Like the Black Knight in the Monty Python skit who insists “tis but a scratch” when his limbs have been severed (see below), Biman Prasad is adopting the absurd posture that the FICAC charge against him of corruption is just a temporary setback.
Quote: “One thing I have learned in eleven years of political leadership is that it involves many challenges, often from unexpected places. This is just one more of those challenges to be dealt with calmly, patiently and as swiftly as possible”.
“I intend to deal with this charge in the shortest possible time and in accordance with proper legal process.My lawyers are dealing with this expeditiously.” Unquote.
Oi, Mr Black Knight. You don’t get to decide how long this process takes, the courts do. And it will take as long as a magistrate or judge decides and maybe more than one judge if you decide to appeal any verdict in the case against you.
Even the Prime Minister says he expects that you and Manoa Kamikamica may still be before the courts by the time the 2026 election comes around. So get a grip and stop treating the Fijian people like idiots.
For the record, Biman Prasad’s first court appearance isn’t until November 17. So the case against him that he made a false income declaration to the Elections Office will stretch well into next year and maybe right up to the election, if Sitiveni Rabuka‘s prediction is correct.
That might be “swift” and “expeditious” by your standards, Professor Never-Say-Die, but it isn’t going to save your political bacon. Because by then, your NFP colleagues are going to realise that you are damaging the Party’s chances and there will be intense pressure to replace you as leader – either by persuading you to resign or wielding the sword and removing your head.
And if by some miracle, you manage to cling on, there’s a good chance that the whole lot of you will be defeated and the National Federation Party – at 58, Fiji’s oldest political grouping – will be wiped out. Or at least fail to meet the 5 per cent threshold needed to get any seats on election day.
So please stop insulting our intelligence and start treating this with the seriousness it deserves. If one of your students had behaved like this – making light of a serious disciplinary charge – you would have given them very short shrift.
Oh, and enjoy the back bench. On this performance, it’s where you belong.
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The Prime Minister tells it like it is. Or at least the way he sees it. That the wheels of justice turn exceedingly slowly and Biman Prasad and Manoa Kamikamica may be still before the courts when next year’s election comes around.
Whoops.
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Biman Prasad in his latest starring role – a reprise of one of the funniest television skits of all time.
And finally, nothing to laugh about.
Enduring images from Biman Prasad’s last public appearance before he was charged – the opening of the Nakasi Police Station.
He must have thought it was the closest he would ever get to a police cell. Oh dear. Suddenly the joke is on him.
The maximum penalty for making a false income declaration to the Elections Office is a 10 year jail sentence, a $50,000 fine or both.
Wow GD, you do take it to the extreme , what did you expect him to say ???
Definitely no limbs severed here, it’s an insult to those who have actually lost their limbs.
He will spend his remaining time in the back bench and if he is cleared he will live to fight another day and it will be up to the people to see if he is worthy to serve again.
One credit he deserves is that he in his three years as Finance Minister has put Fiji onto a path of better fiscal and debt management , yes not out of the woods but on the right track and as a businessman, that is what we want to see, clear policies that provide confidence to the business and investor community.
You have not been to Fiji lately but just pay a visit and you will see a construction boom on the country right now. People don’t invest when there is uncertainty and Biman deserves credit for better fiscal management and policing.
Love him or hate him, he was the right man for the job from the entire lot.
Don’t be a Wally, “Fiji Wala”. I was making a serious point. That Biman Prasad is so arrogant he thinks he will determine the speed of the proceedings against him when it is not in his power to do so. “An insult to those who have lost their limbs?” Are you serious? It is satire, for God’s sake.
Your entire premise is absurd. Having promised to reduce the national debt incurred under the last government, he has increased it. Having promised to deliver better governance, he and his colleagues have delivered worse. Now he has been charged with serious criminal misconduct. That is not a record that warrants your extravagant endorsement.
By all means, love him yourself. That is your democratic prerogative. But as far as many of us are concerned, he long ago betrayed those who put him there to restrain the indigenous extremists he has instead enabled, stand up for the principle of equal opportunity for all and responsibly manage the national economy.
You are forgetting that he gave the billionaire owners of Fiji Water a seven year tax holiday and increased VAT for ordinary Fijians. And the notion of an an investment surge is a fantasy. A great deal of hype and a refusal to outline precisely what new projects have been delivered.
I, for one, fundamentally disagree with your proposition that he has put Fiji on the “right track”. On the contrary, the nation has never been in a more parlous state. While Biman Prasad has to answer the criminal charges against him in the courts, he also has to answer to the court of public opinion. That will happen soon enough. And my own view is that he is already toast.
You are right..Baimaan is delusional and so are his devotees like Fiji Wala. Tis but a scratch. The price of groceries have gone up, debt has gone up, crime, racism etc etc..and this idiot thinks Baimaan is God’s gift to Fiji politics.
