Siromi Turaga has his pants around his ankles and they are burning fiercely after he told a bald-faced lie denying that he had flagged the reintroduction of the death penalty for drug traffickers and was immediately exposed by the Fiji Times.
It raises serious questions about his suitability to be the Coalition’s chief legal advisor, which should axiomatically be someone of integrity committed to the truth. And it is especially striking coming from a luveni talatala – the son of a Methodist Minister – who like Grubsheet, will have been schooled from the cradle about the importance of honesty.
Sadly, telling lies has become one of the hallmarks of the Coalition and its ministers. By far the worst liar is Lynda Tabuya – the Minister for Information or as we call her here the “Minister for Bulls*t, Bonking and Weed – whose denials about her antics in Room 233 were exposed by her own party when it found her guilty of a “sex and illicit drug scandal” and stripped her of the PAP’s deputy leadership.
But Siromi Turaga is a close second, judging from his latest act of mendacity, which has taken no time at all to be exposed and raises fresh questions about why a liar occupies the post of chief law officer of the state.
The death penalty in Fiji was abolished altogether by an Act of Parliament in 2015 and while the government obviously now has the numbers to have another vote, the death penalty is specifically prohibited in the Bill of Rights of the 2013 Constitution, which has been newly endorsed by the Supreme Court as the nation’s supreme law.
We all know that Siromi Turaga doesn’t like the 2013 Constitution and that includes its ban on the death penalty. And the evidence for that first surfaced a year ago in September 2024 in comments supporting his fellow liar, Lynda Tabuya.
So the Prime Minister opposes the death penalty for drug traffickers and so do other senior members of the government such as the Defence Minister, Pio Tikoduadua.
But Siromi Turaga is like a dog with a bone. He isn’t going to let go of his support for the death penalty and this is what he told a news conference during the week about how to tackle the drug trade, which Grubsheet has transcribed from the original recording.
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“Some people are advocating the death penalty. I just came back from Singapore and I ask this question. OK, how do you do death penalty when you have a constitution because the right to life is a very (indecipherable) part of democracy. So this what they did, they actually, they do it, like they do a national survey. So it’s like a referendum. And the general consensus is – death penalty.
So it’s that’s something that government will look at and also encouraging the community to raise the issue, of course the church leaders, the NGOs, the parents, you know, if they want to, they have to raise it.you know, because at the end of the day it’s a balancing exercise that one, governments to interpret that policy”.
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On any reasoned examination of this statement, this is the Acting Attorney General flagging that the government will look at holding a referendum in Fiji on whether to change the constitution to allow for the death penalty. That’s what the Fiji Times reported in a front page story and it had every justification journalistically to do so.
But Siromi Turaga clearly pulled a scab off a wound that the Prime Minister and others were hoping had healed, with an election looming and the government already up to its armpits with the COI and Christopher Pryde stitch-up scandals, in which Turaga has played a major role.
We can only imagine the consternation behind the scenes. And in response to the Fiji Times story, the Acting AG issued the following statement, which is a masterpiece in back-peddling and a classic case of a politician who has put his foot in his mouth shooting the messenger.
As whoppers go, it doesn’t get much worse. Read those pink Afro-American lips:
“Some people are advocating the death penalty. I just came back from Singapore… what they did (was) a national survey. So it’s like a referendum. And the general consensus is – death penalty. So it’s that’s something that government will look at“.
And now: “The Acting AG reiterates that references (by the Fiji Times) to “death penalty” are misleading, incorrect and taken out of context”.
Liar, liar pants on fire.
Some media outlets, notably CFL-Fiji Village and its toothless former attack dog, Vijay Narayan – who are now on the government drip – bought the AG’s lasulasu-jhoot.
Good one, Vijay. It’s sure pretty to see what money can buy – $1.7-million in pubic funding for a commercial radio network making record profits to turn it into an instrument of government spin.
Yet to its credit – and I don’t often give them credit – the Fiji Times has fought back.
Yep, Turaga’s remarks were quoted accurately and Siromi is a bald-faced liar who the Prime Minister should remove from the AG’s position for a second time. Because he is unfit to hold the office, or any public office for that matter.
Listen to the clip yourself, Fiji. And you be the judge.
Qori.
He certainly does not talk like an African America. He sounds very much like an iTaukei. In fact he sounds a lot worse. He sounds very much like a person suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect. He has no idea, has not had any idea from the beginning and what is sad is that he does not know it!
Please clarify what is 1.7 million in pubic funding. Really Graham
CFL Fiji Village has received $1.7 million in taxpayer funding as part of the government’s $10-million plus “public broadcasting service program” when it is a commercial broadcast network making record profits in Fiji and PNG.
