There is already deep dissatisfaction on the part of the nation’s senior diplomats with the decision by the Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sitiveni Rabuka, to place the scandal-prone Lynda Tabuya at his right hand for his visits overseas. And that dissatisfaction is set to intensify as the Prime Minister doubles down on any criticism and insists that his new Information Minister will again be in a position of prominence for his forthcoming visits to Israel and to New York for the United National General Assembly.
Lynda Tabuya’s brazen conduct last week at the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Honiara has sent shock waves through the foreign affairs and national security establishments. The Prime Minister placed her – or she elbowed her way in – to the most prominent position on the Fijian side, including for his meeting with the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese.
The main subject of that encounter was Fiji’s offer to upgrade its security arrangements with Australia by entering into a formal security treaty. Yet not only were those officials most concerned with security absent – Defence and National Security Minister, Pio Tikoduadua, and RFMF Commander, Major General Ro Jone Kalouniwai – but the Prime Minister placed Lynda Tabuya by his side when she is suspected in intelligence circles of being an agent of influence for the Chinese. (see our previous story).
Yet the provocation of Fiji’s top diplomats continued as Lynda Tabuya reportedly used the spell she has so obviously cast on the Prime Minister to impose her will on other aspects of the visit. Some of the tension has surfaced in the domestic mainstream media, with the following account in the Fiji Sun of an unnamed senior diplomat unable to contain his or her simmering resentment any longer. (A Grubsheet correspondent tells us below that it was the veteran High Commissioner to New Zealand and perennial survivor, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola)
So the Minister for “Bullsh*t, Bonking and Weed “and the Prime Minister’s resident strumpet and concubine is already causing ructions at Foreign Affairs even before the most controversial of the current trio of overseas jaunts – the opening of the new Fijian embassy in Jerusalem.
Watch as she again tries to hog the limelight by muscling in on photo opportunities with Sitiveni Rabuka and his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu. And the “look at me, look at me” antics will then go into overdrive when the Prime Ministerial caravanserai moves on to New York for UNGA – the United Nations General Assembly.
Imagine all those foreign leaders as fodder for “La Tabuya’s” Facebook page? She doesn’t even need to ask for selfies. She’ll be right there by the Prime Minister’s side with her cat-eyes spectacles and designer frocks making the usual spectacle of herself. Small wonder the gang at foreign affairs – who’ve been reared to be modest and self effacing – are in horror at Lynda and her viavialevu ways. It isn’t the image of Fiji they want to portray to the world at all.
And never mind the career diplomats. Imagine how Lenora Qereqeretabua – Rabuka’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs – must feel. For the past two years, the ever serene Lenora has laboured diligently in the secondary ministerial role at MOFA being careful not to upstage the Prime Minister. And then all of a sudden, in flounces the politically resuscitated Minister for (Mis)Information and seizes the limelight.
The contrast between the two couldn’t be more stark – one the epitome of class and the other genuinely at the bottom of the class when it comes to personal conduct. Lynda Tabuya starred in her own pornographic video when she was Co-Chair of the government Anti-Porn Task Force and her “brutal” sex antics with Aseri Radrodro in Room 233 are now the stuff of legend. A distressed Lenora Qereqeretabua had to fight in the courts to clear her name after that perennial scoundrel, Kishore Kumar, claimed she had starred in a pornographic video that didn’t exist. Hands up who you think is the more classy, Fiji? Qori.
You’d think that the rumblings in Honiara might have persuaded the Prime Minister that he has made a mistake in resurrecting Lynda Tabuya so rapidly from feather duster to rooster, sitting at the right hand of the Emperor. But no. The Fiji Sun reports that he is “doubling down” on his insistence at having his concubine by his side. Which tells us that he plans to have her by his side all the way to election day. Or is certainly road testing the idea.
All of which is already causing a great deal of angst behind the scenes in government but unbounded glee on the part of Emperor Rabuka’s opponents, who are looking to make Lynda Tabuya a central target in next year’s election campaign.
The media is full of stories of teachers and religious leaders bemoaning the absence of suitable role models in Fijian society and blaming that for the collapse in standards of conduct on the part of the nation’s young people. Yet the People’s Alliance is making a role model of a drug-taking adulterer, pornographer and proven liar who it found guilty of a “sex and illicit drug scandal” and stripped her, in short order, of the party’s deputy leadership and then her position as Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection.
Yes, folks. That’s Sitiveni Rabuka’s idea of a winning formula. Bring it on.
Lynda for the next PM. Being a dumbo is an essential quality a Fijian PM must have nowadays. The people of Fiji demand it. She fits the bill perfectly.
Lynda is no class compared to Lenora. And oh it’s no comparison at all Sir Mr GD!
Lynda is simply trash. There’s a viral video on tik tok making its rounds . A young man calling calling out Lynda as an adulterer and naming her the Home Wrecker 🤦🏼♀️
Sa ra bau ilai ea a lalai 😅.
Must be a drug deal gone wrong with that young man.
Lynda has to go, yes to Jerusalem, New York and elsewhere with PM but not beyond the next election.