Baimaan the traitor and his NFP party will surely be buried in the Naboro landfill come 2026. The Snake has finally bitten this traitorous dog.
The rose tinted views of Fiji Wala proves yet again that the NFP only protects the interests of businesses and people like this Wala fella. In other words, NFPs fandom has always been the business community, the rich and well to do who fund the election campaigns in exchange for political favours and business friendly policies.
There is a difference between business friendly policies and investor friendly policies. People/businesses like Wala fella don’t like competition.
NFP uses the cane belt as its political football to fool the masses to vote for the party on hope each time and then abandons the same people to advance and protect the business community interests.
I really didn’t expect you to understand finance and economics. Let me explain:
Revenue is up, deficit came in $400 M below projected, Debt to GDP down form 90% to 78%and projected to go down further to 74%.
Off course Fiji still needs to borrow because where will the money come from for all the capital investment. But the fiscal environment is in a much better position then it was 4 years ago and that is what investors look at and the capacity to borrow is much better.
Still long ways to go but the ship is being turned around and heading for calmer waters, of course geo political, trades and world economic risks still there but in a better position to handle those risks then it was 4 years ago.
So don’t just paint a picture about more borrowing without understanding some micro fundamentals.
I have seen the spin but the fundamentals remain. The profligacy of this government and Biman Prasad’s chronic inability to say “no” to demands for increased spending mean that Fiji is dangerously exposed to the risks you mention.
Any responsible government that took office after the big Covid spend-up should have embarked on a program of cost-cutting except on the essentials central to the well being of the people. But the Coalition and austerity are not on speaking terms.
The orgy of spending on salary increases for MPs was nothing short of obscene. As is the manner in which the Coalition has made FijiFirst look positively parsimonious when it comes to ministers and officials gallivanting all over the world.
We were promised, and desperately needed, a government that prioritised the needs of the more than 50 per cent of Fijians living below the poverty line.
What did it do instead? It increased VAT on the things ordinary people buy and gave an unconscionable seven year tax holiday to a Californian couple with a net worth exceeding Fiji’s entire national debt (The Resnick fortune stands at a reported $US 10.8-billion). I note that you don’t mention this scandalous betrayal.
At the same time, what have Biman Prasad and the Coalition done to try to persuade Fijians intent on migrating to stay? Nothing. Not even assurances that the common and equal citizenry and the common identity provisions of the Constitution are sacred and the minorities won’t be disadvantaged.
Small wonder that the official count of the number of Fijians who have left is 118,000 ( 12 per cent of the population) and some unofficial estimates put the exodus at more like 130,000. Ergo, the tax base is shrinking, along with the population, and Viti isn’t Viti Levu any longer but Viti Lailai.
And then there is the unprecedented level of scandal in this government – ministers screwing other ministers on official trips, taking drugs, making pornographic videos, being in business with convicted Chinese gangsters and now two of the Coalition’s most senior ministers – including your hero Biman – having to stand down because they have been charged with corruption. And then there are the naked assaults on the rule of law generally.
So you can try to paint a rosier picture of this government’s performance but on any accepted standard, it is abysmal. And Biman Prasad and the whole lot of them – having promised better governance and dished out worse – deserve to be propelled into the political wilderness, from whence they came, as soon as the Fijian people get the opportunity to do so.
Fiji Wala pass me the weed bro..
Sa Malo. Biman’s time is up. He had one job to do but still didn’t do it. His blame game strategy doesn’t work anymore. He was never suitable for his job as he only relied on other people for ideas such as fiscal review committee and his PhD thesis was on “Rice farming in Bua”. He piled up more debts and raised taxes for poor and reducing it for elite despite campaigning against it. He enjoyed big salary hike despite campaigning against it. He placed his friends and unqualified people in positions. He lost his credibility and trust by not not declaring his directorship in Platinum Hotel to the Election Office. Sa Malo.
There are none so blind as those that will not see.
Traitor Baimaan needs to come down from his Ivory Tower to ground zero; reality on the ground. At the moment he is like a dazed boxer who has just been knocked out, and doesnt know what he is talking about.
At a minimum, cases are disposed off in Magistrates Court in 2 to 3 years time. The good thing is that this case is filed by FICAC and not other prosecutorial authority. So FICAC will take it all the way. The damage would have been done and achieved by then.
For his personal gain and revenge he has caused immense losses at all levels to a whole community of people who believed in him. Power comes with that “karia motar laal batti” and soon it will be gone. Well said GD.
Oh the arrogance of the man is clear to see!
As GD has pointed out, the case against Biman will run its course and courts and judicial officers decide time frames not politicians.
As for the Fijian financial position, it is worse than it was 3 years ago. The level of debt is rising, Government continues to expand, tax base is shrinking and there are 120K less people.
The NFP as a party have lost credibility and will struggle to be relevant at the next election.