Major General Ro Jone Kalouniwai – the RFMF Commander – increasingly gives the appearance of being a tin soldier* who seems obsessed with truth and reconciliation within his own ranks in which hard men sit around in tears apologising for their mutinous activities and are then forgiven. I kid you not. Because by Jone Kalouniwai’s own account, that’s what happened when he recently held a “truth and reconciliation” event in Vanua Levu. Former RFMF personnel who had committed grave crimes against their fellow soldiers were offered a path back into the RFMF just for saying “sorry, eh?”
It isn’t good enough. And neither is the selective way Jone Kalouniwai interprets his obligations under Section 131 (2) of the Constitution, which states: “It shall be the overall responsibility of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces to ensure at all times the security, defence and wellbeing of Fiji and all Fijians”.
In an extraordinary article in Monday’s Fiji Times, we learn that Jone was sufficiently offended by the Coalition’s plan last year to appoint Filimoni Vosarogo Attorney General when he had been found guilty of professional misconduct that he had used the power of Section 131 (2) to demand that the government reverse it. Silly us, Fiji, And we thought the idea had been abandoned because the Fiji Law Society went public with its opposition to the appointment.
Not so. It was the RFMF Commander working behind the scenes actively using his constitutional powers to prevent Filimoni Vosarogo from being made AG because the Constitution prohibits it. But then he later did nothing to prevent John Rabuku from being made Acting DPP even though the Constitution prohibited that too. It is a case of selective indignation for which there is no excuse.
Here’s the article in question before we ask some very hard questions of our own:
Question 1/ Why did Jone Kalouniwai choose not to intervene using the power of Section 131 (2) when John Rabuku was appointed Acting DPP when Rabuku, like Filimoni Vosarogo, had been found guilty of professional misconduct by the Independent Legal Services Commission? (see below). John Rabuku continued at the ODPP for ten months before he was forced to stand down after three Supreme Court judges ruled that his appointment was unlawful.
As Grubsheet has reported, the length of time John Rabuku spent at the ODPP has triggered a potential nightmare in the criminal justice system as lawyer Devanesh Sharma – acting for Frank Bainimarama and Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum – has launched a legal challenge against every decision Rabuku made as Acting DPP.
Question 2/ Could not have Jone Kalouniwai averted this entire sorry saga by doing what he did when the Coalition tried to appoint Filimoni Vosarogo AG – tell them to back off by citing his constitutional responsibilities? It would have saved an awful lot of trouble, time and money if he had again had a quiet word with the minister – presumably Pio Tikoduadua, the Home Affairs Minister – and said it wasn’t on.
Question 3/ Why hasn’t Jone Kalouniwai used his constitutional power to prevent the appointment of Barbara Malimali as FICAC Commissioner, which has thwarted an investigation into her alleged abuse of office as Chair of the Electoral Commission and prevented Biman Prasad – the Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister and NFP leader – from being arrested last Thursday on a charge of abuse of office?
At face value, neutering the corruption watchdog is a much graver assault on the rule of law than Filimoni Vosarogo being appointed AG. Barbara Malimali – a Coalition supporter who complained after the last election of not getting a government job – is a much greater danger to the “wellbeing of Fiji and all Fijians” than “Nice Fili” ever was. All he did was to be found guilty three times of professional misconduct. Whereas “Nasty Barbie” is a clear and present danger to the rule of law because she is set to throttle FICAC investigations into herself and no less than nine cabinet ministers.
Question 4/ Commander, can you please explain to the Fijian people your complete lack of consistency in objecting to Filimoni Vosarogo’s appointment but saying absolutely nothing about the appointments of John Rabuku and Barbara Malimali? Seriously. Could you please just stop the metaphorical chorus of Kubaya and the tears and hugs in your own ranks for long enough to provide us with an answer? Because frankly, the mental wellbeing of the Fijian people is taking an awful battering because of your double standards.
