Barbara Malimali‘s lawyer, Tanya “Try-on” Waqanika, is breaking all legal convention by continuing to comment publicly on the circumstances of her client’s removal now that they have succeeded in obtaining leave to apply for a judicial review in the High Court from Justice Dane Tuiqereqere.
It includes the astonishing spectacle of Waqanika calling for a police investigation into the actions of the Prime Minister and President in dismissing Barbara Malimali even before the case is heard. Talk about a naked attempt to prejudice the outcome.
Waqanika knows that this case will turn on an interpretation of Section 82 of the Constitution and whether Sitiveni Rabuka had the right to advise the President to sack Malimali or whether it upholds her claim that only the Judicial Services Commission had that right.
She also knows that if the State relents and upgrades its own legal team by accepting New Zealand’s offer to provide Fiji with a Kings Counsel to argue its case that she is going to have to go head-to-head in court not with a local yokel from the AG’s Chambers but an elite member of the New Zealand bar.
What would you do in Tanya’s position, Fiji? Yep, pile on the pressure at every turn to try again to get the State to settle the case before any hearing begins in earnest. Yes, try again to get the $2-million she and Barbie have been demanding to make this all go away, or something close to it, but certainly to avoid a lengthy case in which Waqanika is likely to be bested and suffer a humiliating loss.
That tactic includes trying to embarrass the Prime Minister and the Head of State into backing off. She is also flagging the prospect of other individuals mentioned adversely in the Ashton-Lewis Commission of Inquiry Report making their own applications for a judicial review of the findings against them.
Now why would she be doing that? Because she is dangling the nightmare scenario in front of the Prime Minister of the courts being tied up for months, if not years, by the likes of Manoa Kamikamica, Biman Prasad and the rest of the conga line of the aggrieved seeking redress. And worse for the Coalition, the allegations against some of its top people being recycled over and over again just when it desperately needs clear air to persuade the Fijian people to give it another term at next year’s election.
That’s why Tanya Try-on has gone ballistic instead of going quiet in advance of the judicial review. To try to extricate her client from proceedings which they are more likely than not to lose. And to avoid a lengthy court case knowing that Barbara Malimali doesn’t have the personal financial resources to sustain it and could wind up with legal debts running into the hundreds of thousands. (Even if Tanya is doing this pro bono, free of charge, for her friend, there will still be considerable expenses).
There’s also plenty of evidence that the potential disaster of a lengthy court battle over Barbara Malimali – let alone Coalition ministers joining her in the courts – is weighing heavily on the Prime Minister.
We’ve long reported that Sitiveni Rabuka is in a terrible bind. The COI wants him to suspend the Chief Justice, Salesi Temo, the Opposition leader, Inia Seruiratu, is calling for Temo to go and so is Francis Puleiwai and her army of supporters incensed with Temo’s conduct at FICAC. But the PM’s high chief, the President, Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, has dug his heels in and is reportedly refusing to suspend the CJ, to whom he is related by marriage. And Sitiveni Rabuka has so far refused to take his chief on and insist that the President falls into line and cuts Temo off.
As the days progress, that situation is also unsustainable. Temo must go and the Prime Minister knows it. Which undoubtedly accounts for his public comment yesterday specifically citing the fact that the Chief Justice is being investigated by the police and that he intends to carry out the recommendations of the COI.
Characteristically, he didn’t specifically say he would carry out the recommendation that he consider removing Salesi Temo. But even mentioning his name in the context of a police investigation wasn’t exactly a vote of confidence in the man who sits at the pinnacle of the judiciary.
The day-to-day currents in Suva are starting to swirl and Rabuka must know that he either controls them or they will sweep him away. In the PAP, confidence in his judgment and his leadership has all but collapsed. And it can come as no surprise to him why.
- The Prime Minister set up the Ashton-Lewis Commission of Inquiry in the first place. It wasn’t forced on him. It was entirely his call.
- Depending on who you believe, it was either to “drain the swamp of the crocodiles” – what he told Justice Ashton-Lewis – or to checkmate the leadership ambitions of Manoa Kamikamica and damage the careers of others such as Siromi Turaga and Lynda Tabuya.
- Rabuka must have known that when David Ashton-Lewis went after the crocodiles, he and his Counsel Assisting, Janet Mason, would be unrelenting. And sure enough, the COI has exposed shocking corruption in the Coalition government and the offices of state.
- Yet having received the COI Report, the Prime Minister is behaving like someone who has been tossed a Beqa fire-walker’s rock. Instead of grasping it and acting on its recommendations decisively, he is appearing dazed and uncertain. He is clearly torn between competing loyalties but his indecision is destroying his mana in the country and his authority in his own party. And even for his supporters, it is becoming painful to watch.
