The Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, has just embarrassed several of his senior ministers including Manoa Kamikamica and Siromi Turaga by effectively signalling the end of the practice of them dressing in matching outfits with their work colleagues and wives.
In doing so, the PM has done a huge service to the cause of good taste as well as tackling the ridiculously extravagant practice in which government ministries and agencies design and produce special shirts and dresses for even the most pedestrian of events – all at the taxpayer’s expense.
Full marks to Rabuka for saying that the practice of wearing new outfits for every occasion has merely exacerbated the gulf between the elite and ordinary Fijians, many of whom struggle to find a T shirt for everyday wear and a “Bula” shirt or frock to dress up for special occasions.
The PM’s statement in Monday’s Fiji Times comes as the paper reveals that the Coalition has borrowed an additional $850-million since it came to power in December 2022, taking the nation’s total debt to $10.3 billion dollars. Having promised before the election that it would reduce debt, this is an embarrassment for which the entire Coalition should hang its head in shame.
Rumours are circulating that the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Biman Prasad, could soon be charged by FICAC over the revelations by Victor Lal at Fijileaks about the NFP leader’s alleged failure to declare property and cash holdings to the Elections Office, as the law requires. This would trigger his suspension from the cabinet and effectively end his political career.
Grubsheet has no independent information about these reports. But the fact that Monday’s Fiji Times puts Biman Prasad in the firing line on its front page over the increase in the national debt suggests that the dogs may well be circling. It has long been common knowledge that Manoa Kamikamica covets the finance portfolio and since the implosion of FijiFirst, the Coalition no longer needs the NFP’s five votes to stay in government and Biman Prasad is politically dispensable.
Is there a move underway to remove him? Who knows? Analysing what is happening in the Coalition is a bit like trying to figure out what was happening in the Kremlin at the height of the Soviet era. It is all so opaque. Yet when the Fiji Times – effectively the voice of the Coalition – starts highlighting Biman Prasad’s failure to reduce the national debt and gives prominence to criticism of him by the former FijiFirst minister, Premila Kumar, we can be pretty sure that something is afoot.
As a prominent wearer of kalavata, Manoa Kamikamica will be less than pleased with the Prime Minister’s latest “back to basics” instruction on Coalition fashion practices. But never mind his own dress sense. Kamikamica has already fouled his patch by publicly supporting Lynda Tabuya‘s right to call for the death penalty for drug traffickers without going to cabinet. The Prime Minister is said to be decidedly less than happy with him. So maybe the Finance portfolio won’t be his after all, irrespective of what happens to Biman Prasad.
There’s a lot of talk that Manoa Kamikamica is no longer the “Golden Boy” he was before a series of poor judgment calls and that Rabuka sees Filimoni Vosarogo as a more credible successor to the top job, despite the handicap ( or is it a plus?) of Vosarogo being directly related to the Prime Minister.
Vosarogo was a member of the PAP disciplinary committee that nailed Lynda Tabuya for her drug-fuelled “brutal” sex encounter with Aseri Radrodro in Room 233 and which saw her removed as the party’s deputy leader. So if anyone is capable of blocking the double act of Manoa Kamikamica and Lynda Tabuya from eventually seizing the reins of power when the PM finally steps down, Fili Vosarogo is definitely a man to watch. And especially if he has Sitiveni Rabuka’s patronage.
Oops.
No kalavata but is he in the firing line? The rumour mill is in overdrive that Biman Prasad is on the skids.
As in Soviet times, reading between the lines of the Coalition’s effective mouthpiece. Today’s Fiji Times front page.
Debt rises. Changing constitution instead is more of government priority. People get more angry and frustrated for lack of economic progress and money retained in their pockets. Brawl at the boxing in Sigatoka is another sign of people living on the edge.
Government is failing its people. The economics professor obviously hasn’t got a clue on how to fix the economy. How could he, has he ever had a proper job managing anything apart from doing academic research.
Government has no opposition to hold it to account. There are a whole lot of alleged leaches who are ready to suck the government coffers dry of whatever $$ remain. Pay rise, dinners take priority to use it or lose it budgets, golden seikos waiting in the wings to take advantage for self benefit. Stuff the suffering public.