To be consistent, you have to tell Pio Tikoduadua that Barbara Malimali has to go because her appointment is contrary to the national interest and the wellbeing of Fiji and the Fijian people. And you have to demand that John Rabuku be removed as Deputy DPP immediately. Because the reason he cannot be Acting DPP – professional misconduct – applies just as much now that he is back in the ODPP as Nancy Tikoisuva‘s Deputy. It is contrary to the spirit of the Constitution that is your obligation under the law to object, just as you have told the Fiji Times that you were obliged to block the appointment of Filimoni Vosarogo as AG. Or has someone since got in your ear to get you to back off?
And Commander, just to remind you of how inappropriate it is that John Rabuku is Deputy Director of Prosecutions for the Republic of Fiji, here is the absolute proof of his unsuitability – the original court judgment against him for professional misconduct.
Please read it and then explain why you have decided that “Nice Fili” is out but “Naughty Johnny” is in, just like “Nasty Barbie”. Because frankly, your judgment as RFMF Commander is seriously on the line. And if you want to avoid a repeat of the restiveness that you now admit was happening at the Camp after the last election when at the time you denied any such disunity, you’d be well advised to do something about it.
Now seriously, Commander. Do you still think John Rabuku is fit to have been appointed Deputy DPP?
Frankly, they – and YOU – have got to be kidding. Enough with the tears and hugs and please do something about it. We’re not talking about a coup but a quiet word in a few ears. Because the national interest demands it.
Flashback to October 23 2023. No to Fili. Yes to Johnny.
Followed by complete silence. It isn’t good enough. Because the wellbeing of the nation is now in clear and present danger from the Coalition’s assault on the rule of law.
If shooting the corruption watchdog isn’t enough to rouse the RFMF Commander’s ire, what is?
This isn’t going to go away, as the former prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, makes clear in his latest statement on the FICAC scandal.
UPDATE: WEDNESDAY
But, of course, in the parallel universe we operate in with the media in Fiji, the chronically biased Fiji Times has a front page story today with Mahendra Chaudhry and Unity’s Savenaca Narube “praising” the RFMF Commander.
Delve a bit deeper into the story and that “praise” is conditional and more an exercise in spin to cap off several days in which the Fiji Times has flooded its pages with positive coverage of Ro Kalouniwai in an attempt to deflect attention away from “Barbara-gate” – a subject on which it has gone completely silent, in stark contrast to the Fiji Sun.
Why are two politicians who aren’t even in parliament front page news? Because an effective opposition inside the parliament no longer exists.
No-one is doing anything to prevent the government’s assault on the rule of law that among other things, has seen it seize control of the corruption watchdog to block its investigations into nine government ministers.
So the Coalition wins. The Fijian people and our democracy lose.
* TIN SOLDIER: A person who enjoys playing at being a soldier.
GD this fellah is not going to do anything. Unlike JVB who did not fall for all the pomp and ceremony of chieftainship and who was principled,
this fellah cannot because he is from a chiefly family and as we have seen such people always put themselves ahead of the nation. Which means they are not principled.
We have been told that JVB at a close grog session before Temo conspired with the evil crew to send him in, said that it was a mistake to appoint two chiefs to the two most important positions of the President and Commander.
Some of us have seen him at close quarters and he is not a leader. He doesn’t have a vision and is simply reactive. Unfortunately unlike JVB and others, he thinks along the lines of race, religion, province, chief – commoner, his personal privileges and status and his family’s immediate needs.
He together with interferences from Rabuka, Pio and their sidekicks has split up the rfmf. This fellah himself admitted in one of his recent wanna be interviews that the rfmf is not united.
Can you believe this fellah went on rajend chaudry’s face book page defending the ‘reconciliation’ in vanua levu and when rajend asked what about an apology to the indo-fijians who by the way were kicked, punched, raped and made to cook while naked (ASK had highlighted this in Parliament and Biman and Pramod from Labasa laughed at these revelations), this fellah disappeared from the page. No spine. Cannot face the truth. Only wants the sashi kiran and manoa truth who are all out of their depth.