Her suitable replacement from Kadavu: Mere Nailatikau. Wow, imagine Lenora and Mere teaming up in Parliament and Government.
The only hiccup for Lenora to overcome is to ditch NFP and find an alternative party or, become an independent.
Agree that Lenora (and Pio) need to ditch the NFP so as not to go down with Biman’s sinking ship. And Mere Nailatikau would be terrific.
Is this the guy who got arrested ? News today quotes police saying the complaint was lodged by a prominent member of the Government.
Based on the story below on tax evasion, bribery, corruption etc. and considering her business interests in the US, will she still be untouchable by the relevant authorities when she jets into NY?
Southern District of New York | Former UN General Assembly President and Five Others Charged In $1.3 Million Bribery Scheme | United States Department of Justice https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-un-general-assembly-president-and-five-others-charged-13-million-bribery-scheme
Noriega died in a US prison.
Noriega died in Hospital Santo Tomas, Panama City on May 29 2017.
He didn’t die in a US prison.
The minister for information is eminently qualified for the trip to inform the public what’s going on in the Middle East. She has previously peddled Fat Busting pills in the USA. Now she is the Chosen One for the Myth Busting portfolio. Her visit will help her inform the public of what is really going on there in Israel.
Sounds about right. (Mis)leading the American consumer with her Fat Pills. And now (Mis)information minister.
Is the PM trying to turn his beloved Fiji into a trashy Sitcom? 50 Shades of Blue.
It’s getting harder, near impossible, to take anything that he does in Fiji seriously.
The unnamed diplomatic who told lynda to move away from the front row seat in honiara is none other than the man who has been extremely discreet in the shadows for the past 40 years, almost always on the side of his relative, buka the baku.
The mysterious unnamed diplomat was there when plans were put together to burn Suva in 1987, he was right there when the Methodist church was turned into the headquarters of racist ethno nationalist rhetoric, the same shadow has since played a behind the scenes role in and taken advantage of every rabuka coup and up heaven since 1987.
He ensured that his connections and cloak and dagger dealings always landed him a job in some government connected institution or department. He knew about rabukas role in the 2000 upheaval and bakus deep connection with George speight and the CRW military unit.
The same man of mystery ensured that his just as corrupt friends like Himmat Lodhia was always invited to all govt functions and that Himmats family members always had government jobs, the most recent being Himmats son being given a diplomatic post in the region. He is the ultimate chameleon. He changes with the tide and even managed to vesumona his way into Frank’s good books and landed a cushy job under FF as well.
Obviously this shadowy man who has cajoled, advised, supported, liumurid, conspired with and against every national leader since 1987 and taken ensured he always had a job for himself and the boys is a survivor. He wouldn’t allow a Johnny come lately strumpet like Lynda to take away his influence over rabuka that he has worked so hard for the last 4 decades to nurture and cultivate, despite a hiccup or two during the 2000 coup.
He is no other than the man who cannot ever take away the look on his face that says he is always up to no good.
He is Ratu Inoke Kubuabola and he is pissed off at Lynda.
If I were Lynda I would be very afraid about now.
Yes, I suspected that. It would have taken someone of Ratu Inoke’s stature to have the cojones to scold the Emperor’s pet. Vinaka vakalevu for the confirmation and also reminding us of the High Commissioner to New Zealand’s colourful history.
He is the most useless person sitting for the govt of Fiji in its Wellington office. Him and his team. They do nothing for Fiji. Office is closed half the time.
Himmat is a total disgrace.
( Eds note. This comment as been amended for legal reasons.)
Extremely sad that the PM thinks it’s ok to behave in such a manner. He has brought the country to it’s knees once again. These two are a national disgrace.
Latest saga in Fiji as a long operating dysfunctional state with ethnocracy and or dictatorship in charge for most of our independence now. Lynda and her antics are actually a serious quest for power on her part and old man rambo is fiddling with his diddlies at the sexual fantasy that she is in his enfeebled mind. After all he has form from his kamasutra days post 1987 diddling fiddling a whole bunch of hoes.
However even more worrying is that at the heart of our generational failures is the harnessing of a deeply divisive racially charged approach in politics. Rambos comfort zone comes from this and the traditional iTaukei acceptance of the sexual peccadilloes of the Big Man in power.
With a divided electorate easily moved by ethnonationalist diatribes or by shallow appeals to Indo Fijian sectarian divides politicians do not have to perform or show results in nation building.
Effectively Fiji has absorbed the divide and rule practices of our British masters and we remain enslaved to racism and racially centred dialogues and actions. These are drag downs for Fiji and perpetually keeps a larger percentage of all Fijians with a disproportionate number of Itaukei in poverty.
The current parliament and Coalition Government has the worst record of a corrupt undemocratic and feudalism based ethnocracy rather than a national ethos of equal citizenry and values for all Fijians.
Change is in the hands of the people only once they realise the true value for their future generations in rising together. Otherwise we are condemned to a divided dependent nation quickly allowing corruption, drugs, STDs, HIV, Alcohol, Crime, Violence, and homelessness to be normalised.