As the Jack Nicholson/Diane Keaton movie title says: “Something’s gotta give”. Sitiveni Rabuka either seizes control of events or they will seize control of him. And they threaten to destroy his prime ministership, with the clock ticking relentlessly towards judgment day.
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Some of the extraordinary headlines in recent hours.
It is now for FICAC to look into the dealings and financial authorisation by Barbwire when she was temporarily at the helm of FICAC.
A thorough audit should be carried out on all payments she did and to establish whether it was done under the standard financial operating procedure of FICAC or not.
On closer look, the payment to Waqanika in terms of legal fees during COI should be part of that major scrutiny.
True.
Rabuka did sow the wind, now he must reap the whirlwind.
I hope by now SLR should have realised that he is on his own and that everyone in his own camp are out to get him. They are nice to him in front of him but back stab him. It’s about time he wakes up and acts- as it’s a matter of his own survival but more importantly the people of Fiji is what matters. He needs to do it for them and his future generation.
It’s really about what Rabuka took upon himself in 1987, never ever thought through, the consequences !
So yes, reap what you sow, in this case a bloody disaster, Fiji is on a whirlwind to nowhere, Rabuka doesn’t have the guts nor support to do a MFGA, a la Trump !
As for our lawyer society, well they too are a Joke, pumped up pompous twits !
We can hope the whirlwind is not only reaped but also rips Sona Rolex a new one.
The poor bastard is getting played by not just a couple of fat pigs masquerading as lawyers but by his own entho-nationalist liumuri baboon AG.
It’s becoming more apparent each day the the Snake’s own are turning on him.
The porn queen, the wanna be PM DPM, Titti Barbie, CJ, ODPP, Pedo Prez, and other instruments of State (not to mention other tools in government) all seem no longer best best friends of Sona Rolex.
Some of the Snake’s best friends are even rubbing their hands with glee as they ready to get their ducks in a row to file copycat lawsuits, depending on the outcome of Titti Barbie’s case.
All these shenanigans from fellow ethno-nationalists against the Snake are well deserved, of course.
And while snakes generally prefer to move forward, our very own Sona Rolex has spent his entire life moving sideways – and shifting sides.
Suddenly, the Snake finds himself in a tight spot and might have to start some furious back paddling, or rather, slithering.
Normally, going backwards is an often rare and difficult maneuver for any snake. However, it would be foolhardy to underestimate and think that this extraordinarily skilled liumuri Snake will not slither backwards if only to save his own slimy skin.
All we, the people, the pawns in this game of checkers can do, is to stock up on popcorn and soda and enjoy the shitshow.
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy, though, and the biggest liumuri of them all.
Rabuka is paying the price of having greedy people in his government who are busy looking after their own interests and that of their cronies rather than the interests of the nation and the people.
Manoa and Baiman’s faces represent greed and self interest. They are hated by the voters. Rabuka has been tainted by his association with them. The stench of these two surround him as well.
The best thing he has done is cut off Baiman and NFP for the next election. The NFP will suffer the greatest defeat and humiliation in its history. No election budget can save the NFP or Baiman.
Baiman is detested by his own people for the self serving coward that he is. He is the most hated indo Fijian leader in history. Taxi drivers throughout Fiji have a nickname for him – neora, which means mongoose, because he look like a runt and behaves like one.
Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, risks bearing responsibility for recent developments that may further undermine the credibility of his office.
Ms. Tanya Waqanika, who came to prominence through her representation of Barbara Malimali, has publicly challenged the Prime Minister and the President—an approach that may cause reputational damage to both offices. A more prudent legal strategy would have been to pursue judicial review quietly, without hype and politicizing the matter.
Given the constitutional significance of this case, the State must secure the best legal representation. The offer by the New Zealand government to provide pro bono services of a King’s Counsel (KC) should be seriously considered. Concerns have been raised over the lack of experience among the State’s current legal team, and the absence of senior prosecutors from the ODPP is troubling—particularly when the matter involves the nation’s highest offices.
The public is also entitled to clarity on the 17 allegations against Ms. Malimali outlined in the Commission of Inquiry report. Why has FICAC or the Police not launched investigations, including into the reported payment to Ms. Waqanika for representing Malimali during the COI?
The integrity of the judiciary and the legal system has been lost. Public trust is not longer there.
The shit has truly hit the fan and it’s every monkey for themselves. There’s no honor amongst thieves. So true with these Coalition monkeys and clowns who’ve been looting the public coffers. They are now turning on each other to save themselves.
What low-life incompetent scumbags we have running this country.
Fiji has a donkey as the prime minister. The fact is, that is exactly what the people want.
He has been a donkey in plain sight for the last 40 odd years and people voted for him knowing fully well what they would get. So I do not understand why people are jumping up and down now. Including everyone in this column.
