The last non-iTaukei in the senior ranks of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Assistant DPP, Lee Burney, has left, depriving the ODPP of its best prosecutor and propelling Fiji further down the Zimbabwe road.
There has been no official announcement but the Facebook posting below of Burney’s farewell tells us that he has either been pushed into resigning or has decided to walk himself after he was passed over for Acting DPP last week in favour of the lacklustre Nancy Tikoisuva. Lee Burney had regularly acted as DPP over the past decade so any upset would be understandable.
The iTaukei takeover of the ODPP instituted by the former AG, Siromi Turaga, and the Acting Chief Justice, Salesi Temo, is now complete. There is not a single kai valagi or kai idia prosecutor in the senior ranks of the entire service. DPP Christopher Pryde is suspended. Elizabeth Rice has gone after being fired specifically for being “white”. Andrew Jack has gone, Jayneeta Prasad has gone, and finally Lee Burney, who is said to have been retained until now because without him, the ODPP would fall apart.
Well, prepare for that to now happen, not so much total collapse but a steady erosion of the quality of the performance of the ODPP in the courts and the subsequent deterioration of the entire criminal justice system. It is patently a win for wrongdoers and a loss for law-abiding Fijians.
The Facebook announcement backs up what Grubsheet reported just days ago – that Lee Burney was a mentor to the iTaukei who have been fast-tracked into positions way beyond their level of competence. Where he goes next hasn’t been disclosed. But the British-born Burney once harboured the desire to become a Fiji citizen. He has made the 10-year mark at the ODPP but whether that is enough to fulfil his ambition remains to be seen. And why would he anyway?
Fiji is clearly no longer any place for the white man or Indo-Fijian other than those willing to accept the status of “vulagi” – visitors – which is a national tragedy. The nation’s best people are already being creamed off by our neighbours and why any “vulagi” would want a job in Fiji when the government thinks nothing of conducting itself unlawfully is now on the minds of thousands of others.
Coalition supporters such as Dr Jon Fraenkel have objected to Grubsheet describing this as “workplace ethnic cleansing” but seriously. What else is it when entire workplaces at senior level are being denuded of non-indigenous people and individuals are promoted not on merit but because of their ethnicity?
The end of an era at the ODPP and the nation as a whole, as the new order reinforces the control of the indigenous majority irrespective of its impact on standards of governance.
As Grubsheet has continually reported, when confidence in the rule of law is eroded, we are one step closer to the law of the jungle prevailing. And there is nothing more primitive in the modern world as a nation in which the majority is gripped by notions of racial, cultural and religious supremacy and in which minorities are gradually weeded out. Because chauvinism and ultra- nationalism are a poison that destroys successful societies from within.
POSTSCRIPT: No sign of Nancy Tikoisuva in the photos. Hmm.
Lee Burney ( second from left) just last week at the farewell for the ousted Acting DPP, John Rabuku. His impending departure is written all over his face.
Thank you for your service Mr Burney.
And Graham, we are all Fijians in Fiji, not kaiviti or kaidia. Stop using the ethnicity, as that is illegal according to Kai.
Yes, well that’s what your govt has done to us. Separated us on the basis of race. Big mistake. The country is being depopulated and is now down to around 800,000, according to some experts. Who is going to pay the bills? Not those who have decamped for Australia and NZ. They will assist their families and kai vata. But the tap is gradually being turned off and impoverishment awaits.
The Coalition really are embarrassing Fiji……though it takes insight into one’s behaviour to even feel any sense of embarrassment or shame. So it’s those with insight that are feeling the pain of what those without have created in Fiji. Such is life.
So the ethnic cleaning of the vulagi Sri Lankans who were bussed in by Khaiyum has now been completed.
Now the Coalition under Temo and Siromi are cleaning out the vulagi white fellas in the same manner.
Rabuka was always an ethno-nationalist at heart. He never changed. His apologies were insincere.
By walking Burney did the right thing. No use in hanging around when your services are no longer appreciated.
As the great Indian poet, Tagore says “if there is no love in the heart there is no room in the house .”
So sad. Lee Burney mentored and taught many young lawyers at ODPP but was not given Acting DPP because of his skin colour. Racism thrives under the Coalition and Baiman sold his people for the post of deputy PM
Lee is now part of the justice fraternity…in your face…