Sitiveni Rabuka has travelled a long way in the past two years as Prime Minister – from someone who said he was so hard up that he had to collect bottles to accumulating tens of thousands of dollars every month in salary and benefits and publicly sporting two of the most coveted luxury items on the planet – a solid gold Rolex watch ($F150,000 plus) and a gold-coated Montblanc Meisterstück fountain pen (from $F1600).
Where did they come from? Even with a $320,000 annual salary plus a range of other benefits, including close to $3000 a day in travel allowance, it’s unlikely that the Prime Minister would be able to afford these baubles when he has a wife and extended family to support. So it’s a safe bet that they have been gifts, either from local business figures or visiting dignitaries or carpet-baggers.
Fiji doesn’t have the same legislative requirement for the country’s leaders to declare expensive gifts like Australia, NZ and the UK, where politicians must declare any gift and only receive items to a certain value. So it is a free-for-all that is obviously open to corruption – favours being sought or given in exchange for baubles that no local on a parliamentary salary can afford.
In the case of Sitiveni Rabuka, it is his solid gold Rolex that warrants the most attention. From a distance, it appears to be a Rolex Day-Date with a “president” bracelet of the kind that Rabuka was given back in 1987 when he led the first coups by Mahendra “Mac” Patel, the then head of the Motibhai Group from Ba who have long had the Rolex concession in Fiji and now own the Fiji Times.
Grubsheet has recounted the story of how “Mac Patel” gifted the watch to Rabuka when he headed the military and Rabuka sold it to raise cash. Back then, he clearly understood that sporting such a flash watch would raise eyebrows. And in any event, the cash it raised was much more valuable to him at the time. What did “Mac” Patel want in return? You decide, Fiji. But if it wasn’t to curry favour with the new coup leader then I’m a chapati.
Roll on nearly four decades and the Motibhais still have the Rolex concession in Fiji and “Mac” Patel has needed Sitiveni Rabuka more than ever. Because it is the Prime Minister who has driven the pardon Patel has received that has made him the first convicted criminal in Fijian history not to have served his sentence.
By rights, “Mac” Patel should have gone to jail for abuse of office. But he fled to Australia and lived there in padded luxury until Sitiveni Rabuka pardoned him last year and has enabled him to return to Fiji unmolested ( He has since been reportedly sighted in the West).
Is the Prime Minister’s new gold Rolex a “vinaka vakalevu” from “Mac” Patel for having let him off the hook? As in: “I know you had to sell the last one I gave you to make ends meet but here’s another 38 years later. It’s the same watch that they still make and it’s just as desirable”. “O vinaka, Mac. Very kind of you. And thanks for giving me two pages in the Fiji Times every week to answer ‘Dorothy Dix’ questions from my former staffer and now yours, Cheerieann Wilson“. “Don’t mention it. It’s the least I can do after what you’ve done for me”.
Sound plausible? It does to Grubsheet. And that is why the Prime Minister needs to come clean about where the gold Rolex has come from – a full accounting of the source of such an expensive watch and if he refuses to do so, a reference to FICAC for both of them. Because this is a public interest question that demands investigation.
The same goes for the gold Montblanc fountain pen that we sighted on the PM’s desk. Where did that come from? Because $F1600 plus isn’t your normal “Bic” biro from MHCC. Who gave it to the Prime Minister and what did they expect in return?
These are fundamental questions that go to the heart of the Coalition government’s integrity and the Fijian people deserve answers. Because with power comes temptations. And ordinary voters who entrust the running of the nation to politicians like Sitiveni Rabuka deserve to know that they haven’t elected a crook who receives expensive “gifts” in exchange for using the levers of power to benefit the wealthy.
Which leads us to some of the Prime Minister’s other relationships. Why did he visit the home in Beverly Hills, California, of the billionaire owners of Fiji Water, Stewart and Faye Resnick, instead of them coming to him? Because it immediately preceded the Coalition government giving them a seven year corporate tax holiday that has saved them many millions.
Was there a quid pro quo for the Prime Minister? Again, it is a perfectly legitimate question to ask. Just has Grubsheet has asked Fiji Water’s lawyer in Fiji, Richard “I have the means” Naidu, what benefit flowed to him or his company, Munro Leys, for him facilitating the tax break as Chair of the government’s Fiscal Review Committee. (We still haven’t received an answer).
With his new Rolex, Sitiveni Rabuka has joined the long list of world leaders across the decades who have sported Rolexes. Indeed the Day-Date with the “President” bracelet in solid yellow gold is widely described as the favoured watch of dictators.
As he takes Fiji further and further down the Zimbabwe road, perhaps it isn’t surprising that Sitiveni Rabuka is starting to accumulate the baubles that made Robert Mugabe so hated in his own country as ordinary Zimbabweans wallowed in poverty.
