(From the Grubsheet Facebook page)
The price of complacency and hubris – the deadly Indian variant of Covid-19 well and truly established in the Pacific. Fijians deserve answers to the following questions: Why have certain locals been permitted to travel to India since the border closure last year, including – it is said – to buy gold and attend weddings? Who precisely are the passengers on the Fiji Airways “repatriation” flights that have continued on a regular basis long after most people have been repatriated from Fiji? Precisely what lapses took place in the quarantine protocols that the government has long trumpeted as being secure enough to allow a travel bubble with Australia and New Zealand? What is the status of the Health Minister, Ifereimi Waqainabete, who appears to have disappeared from public view?
The drip-feeding of selective information is no longer acceptable from a government that just a week before this outbreak, had been boasting of being world’s best in containing Covid. It is a question of trust. And as they come to terms with the fact that the “Bula Bubble” they’ve been sold is an illusion if borders can’t be secured, an increasing number of Fijians believe they can no longer trust the Bainimarama government to be transparent and accountable and adequately protect the country and themselves.
Narendra Modi has been described as a megalomaniac.
It’s reported that India’s mainstream media have skirted the fact that Modi’s election rallies and allowing the Kumbh Mela festival to go ahead has allowed the catastrophe seen now.
Megalomaniacs the world over and in our midst, who make political decisions instead of doing what’s right, for the people they govern.
Who indeed are the people who continued to travel out of Fiji?
Of the millions of pilgrims, did anyone from Fiji attend the Kumbh Mela festival?
The explanation that Fiji citizens who were returning from India after medical treatment and couldn’t be abandoned, is weak. It would have been far less expensive for the Government to accommodate them in India during the deadly outbreak at hand.
That 900,000 Fiji souls are sacrificed for a few, is blood on hands.
A privileged few with money and means.
God help us all. God help all the frontline people involved in the contact tracing work on hand in Fiji. God help Dr Fong and his team and let’s hope that he will continue to front the daily press briefings or we will lose faith and turn off the television, if he is upstaged by spin from the megalomaniacs amongst us.
The original Covid 19 virus has the ability to mutate and now we have the Brazilian, UK, South African, and Indian variants. In my country, the South African and Brazilian variants of the mutated Covid virus have turned into the Indian variant, without the traveling public spreading the virus.
It seems that this virus has the tendency to mutate into different variants and blaming the Indians is both disingenuous and racist.
The original Covid 19 virus had emerged from Wuhan, in China and I believe Fiji was the first country to call this virus an “act of God”, probably to get a pat on the back from their Chinese friends. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and China are responsible for the spread of the Covid 19 virus and, causing the current disruption in public health throughout our fragile planet Earth.
Yes Graham … too many questions. My latest just penned for the FT is what the “@$%&” are soldiers allowed to be ‘roommates’ namely the soldier who contracted the virus from the maid and the wife of the Makoi woman.
When I served my time in quarantine a year a go in Nadi, married couples were able to be together (how sweet) but what medical evidence is there if you’re married the virus will not spread?
Do we need to hear from our Politicians, or leave it to Dr Fong ?
Most government initiatives are those recommended by the relevant bureaucracies, supposedly expert in the matter at hand.
So do we need politicians? The answer is yes so as to maintain the sense of living in a democracy, with the qualification that they concentrate solely on political quarrelling in their relentless personal power pursuit, but otherwise stay out of things.
So as long as the public service decisions are subject to public examination and if necessary appeal, then it will be recovery and happiness all round.
So what then is the justification for politicians drawing exhorbitant salaries if they dont front up to justify their existence?
The answer is in paragraph 3, second sentence ‘ to maintain a sense of living in a democracy’
The people of God cannot be denied the truth.. nothing but the truth.. for long.
Hope that a few in leadership wants to show the world that they are ‘Jacks of all trade…but Master of nothing..’
Time to call for wide consultation long overdue… its NOW…or the people,etc. Will face the consequences of NEVER…
God Bless Fiji..
Graham. This has been their MO for past 15 years so it is really not surprising that selective information is gradually released while the truth and information damaging to the Government kept under wraps.
At the same time they tend to lecture and come down with a heavy hand in telling people of the consequences of their violate lockdown rules, so they continue to display authoritative rule .
I am not suggesting that strict procedures does not need to be in place to contain spread of COVID but the attitude with which it is delivered is noticeable.
While we confide to Covid protocols, it is important we are fully informed. From the hotel maid and Makoi house-wife we have some information and MoH is working hard on the matter – great. We lack information on other where-abouts or other contacts of the soldier (apart from the 2 women).
Secondly the information of the ciuple whose luggage the soldier caught Covid from, where are they in quarantine? Other contacts, etc. Why they were permitted in if they have Covid? Even their luggage transfer it!
MoH and the public needs full information from frontline military personnel. All the best! Keep praying! Cheers!