And then you have this phd qualified economic advisor dressed in mandraji blue suits making monthly visits from Sydney to provide false economic advise to whomever in the government will allegedly give him a future job to further his own ambitions and not the public’s. Another one with not a single days business or public experience apart from doing economic research telling people the theories on exporting cannabis, mining copper, increasing hotel capacity, and that Fiji has a 3 speed economy. Sounds good from an excited year 10 economics student coming up with ideas for their assignment rather than from people who supposedly have the ear of successive economics government minsters to change Fiji for the better.
Fiji has become a country for self serving politicians and their mates who will allegedly rob the government of it’s money and resources while the people who need the most help will continue to suffer for generations.
Lets now absorb more rubbish coming this week about constitution, reconciliation and false economic predictions.
Two years on from the Election and any time an Opposition member criticizes Biman with valid questions, all he does is berate them for the actions and performance of FFP…….. And still does not answer the questions……. I have said to many friends that these guys didnt expect to get in and when they did their first reaction was “Shit, what do we do now!” and that is showing time and time again…….
The future of Fiji in in the hands of a very few who are able and qualified…… and they are yet to stand up and be counted….. Even the next election will be farce as there is no viable party able to take on the incumbent……. Time for the younger guys get start mobilising for the future…… Lets hope there is something left for them………
Avoid kalavata but maintain kilavata!
Some important lessons here from the Coalition’s 2-years time in office: first, Professor Biman Prasad has no idea how to run the economy, and Manoa Kamikamica who declared that he is on the same page as Biman Prasad is no better. If Rabuka had any good sense he should tear out the page and discard it in the nearest trash can.
Second, in the area of public debt the Coalition Government is following in the exact footsteps as its predecessor proving that soldier politicians make disastrous money managers.
Don’t know why people are criticising this government. The people of Fiji know that a man who raped the country 37 years ago, has f/all to show for it after all this time, bankrupted the NBF, and is a racist and a bigotted Christian who talks to God, is the ideal person to turn the fortunes of the country around. Just ask the people of Fiji.
The next in line is the Minister for Bonking, she also has all the right qualifications and characteristics to make the next PM. Again, just ask the people fo Fiji. They are the ones who will set Fiji free and on the right path.
Fiji is special – again just ask the people of Fiji.
Bula Graham, lets not give this lying conniving hypocritical snake any praise as his actions defy his words. This speech was delivered on saturday night during the Fiji sports awards and I was watched and listened in disgust at the way he tried to spit words about being humble and not wearing kalavata. But to think of those less fortunate who are struggling to make ends meet. Well hello there Mr. Dementia, not so long ago you supported the increase in salary for your cabinet ministers. Saying its only $8million. Did you care about the plight of fijians then? Amidst the huge backlash, you told the Fiji public to relax its only $8million dollars. Did you think about the poor ordinary fijians on your recent overseas trips abroad to china, tonga, etc? Collecting your $3000/day allowance? He was away for more than 10 days so yes fiji he collected more than $30k on his return. Sitiveni Rabuka is the equivalent of putting the cart before the horse, because of the lack of respect that his ministers have for him. Couldnt get rid or Aseri Radrodro, he said he yellowcarded Aseri??whatt?? Cant get rid of Lynda Tabuya, the minister for porn for her role in room 233 and calling for death penalty. These are only a few highlights of the man you semi praise in the above post and I would just like to say that Rabuka does not deserve any sort of praise, as He and his bunch of rebels cabinet are quite frankly proving to be the worst shambles of a government that we’ve ever had in our short history of independence. And we’ve just buried the two man dictatorship that ran for 16 years. Which is saying something. But I’m afraid this current coalition has exceeded the two man fiji first dictatorship in terms of being the worst govt we ever had. They took 16 years, this current Rabuka rabble has only taken 2 years for us to make this conclusion. God bless Fiji. P.S Graham, I’m a big fan of your work! Cheers brother!
Na kila kila mada!!! Under quiz master Biman and his fellow cronies , this government would have no clue how to run a bean cart let alone an economic system for a nation.