We reported it here back in April. Really.
https://www.grubsheet.com.au/pupu-and-vijay-on-their-1-7-million-public-drip/
He does not sound like a AG or a former magistrate or a parliamentarian, he sounds like a village idiot to me.
Please understand villagers are not idiots. So refrain from comparing Turaga to the villagers. Some villagers may be smarter than many in the Government and elsewhere. Turaga us an upper class idiot. An educated idiot, if I may say.
Yeah I was gonna say the same thing.
The hatred for the i’taukei -led by a kai valagai (foreigner) – is blatantly obvious.
I wonder why they have lumped us all together and cussed us as being all the same.
What have we done wrong as a people?
It has only strengthened our resolve aainst the equal citizenship issue.
Ignorant savage.
Ha ha….you showing your true self GD.
Ignorant savages is how the British Admiralty in the 1700s described people of the South Pacific, Africa and Asia.
Those who described us as such were racist bastards.
The difference is that I am describing behaviour. “Hatred for the iTaukei led by a kai valagi (foreigner)”? “Strengthening your position against equal citizenship”? Give us a break. Who is the genuine racist here? Got your mirror handy?
Are all itaukeis equal ?
Or are some more equal than others ?
Good point you make here. Fiji is an Animal Farm. It is just that the monkeys and primates do not know it – the Dunning-Kruger Effect.
In fact Fijians could be used as the definition and the meaning of the Dunning-Kruger Effect – not just as an example. There isn’t another population in the world who are such idiots and do not know and are totally oblivious that they are idiots and proud to be so. The members of government and the vast majority of the population fit this bill.
Perhaps you are misunderstanding. The term “village idiot” is a common term to mean the stupidest person in any village. I believe it was about English villages originally. It has nothing to do with Fijian villages, except to draw the parallel that in every village (all over the world) there is always one idiot. The phrase has nothing to do with denegrating any indigenous peoples or their villages. I hope that helps.
In Fiji, they too frequently take the “f” out of the Right to Life. It’s such an ingrained part of the cultural psyche that they rarely notice they are doing it, and quickly forget they have done it.
Turaga is an incompetent and intellectually impotent dickhead. Vijay is the government’s prostitute – he willingly allows himself to be be used and abused – and for that ladies and gentlmen, he is happy to bend over and get paid.
In collaboration, these assholes are not only milking the economy, but also molesting the very fabric of a democratic society which should be based on rule of law with values and principles of equality, accountability, transparency, and fairness.
As Siromi, his masters and minions prepare to reset themselves at their respective places of worship later this morning, in readiness for recycling their gaffes and blunders during the working week from tomorrow onwards, this post on the Government FB page covering the PM’s latest stop in NY really made my day. Emeni!
Tawani Umuumulovo:
So, the Prime Minister is out in New York “feasting” on Fiji’s National Day? Let’s pause right there — because Fiji doesn’t even officially have a “National Day.” We have Independence Day on October 10th, but calling it a national day and throwing banquets abroad feels more like a performance than patriotism.
Yes, international engagement is important — the UN stage matters. But let’s not dress up diplomacy in song and dance while the real Fiji bleeds back home. The truth is simple:
Our roads are crumbling — potholes wide enough to swallow half the car, just like the government’s broken promises.
Our hospitals are broken — short on staff, running on outdated or nonexistent medical equipment. Families are begging for basics while leaders wine and dine overseas.
Our taxpayer money is funding flights, feasts, and photo ops, while ordinary Fijians struggle for the dignity of safe roads, working ambulances, and decent healthcare.
Being an “ambassador of culture” is fine. But leadership is not about cultural performances abroad; it’s about fixing the fundamentals at home. Until the government invests in the basic needs of its people — roads, hospitals, schools, jobs — speeches about peace, inclusivity, and sustainable development sound like hollow words echoing in foreign halls.
Fiji doesn’t need more feasts; Fiji needs food on the table, working hospitals, and leaders who serve before they celebrate.
Looks like La Tabuya’s payback for not going to New York. The gatekeeper has just allowed a posting on the government’s Facebook page that eviscerates the Coalition.
Spot on, yet another blunder, and it’s not even Monday yet! The gatekeeper has arisen, must have checked on GS or was called upon, and immediately taken down that post. A must read for all and thankfully, it’s right there on Tawani’s page.
Yes, their idea of “freedom of expression” and “freedom to criticise the government”. When somebody does it, it is censored.
The sooner this corrupt cabal is relegated to the dustbin of history the better.
Turaga can’t even speak English properly, and this from our highest legal officer in the land?
Shameful.
The baboon is nothing but a kaicolo dunderhead. Nuff said.