Today’s Fiji TImes carries easily one of the most ludicrous front page headlines in the entire 156-year history of the nation’s favourite fish wrapping – “Stable and focused”, it proclaims, quoting the Prime Minister about his government, when the whole country can see that it is neither stable nor focused and instead, is in a state of catastrophic meltdown.
As if the loss within a week of two of its most senior ministers, Manoa Kamikamica and Biman Prasad, to corruption charges isn’t enough, the same front page carries the news that the substantive DPP, Christopher Pryde, is seeking a judicial review of the decision by the Chief Justice, Salesi Temo, to sever his salary in the ongoing standoff between Pryde and the state which merely adds to the government’s woes.
That the Fiji Times and Editor-in-Chief Fred Wesley – at the undoubted urging of the government’s porn-star propagandist, Lynda Tabuya, and the Coalition’s “points man” at the paper, lawyer and NFP stalwart Richard Naidu – would even try to so crudely pull the wool over the eyes of a stunned nation underlines just how unstable and unfocused this whole sorry excuse for a government has become.
“No need for concern”, the Fiji TImes tries to pretend, once again betraying its duty to the nation to enlighten and inform. But then the mainstream Fijian media as a whole has been woefully negligent in preparing the Fijian people for the astonishing events now unfolding around them.
Who has been the main person arming FICAC and the police with the hard evidence it needed to charge Biman Prasad? Victor Lal. Who first reported that the NFP leader and Finance Minister was about to be charged? Modesty prevents me from saying. But you didn’t read it in the Fiji Times or anywhere else in the mainstream media. Which is why it is all coming as such a shock to anyone who doesn’t read Grubsheet or Fijileaks.
In a nutshell, here’s a summary of the national state of play right now:
1/ Arguably the government’s two most important ministers – the deputy prime ministers Biman Prasad and Manoa Kamikamica – have been charged with serious criminal offences that carry lengthy jail terms and have been forced to relinquish their portfolios and go to the backbench.
2/ Nothing is going to prevent these trials from going ahead, including Wylie Clarke‘s mooted application for a stay of prosecution in the case of Manoa Kamikamica, which we can expect to be replicated in the case of Biman Prasad. Why? Because the prosecutions haven’t been brought by the Acting FICAC Commissioner, Lavi Rokoika – whose appointment is being challenged- but by FICAC itself. And any intervention to shoot the corruption watchdog would be a crude and outrageous attempt to pervert the course of justice. When the wheels of justice start turning, they turn. And that’s it.
3/ These trials will unfold over the coming months well into election year, 2026, and will suck up any clear air the Coalition hoped to still have in the election lead-up to transform its image from the scandal-prone rabble it has become to anything like a government that deserves to be re-elected.
4/ At the same time, the media will be full of the details of the attempts in the courts by Barbara Malimali, Salesi Temo, Tomasi Bainivalu, Wylie Clarke, Laurel Vaurasi and Graham Leung to overturn the Ashton-Lewis Supreme Court Commission of Inquiry into the Malimali affair. In truth, the case for doing so no longer exists. The CoI has already claimed one scalp in the form of Manoa Kamikamica and other government ministers are still under investigation. And while the prosecution of Biman Prasad isn’t at the recommendation of the CoI, Justice David Ashton-Lewis has already been vindicated and the justification for setting up the Commission of Inquiry in the first place is there for every Fijian to see.
5/ So as the New Year begins, a who’s who of the establishment will be before the courts. Manoa Kamikamica and Biman Prasad on trial for alleged criminal conduct and the following cast of characters seeking judicial relief – the Chief Justice and the Chief Registrar, the President and past president of the Fiji Law Society, the sacked FICAC commissioner, the sacked attorney general and the substantive DPP. Week in and week out, the news isn’t going to be of a successful, functioning government that deserves to be re-elected but of scandal, dysfunction and chaos. It is an unmitigated PR disaster.
6/ And none of it shows any signs of abating. There are still half a dozen or so active police investigations that haven’t been resolved. And there is the prospect of fresh investigations, including into the role of Richard Naidu as Biman Prasad’s lieutenant. Allegations are circulating that Naidu and his law firm, Munro Leys, have received an ongoing financial benefit from the Australian hospital operator, Aspen Medical, for having used Naidu’s influence with the Finance Minister to secure the company’s place in Fiji. This is on top of the allegations that Naidu improperly used his position as head of the government’s Fiscal Review Committee to secure a seven year tax holiday for Fiji Water when Fiji Water is one of his clients. So other skeletons in the closet are rattling.