Some of us past and present from the Force feel very frustrated and madua (embarrassed/ashamed) about what is happening.
Oh, well, as the current bunch of lawyers who are screwing up the legal and governmental system would say, we rest my case.
The answer to all your questions is simple – this is Fiji and people make their own laws and regulations as they see fit at the time depending on who they like and who they do not like, the mood of the people involved, the weather on the day and various other variables including who, what race etc etc. Things in Fiji are fluid and flexible. Haven’t we seen exactly that in the last 20 months or so?
My question is, at the apology at Sukanaivalu Barracks at Labasa, where was the Speaker of the House? Wasn’t he the leader of the insurgency at the barracks at the time?
Now we have the same guy pontificating in parliament. What credibility does he have? His own people rejected the highest chief at the last election as he lost at the election and came to parliament via the back door and is now pontificating. Have you seen him speak? It is as if he were someone with an elected authority when the reality is he is a rejected pussy basking in glory.
And people wonder why they are where they are and why Fiji is where it is!!!!
The speaker was indeed the leader of the insurgency at labasa barracks. Bused-in several hundred indo-fijians at gun point to the army base as hostages in case if a counter-insurgency. Yes, the indo fijians were to be human shields-used as callous prop.
Avoided charges saying he was safeguarding the indo-fijians.
Most have forgotten it seems, that this speaker and the recently pardoned naitasiri ratu fellow –with SLR in the shadows — together organized a grand mataganisau at Albert Park in an effort to lure VB to present him with gifts, mangiti, and apolgize.
The real plan all along was to then execute VB right there and then. In broad daylight in front of a large crowd.
SLR, the speaker and ratu would then take over, declare national emergency. They failed as VB knew better. Then the mutiny.
During which SLR called president Mara and said: “I am ready.”
To which Mara responded: “Ready for what?”
Don’t you think that even a ‘quiet word’ is not really much better than an actual coup? Because that ‘quiet word’ would in effect be a warning, to which either the govt calls his bluff OR he conducts a coup (which we don’t need under any circumstances). I think the wording in the constitution about the military ‘protecting Fiji and the its welfare’ implies situations when we are physically under attack from an outsider, or perhaps if there is severe civil unrest that cannot be handled by the police. Otherwise the RFMF should stay away from politics and people should stop tryng to goad them into getting involved. Whether you are for or against the govt, the way things stand, no one is physically under threat. People just need to keep up the public pressure which is their right, and things will play out. This is definitely a turning point where people are becoming more emboldened to speak their mind (like today’s FJ Sun front page), and as you say GD, this will only increase and the voices will get louder.
I say what I do in the absence of an effective opposition, from the remnants of a party that got the most votes at the last election and then imploded.
We have no other way to block the tyranny of this government, which slipped in by one vote on the floor of the parliament and is now conducting itself like a dictatorship. The military has the legal right to defend and protect our wellbeing. So short of them removing the govt at gunpoint, I see no reason why the Commander’s voice cannot be heard, as the Constitution allows.
I have posed the question why he felt emboldened to intervene to stop Vosarogo becoming AG and didn’t feel emboldened to try to stop Rabuku and now Malimali. Because these two are a clear and present danger to the national interest and we cannot wait for another two years to prevent the current state capture by an iTaukei elite who do not have an electoral mandate. It must be resisted before our rights are quashed altogether.
“We have no other way to block the tyranny of this government, which slipped in by one vote on the floor of the parliament and is now conducting itself like a dictatorship”
We do. It’s called an election, held to schedule if not before. We shook out a dictatorial government last time and we can do it again.
What we do not need – those of us who live here and have skin in the game – is another coup. That way lies the next cycle of Rabukas, Speights and Bainimaramas, who all justified their strong-arming of democracy at gunpoint by claiming it was to defend our wellbeing. But of course served only their own interests.
