Frank Bainimarama cannot have a formal meeting with anyone of consequence without it being fully scripted for him, which is why his iPad or a set of notes comes between him and anyone who sits down with him, as in these pictures from COP26.
It is the way in which Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum maintains total control over the Prime Minister. Because speaking notes from the various branches of government such as Foreign Affairs go to Qorvis to turn them into conversational style and then Qorvis sends them to the AG, who approves them and forwards them to the PM. So that whether Bainimarama is speaking to Boris Johnson, Antonio Guterres, Patricia Scotland or the World Wildlife Fund, it isn’t so much Bainimarama speaking as Khaiyum. Just as the PM reads out speeches on an autocue that have been approved by the AG, with Bainimarama never once, in my experience, having had input into the content of those speeches during my entire six years of writing them from 2012-2018.
It has always frustrated Frank Bainimarama that Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum invariably keeps him waiting for his speeches and notes. Indeed, he sometimes becomes agitated as the minutes tick by and the time for an engagement approaches and he still hasn’t received what the AG wants him to say.
It always struck me as unnecessary and even humiliating for the Prime Minister to be left dangling like this, not to mention the risk that the PM would fumble his delivery with not enough practice. But the AG’s favoured tactic has invariably been to leave emailing the relevant document till the last possible moment so that no-one else around the Prime Minister has a chance to read it and make changes that deviate from the AG’s narrative.
When I was the author of this material, I cannot count the number of times the PM’s bodyguards anxiously called me asking for a speech or speaking notes when it was the AG who was sitting on them – sometimes for a day or two – without passing them on. The PM was kicking the cat in telling his security detail to pester me because he knew all along that I was under strict instructions not to bypass the AG and send them to him direct.
As Prime Minister, Bainimarama could have easily asked Khaiyum himself to hurry things along but he would never do so, which is a telling insight into their relationship in itself. Because it is all about the desire to control and the willingness to be controlled – the bizarre and frankly sad spectacle of the dummy waiting for the ventriloquist to bring him to life with words that he cannot formulate himself.
With this in mind, I had to smile when Sitiveni Rabuka said again on the weekend that Frank Bainimarama had lost control of the government. Because he has never had control in the first place. It’s the guy next to him or at his shoulder in these telling pictures from COP who pulls the strings and is the real power in Fiji.
You are going to get a buturaki.
Thanks but you are now trying to cut down a tree that you watered for so long and let is grow so huge that pulling it down will take a generation it seems.
It’s a vere vakabau from Voreqe’s perspective, isn’t it? His blood must be boiling.
Voreqe betrayed Fiji, and those who supported him also betrayed Fiji… I believe the ethical thing to do would be to return all the money received from Qorvis. It’s the least you can do Graham considering the catastrophic mistake you made. Doing so would tell something about your true character. You can’t possibly have it both ways… This is truly how people feel about you in Fiji, and you must know that.
Nobody will respect someone accepting dirty 💰 from the evil Aiyaz-Voreqe duo knowing perfectly well what’s going on behind the scenes. This is Fiji taxpayers money, a poor country now facing a major debt crisis. There are charities here that would make a better use of that ill-gotten money.
I know it will sound very harsh to you, but that’s sincerely what I think…
By the way Graham, I am not asking you to publish my comment (you may do so if you want). I simply want to tell you a piece of my mind.
Quite a hilarious situation… it’s just like in truthforfiji.com’s cartoons!
What a sad circus.
This is a really interesting photo. Boris seems fascinated by our strongman. Very funny.
I note a mask with our dated Fiji flag on the table (it seems optional to wear it during discussions). Oh how Aiyaz must be angry! 😂 🇫🇯💓🇬🇧 His father must be really sad. I am surprised Aiyaz didn’t ask our retired rear-admiral to wear a “where happiness finds you” logo instead of these foreign symbols.
Oilei. All the money we had to flush down the drain for that memorable photo! Now what have we got for our money? Nothing much.
If only Voreqe could come with ideas of his own! He had the opportunity to meet many leaders from small nations where people looking like Boris generally love to spend only a couple of weeks (sometimes even only a few days) under the sun to try to look more healthy… While tourism is somehow in direct contradiction with what Fiji is standing for in all the COPs (or sadly in this case sitting for), Voreqe could have at least agreed with other competitors like Indonesia (Bali), Samoa, Dominican Republic, French Polynesia, Barbaros (etc…) to impose a minimum duration for non-essential trips, like 10 days or so per 1000km travelled. It would have been a surprise announcement that would have made headlines and perhaps lead to more substantial initiatives from developed nations. Less tourists but longer stays is the way forward for the world. It will come one day for sure when the proverbial s**t will hit the fan, but Voreqe won’t be the one credited for even such a basic and necessary solution, that I can promise you! There is a lot of hypocrisy in a sense… Fiji is asking gigantic efforts (sacrifices) to large countries but is unwilling to get its act together. You have to give up something to get something.
So no intelligent suggestions in Glasgow, no big announcements. Only kerekeres. It can’t work like that.