For the two main Coalition parties, the latest developments are an unmitigated disaster. The Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, may have gotten rid of Manoa Kamikamica as a threat to his leadership but the People’s Alliance is in turmoil – the faction loyal to Kamikamica incensed by what they regard as Rabuka’s disloyalty to his deputy and muttering about striking out on their own. Assuming, of course, that “Mr Sweet” is acquitted.
And across the PAP, there is dismay that the Prime Minister unleashed the Ashton-Lewis Commission of Inquiry in the first place and is now mismanaging the fallout. This includes keeping Salesi Temo in place when to even the most gormless observer, having a Chief Justice who has been accused by a Supreme Court judge of perverting the course of justice is a farce that the Opposition is already exploiting in the election countdown.
Suddenly, of course, the NFP is in even more turmoil – its leader charged with serious crimes and out of the cabinet altogether. There were already doubts about Biman Prasad’s ability to get the NFP over the 5 per cent threshold next year, such is the collapse of confidence in his leadership by many who voted for the Party in 2022. But now his political career is either in tatters or finished altogether, depending on who you talk to. And speculation is already rife about what happens next.
Should Biman be replaced as leader by the most obvious choice, Pio Tikoduadua? Or will the Indo-Fijians who call the shots in the NFP be reluctant to surrender the grand old party of AD Patel to an i’Taukei? According to the latest rumours, another potential leader, Lenora Qereqeretabua, is already out of contention and is expected to join the People’s Alliance in the election lead-up.
So that leaves Sashi Kiran and Agni Deo Singh. Has Sashi Kiran got the star power to save the NFP? Because Agni Deo Singh certainly hasn’t. All this is now in play as the shock of Biman Prasad’s sudden demise sets in, not only among his fellow politicians but his acolytes such as Richard Naidu who depended on his patronage but now find themselves adrift in hostile waters.
How this all plays out is impossible to predict. But far from being “stable and focused”, Fiji is entering a period of gross instability that will have all sorts of negative consequences for confidence in the nation and its governance. And all the spin in the world from a media that has failed in its fundamental duty to “keep the bastards honest” isn’t going to change that.
The one ray of sunshine in all the gloom this Tuesday morning is that the guardians of Fiji Airways haven’t fallen for the concerted campaign for a local to be given charge of easily our most precious national asset. We welcome the new CEO of Fiji Airways – Paul Scurrah, the former head of Virgin Australia – and wish him clear skies as he builds on the great work of the departing Andre Viljoen for the past decade.
May Fiji Airways fly to even greater heights as a source of national pride above all of the mayhem at ground level. Because right now, it is a notable bright spot on a very bleak horizon.
POSTSCRIPT:
Rumour also has it that Richard Naidu has long been throwing his weight around at Fiji Airways invoking the authority of his patron. Now that his patron’s wings have been clipped, will Naidu be like Icarus, the figure from Greek mythology who flew too close to the sun and fell to his death when his wings melted? His detractors at the airline will certainly be hoping so.
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Oh the irony of it all. Biman Prasad’s final official function was the opening of a new police station.
A pictorial essay on the NFP leader’s 24 hour journey from rooster to feather duster.
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The cost of doing business in Fiji may not be quite what Richard Naidu envisaged if the current rumours are true.
And finally, bright skies amid the gloom.
Maybe the other crocodiles might take the advice I offered months ago and purchase a one way ticket to somewhere remote without an extradition treaty with Fiji.
Before FICAC places a ‘Stop Departure’ notice on them!
Poor old SLR – old being the operative word.
He is listening to the BS being served piping hot by the Minister for Misinformation.
GD, regarding the cost of business.
You forgot to add cake.
Who is next, GD? Your prediction so far has been spot on! I thought fireworks permit was till midnight of Diwali!
Btw- Chops, as usual, will blame past Govt for being charged by FICAC. He might meet ASK (former Minister for Everything) and MK (wannabe PM) in prison soon to form new political party to contest elections 8 years later.
Unfortunately my crystal ball is covered with a layer of what appears to be sheep fat.
Ordinarily, I would have had to reject the rest of your comment on legal grounds because to appears to prejudice Lamb Chop’s case. But it is clearly a parody and not to be taken seriously. And even judges are known to have a sense of humour.