I know you have good reason to believe that your pontifications and spin can shape Fijian politics, as it has in the past. But stoking coup flames is completely unjustifiable and should leave your conscience charred. Not so blackened, let us hope, that Papa Dear blocks your way at the pearly gates.
Are you blind? I specifically wrote that it didn’t require a coup but a “quiet word” by the RFMF Commander that prevented the appointment of Filimoni Vosarogo and should have been been delivered in the case of John Rabuku and Barbara Malimali.
The law allows it and in the absence of an opposition, what other course do you propose when the rule of law is under assault and the national interest is at stake?
Me “stoking coup flames”? If I wanted to do that I would be a lot more direct. And your final comment is just plain offensive. Bugger off.
A question nobody seems to have asked is – why is the RFMF conducting an internal reconciliation now, some 24 years after the event? What games are being played and what will be achieved? I do not understand, you apologise for being racists and then you go back and do the same again by not doing anything while the government openly is racist? Is this a Fijian brand of logic? When you stand back and do nothing while racism is openly practiced you are condoning it and sitting back, with crocodile tears, performing traditional bullshit ceremonies, not being inclusive does not cut it with me.
There is just too much traditional bullshit everywhere which is being used to justify racism. Next time I hear a fancy name for a traditional ceremony, I will shout out loud “eff off”. They can stick their traditional ceremonies up their rear. F*cking waste of everyone’s time.
A large number of ordinary people affected by the Coup in 1987 and 2000 have migrated to Aus, NZ and USA.
The crocodile tears shed by those within the RFMF is self serving.
The RFMF is rotten to the core. The Commander sadly has no credibility.
If ever there was a tamed, meek and docile Comm. RFMF, Jone fits the bill. This bloke is in the wrong job – he should be working the Mess kitchen wearing an apron, instead of the role he’s in now.
If this guy had any smarts he would simply go to the President, present a case for the dismissal of the government for various breaches of the law and the Constitution and ask the President to dismiss this government. Put in an interim government of a handful of nominated persons. It is not rocket science. There are a whole heap of reasons why this government should be dismissed. Incompetence is the major one. No coup needed.
Just need some gonads, which is lacking everywhere in Fiji because they are all too busy filling in their pockets and saving their backsides and getting fat.
Worth noting that the collision gov increased $ to RFMF so everyone should forget about hoping they will ride to the rescue
Sadly the only effective opposition is now GD and Fiji Leaks and maybe a few good local journos.
Fiji elite have always been a self serving bunch and they’re back in charge and it’s mutual back scratching as the average person gets poorer.
Business as usual.
RFMF has mostly served one purpose in this country.
That is to breed corrupt men who are corrupt leaders.
They abuse their power.
Everything must fit their agenda and for the leaders that they breed.
It is a sick organisation with millions invested over so many years.
The cycle will continue till a party comes up with no coup related men.
For now, there is none.
Fiji will be stuck in this mess for years to come.
Aid donors are part of the problem.
They know way too well how to keep a country at their feet.
Nothing will change.
What no one is talking about is the fact that Rabuku and Fili’s disqualification is on identical terms – they’re both not qualified to be a Judge as per the Constitution so office of the AG, DPP etc which requires the appointee to be qualified to be a judge are unattainable for these individuals. You cannot be qualified to be a Judge if you have a blemished record with the ILSC. Jone spoke up when Fili was appointed as AG (while rabuka shuffled around and claimed this and that). Jone said Fili could not be appointed because the Constitution said Fili was ineligible – his record was blemished. Exact same issue with Rabuku! He can’t be DPP because his record in ILSC is blemished too! It took this bloody govt 10 months and the Supreme Court to say yes his record is blemished – and another 12 days for the President to revoke his appointment because Temo was too busy cutting a deal with Rabuku. A deal that saw Tikoisuva getting appointed and bringing Rabuku back, this time as Deputy DPP (through the backdoor – just the way Rabuku likes it) – and in stark contravention of the Supreme Court’s findings. Does Jone not see this? Madness! Why did he only speak up when Fili was appointed as AG? He doesn’t like Fili but likes Rabuku? Or was it that Rabuku needed to get in office – eligible or not for the position to put JVB and Qiliho in prison? Fk this country.
