As the Great Council of Chiefs begins its two day meeting to elect a chair and begin the formal process of advising the government, Grubsheet is struck by the woeful lack of judgment of the Coalition in establishing its priorities. 14 months after it took office, it is still showing a chronic lack of ability to deliver tangible outcomes to improve the lives of the Fijian people.
It isn’t just the shockingly misguided decision to give the billionaire owners of Fiji Water a seven year tax holiday, which has robbed the nation of a valuable potential revenue stream when we most need it. That decision was not only just plain wrong but has created huge resentment in the business community on the part of those who are far less rich but are still having to pay their own 25 per cent share of company tax.
The Coalition’s problems are even more basic – shocking instances of need on the part of ordinary people that are being neglected and that the government has had ample time to fix but seems chronically unable to do so. For more than a year, the government has been made aware of children in the vanua having to swim across dangerous rivers to get to school. Yet instead of immediately addressing this threat to the lives of iTaukei young people, ministers appear more concerned with gabfests like the GCC, of being garlanded at every turn and gadding about the world picking up their allowances while they neglect the very people who put them there.
The startling images of children whose lives are being imperilled as they try to take advantage of the free schooling that the last government provided have shocked many Fijians and are now shocking the world. Because they have been picked up by the British global news site, the Daily Mail, and have been splashed across its pages.
It is a searing indictment of the failure of the Coalition government to protect the most vulnerable in Fiji. How can it pretend to be primarily concerned with the interests of the iTaukei and yet put the lives of iTaukei children at risk? It can’t. And if there was ever a reason for this government to be removed at the earliest opportunity for sheer incompetence, this is it.
Long before the last election, Grubsheet wrote to Sitiveni Rabuka with a number of ideas that included a new government concentrating on the provision of basic services. The PAP leader insisted on me calling him Sitiveni and since he had teamed up with Biman Prasad on the promise of governing for all, I – in common with many Fijians – desperately wanted him to succeed. Alas. We have all been betrayed by their nakedly racist agenda, assault on the rule of law and preoccupation with the status of the elite.
As the GCC meets, it’s worth highlighting what I said to the Prime Minister about the provision of services and the GCC. I urged him to institute a “back to basics” program in government that put services to ordinary people first. And I urged him that if he wanted to reinstitute the GCC, he should make it a Great Council of Citizens (the acronym would remain) in which distinguished non-iTaukei were also appointed to advise the government of the day on the country’s direction. (see below)
What has happened instead? Young lives put at risk because of disgraceful government neglect. And the old faces of the past gathering today for the same old Great Council of Chiefs which the Coalition – including the betrayers in the NFP – have given the right of veto over any proposal that affects the iTaukei.
I would scarcely have believed when I gave this advice that this meeting of the chiefs would be convened by a government minister ( Ifereimi Vasu) who is in a private business relationship with a convicted Chinese gangster now facing fresh charges. And that rather than being inclusive, the GCC is the same old non-democratic iTaukei elite that has been given the power by this government – including Biman Prasad – to lord it over ordinary iTaukei and the rest of the nation.
I seem to be saying this a lot. But seriously. God help us.
What a disgrace this government is swiftly becoming. From protecting weed eating and bonking ministers, to a complete failure to provide the basic amenities and assistance to school children doing their damned best to get to school. This coalition government that over promised is now caught out under delivering.
Our own daughters have been caught up in a tangle between the Ministry of Education and LTA in trying to sort out a suitable RSL operator to transport at least 8 children to school and back home. I have emailed the PS for education, yea, your guess is correct, no response. Just deafening silence. This government needs to get its act together and stop the protection racket.
Problem: https://www.fijivillage.com/news/-AG-reminds-Nadi-Airport-School-prefects-to-lead-by-example-f458xr/
Solution: Practise what you preach.
The best bet Fijians have at the moment is pack up and leave for Australia or NZ or even other countries in the Pacific.
I have never witnessed racism like this ever in my life. Its out naked in the streets now and in this government we have the GREAT ENABLERS of racism.