Ratu Naiqama has already started campaigning for PAP everywhere! He was in Labasa last week and in the west last 2 months ! The people of Fiji must reject PAP at the next elections because a vote for them is merely a vote to keep Rabuka and Naiqama and their friends and families in fancy and fully paid for government houses and cars not to mention first class plane rides everywhere in the world!!
We must remind our people Naiqama impregnated his caretakers young daughter who was in secondary school in 2010!! And this is the same guy who went to prison for his takeover of the Labasa Military base along with Tevita Vakalalabure the corrupt lawyer and husband of Acting FICAC Commissioner Lavenia Rokoilka Vakalalabure!!
Naiqama after losing elections in 2022: twisted Rabuka’s arms to become Speaker and then together with Rabuka, they threatened former President Rt Willie Katonivere with a possible corruption charge ; got him to willingly leave the Presidency and later get Naiqama to ascend to the throne !!
That’s corrupt Rabuka and Naiqama! How much more rubbish will the people of Fiji accept ???
Isa, just seen on FB the jersey presentation ceremony for our Flying Fijians before their match today with Canada. Best wishes!
Against Samoa in NZ, the jerseys were presented by those not in the 23-member test squad. But against Canada, the jerseys are seen to be presented by the team’s hardworking Vulagi Coach.
The jersey presenter’s role was so powerful in the past when a prominent chief would do the honours. Prominence would come with credibility but where are such chiefs from the confederacies? One is an alleged paedophile, one is alleged to be party to the charter flight deal while another has never been seen in public in recent times.
Thanks to our national leaders like the PM and his concubine (as GS puts it), for leading the charge in the corruption endemic. And none of them will face the music. Pity the Vulagi thief who stole butter to support his baby. I started with Isa and will end here with Isa!
Nothing positive to say? Please don’t waste our time….and yours.
Sorry, hardly anything positive to highlight about our leaders, as evidenced by the comments so far on this post by GS. To help address the glaring imbalance, please share some positives beneficial especially to the most vulnerable. Even the best WD40 spray cannot remove the rust and corrosion of corruption that has permeated nearly all levels of government which the elite continue to gain from.
@prominence: that’s a but harsh on WD40. We need to realize the can itself is corrupted and rusty! 😆lol!
Discontent in the coalition camp, and Lynda is the only one eager to stroke RABAKU’S fragile ego, among other things.
Rabuka is now a wee pawn on her chess board.
KEDA CALA KECE
Please show some respect. She’s a born again Christian Virgin.
Vinaka Graham for keeping the spotlight on these charlatans.
Worth going back to reading June 27 2018 Fiji Sun article on Rabuka and his niece Lynda and her rapid rise or what some may consider to be more akin to nepotism .
‘Rabuka Backs Lynda’
‘SODELPA leader Sitiveni
Rabuka has defended Lynda Tabuya against critics, saying she has the potential to become a future party leader. Mr Rabuka has also revealed for the first time she is his niece.’
‘Mr Rabuka said Ms Tabuya had a personality that was inclusive and attractive to people’
Yay Fiji , does your two times coup leader want to give you his attractive niece, Miss Congeniality as your future leader ? Looks like it is heading that way .
The article also has a comment that great leaders don’t create followers but other leaders which is a worthy aspiration but it is also true to say leaders great or not work to keep power entrenched within the fold .
The article which I re read recently is on PressReader as Fiji Sun link says 404 page could not be found .
All Fijians are related through blood and marriage. This one became her niece when adultery allegations between them surfaced. I’m related to Rabuka. Don’t recall her being a close relative in all my life nor see her in our family gatherings.
She’s paying for political access to Cabinet, high-level meetings and parliament.
Isn’t Pay-2-Play akin to bribery/corruption and a criminal offense under Fijian laws?
Can FLP rise to the occassion, investigate, and take this fake politician to court? I voted for Rabuka in 2022 but will vote against the party in 2026 if things don’t change with these two corrupt politicians.
Get rid of them, Fiji! We deserve better. Isn’t Lenora a hands-down much better choice?
RFMF, where art thou? Chess moves by the senile PM are too obvious where’s he’s heading with this harlot who thinks power can be bought with money and vusi.
Do we really want a slut to be our future PM? Can one imagine Margaret Thatcher or Jacinda Arden in a self-made porn video!??
Hello, sleepy heads, yadra mada. Sa rauta na moce.
Well I guess Rabuka’s special spot for Kubuabola enables him to perhaps extend that relationship with the corrupt business community, such as Himmat Lodhia, who also has shown the knack of survival and prominence.
Did it ever occur to you that Lords Jewellers may be the source of that Rolex?
Himmat Lodhia used his friendship with Kubuabola to first appoint his unqualified son to Foreign Affairs, as his Chief of Staff, later transferring him to the Canberra High Commission where he apparently clocked up a massive parking fine for the tax payers. After being admonished for years, the son dealing with personal crisis, seems now to being resurrected to claim a piece of the pie.
Amazing how cronyism, corruption and blatant lack of ethics have become the order of the day for Rabkua and his government.