The Rewa high chief, Ro Naulu Maitaitini, has again established himself as influencer-in-chief for the iTaukei establishment with what amounts to a public call for Sitiveni Rabuka not to appeal the Tuiqereqere ruling quashing the Supreme Court Commission of Inquiry into the appointment of Barbara Malimali as acting FICAC Commssioner.
In doing so, Ro Maitaitini has also indirectly lent support to those elements of the People’s Alliance – especially the newly-restored Deputy Prime Minister, Manoa Kamikamica but also the Minister for Information, Lynda Tabuya – who are trying to undermine the Prime Minister with a view to forcing him to resign as they pursue their own leadership ambitions.
It is no co-incidence that Manoa Kamikamica is all over the Fiji Times in a series of stories shamelessly promoting him – including a front page splash today in which he says the government has “depth” beyond just the leader, which is another way of saying it doesn’t need Sitiveni Rabuka.
Other stories in recent days have contained implied criticism of Rabuka, including one in which Mr Sweet suggests that the government has failed to get its message across. And who’s fault is that? Well the Prime Minister’s of course.
What’s happening is the same crude politics we see the world over when ambitious underlings are trying to elbow a national leader out of the way. And Rolex Rambo is especially vulnerable when he is being blamed for wasting millions on having commissioned Justice David Ashton-Lewis to “identity the crocodiles in the pond”*, which happened to include Manoa Kamikamica, only for the entire CiO to be quashed by a less senior judge in the form of Dane Tuiqereqere.
Much of the establishment and especially those adversely named in the CoI Report – including Tuiqereqere’s patron, the Chief Justice, Salesi Temo, who Ashton-Lewis accused of perjury and perverting and obstructing the course of justice – are desperately anxious that the Prime Minister doesn’t appeal Tuiqereqere’s judgment. And the pressure is on in earnest for him to abandon any notion of doing so.
They can’t attack the PM directly without triggering open warfare. Yet their tactic is obvious – an extraordinary pile-on by the usual suspects on one of the advocates of the CoI in the first place – the Sydney-based social media warrior, Alexandra Forwood.
It matters not that others, including Grubsheet, are calling for the Tuiqereqere ruling to be appealed. A conga line of anti-CoI luminaries including Richard Naidu and Charlie Charters have attacked Alex Forwood as a means of attacking the Prime Minister and trying to persuade him not to appeal.
Yet Ro Naulu Mataitini is in another league of influence altogether – 24 carat establishment and unofficial spokesperson for the Great Council of Chiefs. What he says will be having a big influence on Sitiveni Rabuka simply because Rabuka knows Mataitini will be speaking for a great many members of the iTaukei establishment.
To follow is Mataitini’s Facebook posting and in the national interest, as well as his own, the Prime Minister must ignore him.
Why? Because if Rabuka wavers and allows the stinging criticism of his own conduct contained in the Tuiqereqere judgment to stand, it will be a sword on which he will eventually be impaled, a sign of weakness that his opponents in his own party will use to erode his authority and mana.
He needs to vindicate his decision to set up the CoI and have the Court of Appeal overturn Justice Tuiqereqere’s deeply flawed findings or he won’t just be a lame duck in the election lead-up. With Manoa Kamikamica campaigning for the leadership with the support of the Fiji TImes, he has a good chance of being toast.
Here’s the line Ro Mataitini is taking – an attack on Alex Forwood masking his real target – the Prime Minister.
To his immense credit, the digital security specialist, Jemesa Lave, challenges Ratu Naulu Mataitini’s position, saying that the law must take its course for democracy to be upheld. That if Sitiveni Rabuka wants to appeal the Tuiqereqere decision, he has every right to do so.
But guess who is one of those supporting Ro Mataitini’s posting? Yep. The Siren of Room 233 and our old friend, the Minister for Bonking and Weed.
Here’s her withering put-down of Alex Forwood and none-too-subtle message that she wants her Prime Minister to back off on any idea of challenging the Tuiqereqere ruling.