This is exactly what happens when you have two simpletons in charge who clearly don’t know what they’re doing where one of them is business-minded while the other expects to be babysat by the former. It’s already crashing down on them that it had to take a pandemic to shatter their “unprecedented growth” and their time in power is running out. Its no wonder one has to get credible information from elsewhere and not from the Fijian media who are very selective these days like they’ve always been.
Frankie and Aiyarse are pretty much in hiding because they’re afraid to face the “reality of the matter” and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out who had the bright idea for not closing the borders much earlier and repatriation flights from one of the worse places in the world that has an outbreak variant of the virus. I’m not surprised the “infected” bribed their way into the country from India since word spreads quite fast that people demand answers from the Health Ministry and the two goofballs in charge.
There’s clearly an unprecedented growth in debt and COVID cases that FFP clearly doesn’t know what to do yet refuses alternatives offered by the opposition that says a lot about their unchanged attitude.
Fijj clearly needs an economic reset , needs a visionary leader with big bold ideas to jump start the economy. ASK is not that person as he has run out of ideas and had no good ideas in the first place.
Think about it, he removed duty on white goods to stimulate demand, oh really is that how you establish an economic base.
Fiji needs a major commercial scale agriculture revolution, leverage educated young workforce for BPO, manufacturing base , IT outsource . There is so much that can be done on IT outsource, you just need the right strategy , why can’t Fiji set up highly skilled IT workforce and code for big techs like Apple, Google, Facebook, Netflix??
There’s huge shortage of IT worldwide wide Fiji Govt is not seeing this to develop a niche
Ministers only good for cutting ribbons, opening toilet blocks, touring market stalls
All game changer is needed and won’t ever only have to rely on tourism.
Everything is an aid and huge borrowing with nothing productive to show for.
Frank has lost all credibility and respect in Fiji. He is not fronting up to media conferences on the COVID issue because he would be a liability…the guy does not know what a GDP is. (He said “na GDP na dinau”…GP is debt). So how can he be expected to get his head around the COVID protocols etc?
His Health Minister (aka Minister for Generators) and his cake-cutting Minister of National Security (Inia Daumusukeke Seruiratu) are also gaffe-prone and are a liability too. They have been advised to stay in the sidelines while a senior civil servant (Dr James Fong, PS for Health) is the designated public face of the Fiji First government on the pandemic.
So many questions remain unanswered. The Government is drip-feeding information to the public. It is giving the public the mushroom treatment because it has much to hide eg who paid for AGs trip to and from Singapore on Fiji Airways? Reportedly, only 13 pax were on that flight and most of them were the AGs family.
The public has lost confidence in Frank and all his BS commitment to multiculturalism (he does not understand what it is) as well as Climate Change (the science is way beyond him) etc.
He and his syncohants over the years have left Fiji in a very sorry state. They have much to answer for. Isa Viti.
Agree with Rajiv Sharma, most of it anyway.
In my view, here is some of what that visionary leader needs to address, in order to reset, in no particular order.
1 – Boot the sugar cane industry to touch, the tax payer cannot afford it. Unfortunately no politician has had the guts to deal with it since it was handed over from the colonials. This broke down industry sits on the best land the Country has to offer for alternative uses. Down south (NZ) is home to the best dairy farmers and technology in the world, and a booming Industry it is, take advantage of that and agricultural related activities in general.
2 – the bush, Country wide needs to be made available for anyone willing to have a go at it, not to take it over or own it, lease it and put it to work, without the associated bullshit that generally comes with it, the opportunities are endless, agriculture, forestry, subdivisions, communities. Less politics, red tap, more understanding and a get go attitude.
3 – an immigration policy that brings in investors, to work the above, and not workers to work for the investor, mobilize the lazy unproductive population, maybe a tax on remittances is a good start, and that tax is directed towards life improvements rather than retailing shopping, restaurants, booze and rental cars.
4 – increase income taxes from 20%, that’s a ridiculously low tax for a developing Country.
5 – immediately build a decent port facility on Viti Levu and Vanua Levu for inter island travel. Maybe that greedy Fiji Airports which had no budget to upgrade Nadi can pay for the port terminals.
6 – down size the army, ridiculously over sized, pandemic or not, their is a police force, the tax payer cannot afford both, reserves or territorial forces in times of need.
7 – an open sky policy, the tax payer cannot afford the luxury of its oversized, protected national airline no more.
8 – not be beggars and talk climate change nonsense in the hope of some ‘spare change’. Get rid of berating politics, agencies and politicians, they have negative implications. And yes, less comparisons to Singapore, Fiji is not anything like it.
For starters.
Just to add on to your list with reference to “visionary leaders,” qualified specialists for the job who know what they’re doing by merit and not through cronyism and nepotism, if it wasn’t for Rabuka’s stupidity the country would’ve been like Singapore by now although it doesn’t take a genius to figure that out since it’s been obvious for years.