Or they can form a prayer group – with the drunk brawling criminal intimidation expert corrections commissioner!
Have a true revival program to rival the prison chaplains. Hahaha!
Pramesh Sharma mouthing off on his Facebook about Grubsheet’s article. Who’s going to protect your big boci now?
Manoa and Biman are dead horses and you are next. If you don’t like what’s written here, don’t read it.
Poor Pramesh. He has lost his two main patrons in government and the reason he was hired by certain of the Gujarati business elite to influence them.
Fortunately he still has Lynda Tabuya, who he has boasted of bonking. A man of little judgment and even worse taste.
Pushi grabber need to get a grip! No, not grip another pushi!
Who is the Fiji Times sending a reassuring message to with that headline? Themselves? The Coalition or their muppets?
The Coalition is so irreparable, it will be shocking if they win the next election.
Pramesh Sharma, Stanley Simpson, Nirmal Singh and Shailendra Raju – these irrelevant people who supported Rabuka, are now calling his govt out for integrity.
You two faced swines are suffering from Rabuka’s hidden agenda – stop posting crap when you all were on the same wagon for change 2 years ago.
You continuously curse ASK and FB but it really hurts when you don’t get rewarded and more when your leader’s friends have been dumped.
As a former journalist in Fiji now working overseas, I can say that while national politics is a disgrace, the national media is a bigger disgrace.
It stinks to high heaven.
Look at the quality of Cherrianne Wlson’s work. And she is a senior journalist. Someone has aptly described Fred Wesley as feeble Fred. The guy is clueless.
Stanley Simpson and Vijay Narayan are hardly any better if not worse.
The entire Fiji media is below mediocre. All around abysmal and shocking standards.
No one seems to have any ability for analysis. We are forced to rely on Grubsheet and Fijileaks. And to think that millions of tax payers money is given to them. The national media is a bigger shame than national politics.
Cherrianne/Fred – anyone picked up on that story? Given that whoring and adultry has become so mainstream in Fiji, its probably too boring to even delve into.
Why is Temo not worried? Some murmurs within the capital that the diaper President may hand his role over to Temo when the time is right. Temo will ensure Naiqama is not prosecuted. Explains why Rabuka isn’t moving on anything and watching people like Kamikamica and Baimaan the dogla thrown to the wolves. One can only pity the wife who has to wake up next to him every morning and see a disgusting corrupt face snoring and dribbling away like a sloth.
Interesting days ahead for Fiji
These people need to very worried as they were being protected by Biman Prasad :
1/ Pramesh Sex Pest Sharma – Biman’s corporate man
2/ Daksesh Patel – Vinod Patel’s son, Protected by Biman as pay back to his late father
3/ Faizal Koya – Ambassador for Middle East and Biman’s boy.
4/ Ahmed Bhamji – head of cane growers council, appointed by Biman
5/ Nikhil Naidu – NFP boy in NZ, Richard’s cousin, doing IT business in fiji
6/ Richard Long Nose Naidu – Fiscal committee head and Biman’s right hand.
7/ FRCS CEO – Udit Singh, bought from nowhere by buddy Biman.
8/ Fiji Ambassador to India – Jaganath Sami, the milk man who follows Biman like a tic.
9/ Attar Singh and Adish Naidu – Appointed by Biman on FNPF board
10/ Pramod Rai and Kamal Iyer – no need to explain this connection
11/ Ranjit Raju – self appointed Biman Prasad’s Bodyguard, calls Biman “ the mighty leader”
My plain advice to you all – RUN.
THE PRIME MINISTER SAID “NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW” – as reported in today’s paper.
Then why hasn’t the Chief Justice been charged by the Fiji Police following the COI report?
Isn’t the Prime Minister contradicting his own statement?
What a hopeless government this has been from day one — twisting and turning their tunes, scandal after scandal, over 40 ministers in government, and an exorbitant pay rise for MPs and Ministers!
Let’s just take a moment to rejoice and remind everyone, especially the Fijians of Indian ethnicity, how Baimaan betrayed their community. The guy is a fraud, has benefited personally and allowed others in his circle including families to benefit as well. Richard Naidu must be shitting himself and others who have also directly and indirectly benefited under Baimaan.
Karma is a bitch…and my God has it come at an opportune time.
It’s definitely a moment that most have been waiting for. This should wipe that ugly smile/smirk off his ugly ass face.