The response I got from a young lawyer if Nancy and John were known to the lawyer’s peers. The answer, “Yes, those two are friends, our tutor and lecturer.” Ro does not mind at all if such “unqualified judges” run the ODPP, to ensure that the law is applied not equally but based on who he/she is. Terrible, disastrous, shameful, undisciplined and unprincipled!
It is becoming increasingly apparent that the RFMF is angling. For what? Only Jone knows that. To publicly express his views in regards to one individual not getting a posting due to past convictions, and remain silent on others who are in the same predicament, is very revealing. This guy is up to no good. Also, his very admission of disunity within the ranks speaks volumes. The country is steeped in corruption and hypocrisy. And Rabuka remains silent. Thank God we have GD and other patriots who continue to dig, and rattle the cages of these cronies. All that is left to prove if this government mean what they say is for protest marches to begin. Let’s see if they are truly for freedom of expression or not.
RFMF , guardian of the Constitution and the well being of the people, should step in and to reset the Constitution for the countries sake, there is no way it can be termed a “coup”. The Constitution sanctions the RFMF to resolve issues that act against the “welfare” of the people.
Simply make the case, easy enough in this situation, as it is a simple matter of the RFMF correcting what the two dictators made to the Ghai Constitutional Commission that was presented to them , or was that, snatched from out of their hands.
1. A “coup”, can only be described if an element of the military were to take charge and take government at gunpoint. Not a good outcome.
2. RFMF Commander and his men can take charge with a simple signature from the President on a Decree stating new facts on the ground, totally legal according to the Constitution, which is saying something, considering the contempt this government has for the Constitution.
3. An interim government for the next 18-24 months to give the country time to put in place a Constitutional Assembly and a One Party State.
4. The Interim Government is the present government and stays in place, except the Commander or his proxy sits in at all Cabinet Meetings and the Commander has veto powers.
5. The Election Office now administers a Nation wide One Party State structure. 6.The One Party State takes control at the end of the present governments term.
7.There are no longer Elections under our Westminster System, goodbye and good riddance.
One can dream and be entertained by hope, or contemplate horror at the thought of another election cycle coming up that will be chaos, the antithesis of harmony and progress, the result being rotten fruit of poverty, social breakdown, joblessness, no hope.
What we presently have is a Unity Government by default, with no manifesto, without the electorate ever having a say in the matter. A government that has stated it has the objective of changing the Constitution or declaring it null and void in its totality, through the Court, without once being specific about what the changes in it should be. Judges are expected to find against a Constitution they swore to uphold ? This route can have no legitimacy and is a coup by other means. What it will do is totally destroy the legal system, destroy the honour of a nation and its people, based on their lack of integrity to keep their word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. What are you, if not your word.
RFMF needs to stop navel gazing contemplating on what a good boy it is, but take charge and lead our nation out of the demoralising political quagmire it is in to a chance at a revival of public spirit and duty that can invigorate and motivate a nation of young people.
RFMF, don’t be confused, we already have a NFA, our National Fire Authority, so, we don’t need you to put out fires, be part of Nation building, after all, you broke it, you fix it, it will take time and courage, this road, and that is OK.
Time to put an end to the generation of entitled inheritors of Independence, and the Westminster System, that has been their plaything, abused and degraded, more important than people and their welfare. This abomination, is something that should not be passed on, needs to be cut out like a malignant tumour.
I think Ian Simpson will make an ideal citizen in North Korea.