We are preoccupied with Isreal when our children risk their lives to attend school.
If you can, leave now as the door is ajar. It will close soon. Fiji is drowning in the hatred, racism, incompetence and neglect of this government full if unprincipled men and women.
God bless Fiji coz only he can save us now. All hopes are lost from this coalition government.
Spot on, sadly. Couldn’t be better said. As for the GCC: too many chiefs, all hat and no cattle. Kava, kana, moce, rinse, repeat. Bunch old men (mostly) have not advanced any modern program or concept to benefit the “commoners.” Jostling and elbowing for hereditary titles come first thus leaving positions vacant for years while people remain leaderless. For lack of consensus or commonsense or greed. Or all of the above.
Someone said something about chiefs, home-brew and mango tree. Well…he wasn’t far off if we modernize it
A sterling job on investigative journalism in guiding the best directions forward for our beloved country – thank you so much for the quality of your work Grubsheet!
The engine room for a progressive society is education. So much had been done by our communities and community leaders to build a thriving education ecosystem. Our people always saw a better future and commited themselves to the crucial role of educating our leaders for tomorrow. Do we still have this zeal or has this been lost as a result of the masses of our educated leaving? Or are universities providing the right, contemporary & futuristic education as the root of the education tree? The lack of quality and relevance may be causing the reported drop in student numbers coming to tertiary leves. This is a major cause for concern. How is our education system responding to loss of our talent?
We are waiting for the announcement that our education system will be reviewed (as covered here https://www.fbcnews.com.fj/news/parliament/committee-to-review-universities-appointed/) and any outcomes from the review to be implemented to modernise our education system and the knowledge and skills developed to align with and support the country’s development to the next stage – at least aspire to get to the standards of our more developed neighbours. I am awaiting some good outcomes from the review and look forward to contributing given an opportunity.
Can the Education Minister Sir keep us all posted on the progress of the review and how the recommendations will be implemented? This reviewed has to be done with much quality and nuanced for our system. We, as a nation, have some hope that this review will be successfully completed and the implementation of the outcomes will position our country well for the future. Anxiously waiting!
in the words of Jimmy Cliff “many rivers to cross”.
I am sure all peace loving citizens in Fiji have no objections to the re-establishment of the Great Council of Chiefs. Even though it is admittedly a colonial creation anyone who has taken the time to read minutes of past meetings of the late 1800s to present day meetings what stands out is the vigorous nature of discussions in the early days where chiefs were not afraid to disagree and even contradict one another. Meetings in modern times are tame by comparison. .
What should concern every citizen today is the policy of this Coalition government to (a) to make the GCC self funding, in other words, Completely cut off from the public expenditure and accountability framework, and (b) give veto powers to chiefs on all matters to do with the taukei, that’s some 64% of the population.
To me it’s another form of dictatorship, or dictatorship by the back door.
Second, the saying no man is an island applies here. Whatever happens in one element of our society has an effect on the whole. So whatever is done with the taukei will have and effect on the non taukei who are excluded from the decision-making.
If this set up was recommended by the Baledrokadroka/Timothy Daniel Report why hasn’t the report been released so that we can know the basis for its recommendations? What were non taukei members of Cabinet thinking when the proposals were discussed and approved?
A huge problem for this government is that it decided to shoot itself in both feet in the early days
1. a terrible agreement with SODELPA – get rid of FFP no matter the cost leading to a raft of stupid decisions that cost $$$
2. When its FISCAL REVIEW COMMITTEE met it chose more inequality by punishing the poor (VAT rise) and rewarding the rich (tax holiday).
These decisions have led to a cascade of other bad decisions and consequences.
Let’s be clear about this, we all want a tax holiday but this is the real world and there should be no exceptions. If this government wants credibility it needs to act responsibly.
We have to thank Grubsheet for his sterling investigative work in capturing and recording the misgivings and non delivery of the Coalition Government. Many certainly wasted their votes!
It’s your records that will influence the next poll GD so please keep at it .
Our local media are now self censoring! How dramatic .