Anyhoo, all the what PM is doing to drip feeding to the Fiji public what they would like to hear. Like, no more kalavata. But don’t ask me for anything with regards to my ministars. And please leave my litttle tart alone. She’s good at what she does! So Fiji, don’t get all cozy and gooey coz the PM has killed the kalavata, instead Get very concerned that he has sold our nation to the Chinese. Get very very concerned Fiji. Our sovereignty and everything else that we think we own is gone.
Rabuka did not just sell Fiji to the Chinese, he sold Vanua Levu to the Chinese and the whole of Fiji he sold to the United Nations last week in Tonga, in other words the One-World-Government globalists. China will develop roads snd bridges on Vanua under the Belt snd Road Initiative. In return u can bet the Chinese will win the tender to take over the Mt Kasi Gold Mine, and after the US$200m World Bank loan to develop Vanua Levu tourism has been drawn down Rabuka has probably arranged with the Chinese to flood Vanua Levu with tourists. All the money will build up in Vanua Levu and people will be happy ever after. That’s how Rabuka’s mind works.
Fiji is full of idiots. Why and how else can this well known dickhead from decades ago can become PM, again?
And then Fijians wonder why Fiji is where it is!!! They do not even know that they are donkeys. I mean who will tell them that they are donkeys, apart from me?
The front page of the Fiji Times contains a piece on governments guarantee of up to $200m for FSC for the purpose of allowing FSC to borrow locally at less cost. This is just one of the many assistance government has given this industry since day one.
A World Bank review of government Expenditures done in 2023 noted that from the period 2017 – 2021 govt direct support plus an implicit sugar “tax” on Fiji consumers amounted to some F$195-million a year.
Now Sugar Minister, Charan Jeath Singh wants to saddle tax payers with a $250m loan to build an ethanol plant in Rakiraki to fulfil an election promise though all calculations show this plant will be a net weight loss to the country.
How much longer should Fiji continue to flog a dead horse.
In effect, what govt is doing is putting aging farmers with their tiny acerages up to compete with the hundreds of thousand acerages of the capital intensive sugar farms on Brazil.
Is Luke putting a featherweight boxer in the ring with a heavyweight, there’s no way Fiji can win.
If high interest in loans from FSC bankers, the HFC bank is an issue, the bank is 100 per cent Fiji (government and FNPF) government can just issue it a directive to lower interest charged to FSC. Alternatively, FSC could borrow from the Reserve Bank as it has previously done at very low interest. or borrow from the Fiji Development Bank.
It seems our money brains trust at the Ministry of Finance and at the FSC have lost the capacity to think straight. But in the long term surely we must be planning to get out of this industry. The burden in tax payers is becoming too much to bear.
Rabuka is a walking dick head. A slap on the faces of small businesses who earn a living sewing Kalavata and make a living out of it. Guess what, most of then are I-Taukei ladies.
This dickhead is official walking dead. When he become PM, he wanted to be closer to USA and not be part of CCP. Blamed FFP Government for China’s influence on Fiji.
Now he he is hell bound to sell his ass to China. A classic Walking Dead in the modern day and age.
What is wrong in wearing Kalavata bought by Civil Servants through their hard earned money. On dickhead is promoting business in Fiji, the other wears a condom to awards.
Watch this Graham – Rabuka on the death penalty. “You can’t reverse it”. Well no shit sherlock.
https://youtu.be/h2cTxE0ffgw?si=lZRn5TZhPEA_hcJM
And then there’s the admission about govt spending on banquets and kalavata!
https://youtu.be/BijBOa4n2DA?si=VnihZnmxS99yuf5s
I remember Jim Carey in his movie, Dumb and Dumber. That movie fits this Coalition. Today, 3.9.24, Biman the Conman Prasad said, “Government officials need to be mindful of not wasting tax payer funds”.
Ok Mr Prasad, here’s your checklist before you start lecturing:
1. $8,000,000 pay hike for ministers.
2. $12,000:00 for dinner and kalavata for ministers.
Shall we continue?
Fiji, we need to get rid of these idiots. The sooner the better for our beloved country. Can’t wait for 2026. Khaiyum and Bai must surely be laughing.