The week in which the main governing party intends to force its choice of a constitution down our collective throats has begun with an astonishing warning from the Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, that military intervention may be on the cards.
His comments are reckless in the extreme. The fact is that the military has already intervened by requesting or demanding – depending on how you interpret it – that the section of the draft constitution providing continuing immunity for past coups and future unspecified actions be removed.
This is a direct threat to the Prime Minister himself given his instigation of the coups of 1987 and a slew of cabinet ministers who were directly involved in Frank Bainimarama’s coup of 2006. The RFMF Commander, Major General Ro Jone Kalouniwai, has thrown down the gauntlet in a manner that is impossible to ignore.
Rabuka either agrees with the military’s submission or of course a showdown is looming. And all this is happening against a backdrop of crisis anyway with the decision by the NFP to withdraw from the Parliamentary Review Committee making recommendations on changes to the existing draft.
And suddenly there is a fresh crisis – the retired judge, Michael Scott, warning of a “shameful national scandal” in the judiciary under the leadership of the rogue Chief Justice, Salesi Temo. Grubsheet has been reporting on the dysfunction in the judiciary under Temo for months, if not years, and now it has finally burst into the open.
What’s the Prime Minister’s response to this challenge to national and international confidence in Fiji under his leadership? To double down, insist that the constitutional vote this week will go ahead and raise the prospect of military intervention.
He is prepared to risk national stability and investor confidence in Fiji to get what he wants in spite of the universal outcry demanding that the constitutional review process be given more time. It is a disgraceful abrogation of his principal duty to ensure stability in the country.
The RFMF ultimately has a duty under the existing constitution to ensure the well-being of all Fijians. And in the absence of a government and a Prime Minister ignoring their own duty to the well-being of the nation and its people, no-one should be surprised if a showdown is imminent.
To save his own skin, does Sitiveni Rabuka intend to face down the demand by the RFMF Commander to remove the immunity provisions? We have now come to a point where someone is going to lose face this week if the People’s Alliance insists on proceeding with constitutional change without a consensus in the government let alone with the military. Who is it going to be – Rabuka or Kalouniwai?
This brinkmanship is not only contrary to the national interest. It is downright dangerous. And we are entering yet another period of national crisis that is completely avoidable because of sheer pigheadedness and a Prime Minister who has completely lost the plot.
Why should anyone have any confidence in his leadership? Why should anyone have any confidence in Fiji? The answer is that they can’t. Almost four decades since he brought the nation to its knees, Sitiveni Rabuka is doing it again. And it simply cannot go on.
UPDATE 1130 MONDAY:
And something has given. The PM has backed down on the constitutional timetable. For the moment.
Earlier stories reflected in our original article above…
Now a fresh crisis…
On top of the existing one in the stand-off between the Prime Minister and the RFMF Commander.
NOTE TO READERS:
The posting of comments will be delayed today as I receive more medical treatment. But please keep them coming. Vinaka.
I think Rabuka is losing support by the day, even by many iTaukei that don’t feel heard and resent the nation being rushed into this CON-stitution.
There is an ominous feeling to how this is going to play out.
If Rabuka insists on ramming this CON-stitution through any which way, he will certainly go down in history. But as a buffoon, not the hero his narcissistic and senile eyes see in the mirror.
Thank you again Graham for keeping us all abreast of this debacle!