Yes agree but the current t leadership under 15 years of rule bears much of the blame:
-Huge rake up of debt
– horrible road conditions
– virtually no proper medical services (ASK had to go Singapore for medical), that alone says a lot
– non performing economic sectors
– nepotism
– cronyism
– dictatorship rule
– lack of a genuine parliamentary system
– stupid electoral system
– everything is an aid , can’t even buy vaccines but all dependent on donor COVAX vaccine aid and from other countries
– chasing climate issue but with nothing to show for with all climate funding going into general revenue and not targeted to climate initiatives
– a minister in charge of everything
– a highly compromised non effective human rights director licking the boots of the regime
– stacked up statutory boards full of party supporters
– wastage of hiring foreign Permanent Secretary all of whom have gone back home for “personal reasons”
– collapse of sugar industry
– a broke Government with money
– failing education system
– elitism
– globe trotting PM flying first class to nonsense works events when he should hunker down roll up his sleeve and do the real hard work
Need I say more, this is the legacy
You’re right, they pretty much followed in the same vein as Rambo through severe social polarization.
Interesting to see Kaiyum applying for a position with the ADB, we’ll it reads that way in the papers. God help them, by the way, has anyone seen him lately, God that is, his absence from Fiji, since Fiji has suffered some of the world wide or perhaps planet wide effects of time ?
How about in the new Fiji order, we put aside 5% of the GDP towards an emergency fund for these time events.
And for gods sake, can we not have lawyers write the policy or manage the same, cause potentially it could be a repeat of what we are going through.
Fong & Co. are a part of the government bureaucracy as are all those from the MoH coming on TV to give Fiji their very incosistent updates on COVID.
This bureacracy became very apparent when a patient with COVID died in CWMH. The patient had prior complications however, after contracting COVID, the situation was exacerbated and the patient died.
The MoH refuses/refused to admit the patient died due to COVID further compounding the medical issues which means this patients body will/would not have been handled with the same care as other patients who died of COVID in Fiji.
I find it even more interesting the briefings given to the people are just numbers without any real substance, e.g. similar to briefings we see from actual medical professionals who were on the telly during NZ and Australia’s COVID crisis.
As someone recently told me, when you have an Obstetrician and a Gynecologist managing COVID instead of an actual diseases specialist, you know its all fun and games in the MoH instead of serious analysis and realistic planning.
Graham
You must have heard about the new electoral bill passed this week. Sad to see how ASK is tightening the noose around political parties and making it really difficult for them to function as a party. How ridiculous to have political parties declare who donated the goat meat for fundraising dinner.
His verbal diarrhea in Parliament about him in past during Qarase era being invited to a $1,000 plate dinner is nonsense.
I am so shocked as to how he is able to constantly change laws and requirements to suit his agenda.
The state of democracy in Fiji is far from a genuine that he and Frank always talk about.
The people of Fiji, the voters really need to think hard about voting them in again.
They have ruined the economy, everything is now a kerekere from development partners and he has the audacity to spin the budget support and from Australia and NZ as these two Governments having confidence in Fiji. The sad reality is that these two countries realize the severe incompetence of ASK and they do not want to see Fiji collapse economically as this will create a full blown economic crisis in their backyard so they are propping the Fijian Govt.
All vaccines have been donated, for all the bullshit talk in Parliament by ASK no one in Parliament has asked him why Fiji cannot buy vaccines on their own, but then again that question will not be allowed in Parliament as he controls the daily Parliamentary agenda.
Graham,
Today’s Fiji Times (the Fiji Sun refuses to see anything wrong) reveals the people of Narere Stage 1 containment zone have been protesting for food and medicine. More than 200 placard-bearing residents of the Narere Stage 1 containment zone rallied at a police checkpoint yesterday seeking food and medicine for those who in the zone, and urgently needing medical attention.
It is shocking to read that said one resident is very concerned about her husband who was a diabetic who is slowly losing his vision because he has not had his medication due to the containment and movement restrictions.
If this isn’t getting the attention of the FFP (ASK/FB), then the people of Fiji really need to start asking what their government is doing for them? Will it simply wait for people in the containment zones that are plagued by COVID to die and hope the disease will die with them, all for the sake of pleasing a few very crooked businessmen/women who have been lining the pockets of some FFP members and demanding businesses be kept open?
Aristotle said “in a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, the will of the majority is supreme.” Never has this been more applicable to the people of Fiji who must never forget how ASK & Co. have treated the people of Fiji and they must ensure they vote out this government in the next elections.
Jose Marti said “the first duty of a man is to think for himself” and Fijians should take heed of this because the FFP are practicing this actively.
Finally, “democracy is about voting and it’s about a majority vote. And it’s time that we started exercising the Democratic process” ~Debbie Stabenow