Spare me the “changed man” explanation please, or I will call you a donkey.
Yes I already know, everyone in Fiji is a donkey except me – and that is the whole truth.
Seriously, “idiots everywhere”, you are now on notice to change your tediously repetitive narrative or you will be writing these comments in vain.
I am under no obligation to provide you with a licence to bore. You have been warned. Next time I will be sending you to the “trash”.
And that’s not censorship but taking a stand for good judgment and good taste.
GD
Please give him another chance.
He has now changed his name to Donkeys everywhere instead of Idiots everywhere.
“Idiots everywhere”, now you want a licence to insult. Bugger off.
GD, no doubt as much as you are a patient and fair man, you’ve wasted too much time and energy on’idiots everywhere’, allowing more than reasonable space to air the same tired rhetoric time and again.
“Idiots” is not the only one spewing vile racism and hurling deliberate insults to all – particularly directed to one section of the population.
There are a few others with similarly contemptuous attitudes, and is not confined only to “idiots,” although s/he by far is the more egregious violator of this freedom.
It is time to stop this person and others espousing outright vile racist vitriol from other hate-fulled individuals.
Most here appreciate and respect the value of information and legitimate perspectives we read here often.
If only our woeful media types had half the ability and experience, more capacity, and capability to do as much as simple and honest reporting.
Please keep this forum to your own high standards of forthright thinking, analysis, and fair, fact-based commentary.
The wheels are turning towards either a show down of biblical proportions or another puft of a slow queef from all concerned from their respective nether ends.
They have brought the media:
Labour queries US, media role in Govt propaganda show
It is highly irregular for the US Embassy to get involved in local political propaganda and the people of Fiji are demanding answers, says the Fiji Labour Party.
Labour is referring to the much publicized combined media events to be hosted in the Northern Division beginning today providing the Prime Minister, his two deputies and other ministers a forum to respond to questions from the public.
The media says the event is “supported” by the US Embassy. It intends to run live shows nationwide. (FT 22/7/25).
“ The people of Fiji want to know what role the US Embassy is playing in this political propaganda and how it justifies its involvement in Fiji’s internal politics?” asks Labour Leader Mahendra Chaudhry.
Labour is also questioning the role a united Fiji media is playing in hosting town hall meetings between government and the people in what is clearly a political publicity stunt.
It is even more preposterous that this government propaganda forum is being organized by the Fiji Media Association whose general secretary Stanley Simpson lauds it as an “democratic dialogue” engagement, the first of its kind with a united media.
“It is anything but. Such interaction/ co-operation between government and the media creates a perception of complicity and undermines the critical distance required for unbiased reporting,” said Mr Chaudhry.
Is this so-called media/government cooperation, the payoff for the very substantial government grants given to private media organisations such as Mai TV and Communications Fiji Ltd?
“In a truly democratic set up, the media’s role is as a watchdog body, not as a propaganda arm for the government. Interacting with government in such a manner compromises its objectivity and erodes public trust in its ability to hold government accountable,” said Mr Chaudhry.
Labour Leader expressed concern that in Fiji now the lines were becoming alarmingly blurred between an independent, impartial and critical media and government’s propaganda machinery.
He referred also to the almost daily so called “interviews with the Prime Minister” that the Fiji Times has been running for some months now giving PM Rabuka a free forum to express his opinion on issues, even the opportunity to respond to matters raised in the open letters column.
“This is reducing the Fiji Times into a propaganda arm for the Prime Minister. If the newspaper is truly unbiased and apolitical, why isn’t it giving similar opportunities and equal space to opposition political parties?
Journalistic ethics demand strict neutrality and impartiality, and an avoidance of any situation that could suggest bias or undue influence.
“The Fiji media needs to take a long hard look at where it is headed in terms of upholding its independence, and the journalistic code of ethics.
“We have just come out of years of repressive rule that severely restricted media freedom. One would have thought the media would zealously guard its new found freedom and not let commercial interests such as government grants compromise its standards,” said Mr Chaudhry.
Caption (Fiji Media Assoc Facebook):
The Fiji Sun, The Fiji Times, Mai TV, Fiji Live, Communications Fiji Limited (CFL), Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC), and Fiji TV are collaborating under the Fiji Media Association umbrella to host forums in Savusavu on Wednesday, July 23 at 7pm at Hotel Grand Epic, and in Labasa on Thursday, July 24, 2025 at 7pm at the Fiji Football Association Conference Room.
The events are supported by the United States Embassy in Fiji.
Stanley Simpson, FMA General Secretary and Mai TV News Director, described the collaboration as a watershed moment for Fiji’s media landscape and democracy
The PM and President got it wrong when they did not move first to suspend the CJ. He is clearly the hand behind the likes of Barbara, the Chief Registrar and the appointments FICAC and the ODPP.