But one thing he will not be able and will not be allowed to do is rant his rubbish hot air endlessly. I mean who reads his rubbish and doesn’t he have better things to do. He is obviously a retired geriatric who has a lot of time on his hands.
Hahaha you sound like GD.
At least I am providing people with entertaining thoughts.
You will need to talk to GD about censoring me Comrade Idiot in Jackboots.
Looks like the Army leader only had a single barrel rifle ( just one bullet) to fire – So he chose to use it against Filimoni V and spared the others like J Rabuku whose appointments were just as illegal and subsequently confirmed by the courts.
But of course the commander has no such limitations – why did he spare the other individuals when they were within range and a clear shot! Is there a Secret Service director who is dictating when and who to fire at and who not to.
Is it down to petty personal grudges and friendships and the constitutional clause selectively used for reasons other than national welfare?
Fiji media on the ground – please dig and find! Or are the answers blowing in the wind towards Grubsheet.
Re Updates to original posts:
Thank you Graham. Now it is much easier to see what the new item is when you post a change, an addition or update within an original article with your Day or Time stamp.
Had meant to mention this a few weeks ago when it became more user friendly. Vinaka
The problem is the 2013 Constitution which assigns a political overwatch role to the military for which they (like the people of Fiji) were not consulted in the first place, and for which they are not qualified to handle. Thats why we need a review of the Constitution. If we dont, then Johnnie will continue to find himself between a rock and a hard place.
Applying different standards to the same issue or decision is the hallmark of an indecisive, ineffectual leader.
It’s not lost on anyone that the current commander of the RFMF is neither decisive or effective.
Will he stay in place, of course he will as long as he does the bidding of those in power. If he were to tell the Government to remove those whose appointments that are at best poor but in reality, based on bias he would be the casualty.
His shocking double standards do not augur well for the country’s most academically qualified military leader with not 1 or 2 but 3 Masters degrees, and whose institution’s Ethos reads as follows:
Integrity, Consistency and Transparency (Na Dina, Dodonu kei na Savasava).
With the huge height of corruption, nepotism and croynism so apparent in Fiji’s government, it is enough to make anyone wonder if the next elections will be “free and fair” given the current lot always said the last one was not fair – anyone still remember the “glitch”?
If the current slobs in power will stoop to any level to guarantee their financial and political survival, there could easily be a “glitch” during the next elections to keep this power hungry, drug fuelled mob in power.
The Army Commander is a professional. Jeez, Graham I thought you were a journalist. I guess you do what you do best, a propagandist ghandu, blabbering on like a typical Karen.
Yes, we will do it the Fijian way with all the forgiveness and reconciliation. If you don’t understand it, then you and those of the same commenting here are not Fijian or Pasifika people. You are what we refer to as no culture people. The lowest of the low who don’t know where they are from, where they are, what they are and where they are going.
Yes,”forgiveness and reconciliation”. The Fijian way. As in “O sorry, eh?” “No, that’s OK, I forgive you”. And then do it all over again.
No thanks. Better to be “no culture” and the “lowest of the low” than an arrogant hypocrite performing the same tired old meke. Again and again and again.
It’s been going for 54 years and look where it’s got you. A drug-riddled beggar nation with a third of the population living in poverty and the highest per capita rates of NCDs, domestic violence and child abuse in the world.
Oh we know where you’re going alright. Mind if we don’t come?
Do correct your statement. Jone is not a chief. He is definitely not a high chief. He belongs to a family that is related to the Roko Tui Dreketi, and think they are part of the RTD clan, but they’re not. He can call himself a Ro or Ratu but he’s no chief. Laughable, amusing how Jone takes the moral high ground on matters when he should have been sacked like the countless other soldiers that committed adultery, and were sacked by Bai. Jone survived. Bai must be regretting the day he practiced double standards with this inept moron and kept him in the army when the resounding advice at the time was to sack Jone like the many who did what he did before him. A snake like Rabuka, if there ever was one.