the public drip.
It is vote buying, pure and simple. And where is FICAC when you need it? The servant of its political masters, irrespective of who is in power.
In his budget speech in Parliament the finance minister said the coalition govt had ended the world’s longest ongoing industrial strike at Vatukoula, was it 30 years . Implying the amazing skills the govt displayed in negotiating a amiable outcome and ending the strike. Yeah by dipping into the kava barrel and ladling out more $$$ and having the gaul to claim credit for a highly questionable way for govt to jump in this situation with taxpayer money.
It just makes you sick and throw your arm up in the air…the rot all around.
Bring back the original Bainimarama, please.