Suspending him on the COI report findings would have removed the protection to the others and with it any opportunity for the Judicial Services Commission to act or decline to act in accordance with the Constitution.
As it now stands Barbara has got a hearing on her dismissal by the President, which could result in the actions of the PM and President being found to be contrary to the Constitution and they would then be facing the possibility of her being reinstated!
The President would be asking the CJ for his advice, not the PM’s. How ironic would that be! And what would the President do if he, the CJ, declined to give advice? Or worse advised the President to reinstate! Which would see the COI ignored and the PM powerless!
This is how it works with Rambo’s government. Instead of going with the most qualified and competent, put in the cronies and hope for the best. Oops.. didn’t expect them to be found out for being incompetent, compromised or corrupt. Sorry..gotta let you go because the aggrieved and their lawyers can spill the beans. It’s not our money, let’s pay them to shut them up. Rambo has gotta hope that he doesn’t have to face the music before he goes…
Does anyone believe the PM this time around, from today’s FBC news? Nah!
Why so long, and why now, Sir? Is the exonerated DPP now your prospective saviour, not just personally but of the high offices of the President and PM in relation to the Malimali case? And what about CJ Temo? A/DPP Tikoisuva? And the others too? Isa, this mess that was born after December 2022.
PM to look into DPP’s absence
The Prime Minister has expressed concern over the continued absence of the reinstated Director of Public Prosecutions.
In a Facebook post, Rabuka states that Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Pryde remains in New Zealand despite being reinstated in January this year.
Pryde was suspended in April 2023 following earlier allegations but was cleared by a tribunal and reinstated as DPP.
“I will have to find out why he has not been called and whether it is a matter for the Constitutional Offices Commission to consider again.”
Rabuka has reassured that he will be looking into this matter again.
Source: https://www.fbcnews.com.fj/news/pm-to-look-into-dpps-absence/
This is an attempt to create a diversions/distraction from not implementing the recommendations of the COI.
There is -he the Snake has no real desire or interest to bring back the incumbent DPP.
The squirming slimly Snake is faking it and trying to fool the people again. As the past indicates, he knows the Fijians are a gullible and ignorant lot.
This lying sack of sh1t we have as PM does not want people to stay focused on serious matters impacting the independence and integrity of FICAC, the thief justice, the corrupt baboon AG, couple with many/any blunders the Sona Rolex himself has made to create this stinking quagmire now facing the country.
Sona Rolex will forever continue to slip and slide, bob and weave, hiss and slither his way as far away from the truth as possible.
Rabuka made a clever move when he called for the Commission of inquiry. He could see the leadership challenge that he was going to face.
Unfortunately, he hasn’t got the support within PAP to implement the recommendations of the COI.
Now he is tangled in his own net in the swamp surrounded by the coalition crocodiles.
If PM does not make some strong decisions, like using freely available KC from New Zealand, he will become history soon. If the state loses the case to Barbara, then Rabuka could go back to collecting bottles, suffer a stroke or in a worst case, a heart attack. The failed PAP candidate, Tanya Waqanika, wants the President and the Prime Minister of the Vanua to be investigated. Where is the culture, pride and unity of the Vanua gone now?
It is abundantly clear that CJ Temo is his biggest problem.
Expecting anything from Rabuka about Mr Pryde’s position when he says that he’s “looking into it” is the same as the police announcing that they have found a large hole in the middle of Suva and “are looking into it”
He’s never going to change anything related to that situation whilst Temo is still sitting on the bench when everyone knows what he has done. And if Rambo had done what he promised to do, the guy would have been suspended and be facing chanrges by now.
Time the PM grew a pair!!
So much for gullible voters falling hook, line and sinker for his election BS mantra ‘Let love shine’.
There maleka sara, you get the nutty, sese leader you all deserve.
Never give unrepentant and worse, unaccountable criminals any chance to hold public office.
Learn your lesson Fiji and throw SLRolex in the dustbin of history where he belongs!
Fiji politics is absolutely laughable and worthy of a Netflix mini-series; sad thing is the corruption and antics are so horrible and have hurt everyone for far too long, wasting not just Fiji money but many millions from generous donor countries.
So much energy wasted on evil instead of fixing infrastructure like hospitals and reliable electricity and water supply.
Monty Python approved!
Dig up the Tuvalu case with all the gory details and the two opportunists don’t have a case.
What career?
You slept with a Tuvalu judge to win your case.
Absolutely immoral lawyer.
No professionalism.
No class.
No shame.
No self respect.
Case closed.
Reopen all MP’s cases hiding behind these two. These are the real criminals. Off to jail, the bang lot. Sega na isa.
Your downfall began in 1987. The whirlwind of your past Karma will now tear through your foundations. Your reign is nearing its dramatic conclusion.