Whatever the political heat, the Prime Minister must resist it.
As for Ro Naulu Mataitini, launching a personal attack on Alex Forwood as a means to scuttle any reference of the Tuiqereqere decision to the Court of Appeal isn’t just the cheapest of personal shots. It also establishes him again as someone with a very fast and loose attitude to the application of the law.
Nearly three weeks ago, Grubsheet had cause to highlight some extraordinary comments Ro Mataitini made in a Fiji Sun article on changing the constitution.
Here’s the nub of what Ro Mataitini suggested – the astonishing premise that the rule of the mob takes precedence over the rule of law. And if the majority iTaukei want the 2013 Constitution junked that’s what should happen.
QUOTE: “The constituent power—the nation itself—is superior to any constituted power, whether that be Parliament or a constitution. If the people approve a new constitutional order through a free and fair referendum, no court can overturn that decision without placing itself above the sovereign will of the nation“.
Does the same logic apply now? If it’s the will of Ro Mataitini, Manoa Kamikamica, Lynda Tabuya, Charlies Charters, Richard Naidu, et al that the Prime Minister shouldn’t appeal the Tuiqereqere judgment, that should be the end of it?
That’s how far we’ve fallen, Fiji. We used to have a criminal justice system with appellate mechanisms to have bad judicial decisions overturned. Now the mob cries out using the excuse of cost when it is really about a desperate desire not to have this particular decision revisited. And of course, they would say that, wouldn’t they? Because if it’s overturned, some of them are back in the legal firing line. And they wouldn’t want that, would they?
It has taken Manoa Kamikamica no time at all since the failure of the FICAC prosecution against him to re-stake his claim on the leadership, undermining Sitiveni Rabuka in a series of Fiji Times stories in recent days.
Here’s today’s front page about “depth” in the People’s Alliance. As opposed to the implied shallowness of Rabuka’s rule.
And if anything, Mr Sweet has been even more sour on the Prime Minister in other recent Fiji Times stories, and not only the clear jibe about Rabuka failing to properly communicate the government’s message.
When Kamikamica takes it upon himself to “unveil the party’s vision”, the clear implication is that Rabuka doesn’t have any vision and that he, Kamikamica, gets to do any unveiling because he is the true power in the government.
Yes, it would be different but not for the better if Manoa Kamikamica ever gets to be Prime Minister.
Sitiveni Rabuka must face down this challenge to his authority. Only by going to the Court of Appeal and getting his decision to set up the Ashton-Lewis Commission of Inquiry vindicated is he going to be able to stop the white-anting of his prime ministership by Mr Sweet, the Minister for Bonking and Weed and their choristers.
Rabuka owes it to himself to do so. And far more important for the nation, he owes it to the Fijian people to face down the likes of Ro Naulu Mataitini and allow the law to fully take its course.
* “Crocodiles in the pond”:
Justice Tuiqereqere says in his judgment that having used this term, Justice Ashton-Lewis showed bias towards those named in the CoI Report.
Ashton-Lewis for his part, said in his celebrated radio interview that he was quoting Sitiveni Rabuka asking him to “remove the crocodiles in the pond”.
Unfortunately for the rest of us, they are still there.
Ro Naulu churns out article after article using artificial intelligence. It’s so obvious. What does it say about the “itaukei establishment” when one of its influencers cannot express a coherent viewpoint without the aid of AI? Isa lei.
Shut down the Israeli Embassy and use those funds to go to the Court of Appeal.
The likes of Jemesa Lave need to be lave’ed or lifted and elevated into the public leadership space. As someone understood to be from the Rewa Province, he is a rare find and is to be commended for having the ball, gall and all to publicly challenge a high chief of his province.
We can expect him to do likewise by questioning their paramount chief when the opportunity emerges, for the sake of adherence to the rule of law. Sadly, in deep contrast to the prevailing Ca’audrove PM-President nexus that we may have to endure for another 4 years beyond February.
Vinaka, Mr Lave.