We like to think that Fiji is different but as time goes by, those hopes are being dashed. With more than half the nation living below the poverty line, it takes a special kind of leader to think that he can appear in public wearing a watch that would take the average wage earner many, many years to be able afford. Tragically, we now have that leader in Sitiveni Rabuka. He at least owes us an explanation as to where it came from and what strings were attached.
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You’ve come a long way, Mr Prime Minister…
The favoured watch of dictators…
Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, both of whom were eventually killed by their own people.
I’m not suggesting that a same fate awaits our own leader. Except at the ballot box if he doesn’t came clean.
This government is a huge disappointment.
They preached about change but did the same and even worse.
Now more dependent on AID and foreign expertise.
They weaponized the judiciary and started lawfare against their political opponents or people who wanted to do their job in upholding the good principles of laws in Fiji from Bai to Pryde but the list continues.
Now foreign governments have their tentacles throughout the machinery of government, yet they accuse the Chinese of having undue influence on Fiji’s affairs but countries such as Australia, NZ and even India are in the same boat.
These countries have gone very silent on the corruption cases and the actions taken against some of their own citizens by the Fijian government eg. Pryde etc.
Made worse that government actions are dictated allegedly by people who have prior outside interests like Munro Leys Richard Naidu Fiji Water links etc.
Not forgetting that in the last budget (2024-2025) that seems to be forgotten that Ministers and Assistant Ministers can import vehicles from overseas without any tax or customs to be paid. But common Fijians have to pay. One rule for thee and another rule for others.
State Capture by the corrupt and least able.
But most itaukei are content with that as they perceived that their government is back in power but they don’t realise or are too stupid to see that they are being lied to and the Indo Fijians main priority is their businesses. So as long as their businesses are not affected, they don’t really care who is in power.
Apart from the Gold Rolex and the Montblanc pen another characteristic of despots is the 3-piece suit. Why would anyone in Fiji wear a 3-piece suit unless he is a despot and a first class pretender.
Should I mention the safari suits from the 70s and 80s. It is difficult to shed the old habits from the good old days I guess. All of these things look out of place on a newly discovered Israelite recently found living in the Pacific.
And safaris were synonymous with African dictators from that era.
They may have come from the same place where they made that golden pager for the American wannabe dictator. Just so he can keep tabs on these fools.
Now, if we can only get the number to that beeper and see if it works. 😜
If 3 million cans ×0.05=150,000 I guess you could squirrel away $150k .
If you asked AI how long to collect 3million cans it says a dedicated collector would collect 2,000 a week and it would take 29 years .
Did PM buy a cheap copy on his several overseas trips ?
A luxury watch is not a crime but if a watch is $150k and you weren’t a multimillionaire before entering politics it is out of character for someone who only a few years ago collected cans and bottles for recycling to make ends meet.
The PM should feel compelled to explain for his own credibility just as politicians are quizzed in other countries about their assets.
In any other democracy giving an expensive gift to the Prime Minister would be termed as a bribe. Mac Patel and his company should have been charged.
Receiving the gift without declaring it is also a crime. Every decent government has a gift policy and under that policy any gift received by a public servant or the Prime Minister and his troops should be officially declared. I am sure Fiji has a gift policy as well.
Can they be charged, now that it’s in the open about the giver and the reciever?
Simple answer to that question is Rabuka has sold Fijians for it. Complex answer is that he worked for it. Now what work, only he can tell.
So Rabuka says don’t lable Fiji as a beggar nation, although he and Biman are on road with a begging bowl wherever they go.
Maybe showing off his spoils is to tell the world that the pm of a nation that wears 100k watch cant be a beggar nation definitely.
Bottom line is Rabuka is no beggar, he’s sorted his retirement already. For the 75% itaukei living below poverty line, thats another story. It must be nice seeing your PM show off a 100k watch while your kids beg for 50 cents from everyone on the streets so that they can buy noodles.
SLR doea not like Fiji to be labeled a beggar nation. Fiji punching above it weight, the corrupt demonstrable feckwit says, so desrves to be a donor recipient country. Not beggars.
By the above dunderhead logic, the streets of Suva has no beggars–none– and dont deserve to be labeled as such.
Therefore, the street of Suva is full of donor recipients.
GD, you know in Hindi we call gold sona. In Fiji, sona translates to arse though.
Rabuka is just that. A sona in his language. He will never be an Indian gold but a kaiviti sona. And a sona levu at that. Always.
Rabuka was picking bottles because he was unemployable !! It’s in politics where he and his family can actually get a job. This is what we were saying in 2022. After the lost elections in 1999, he hasn’t been able to secure a job because the only qualifications he has is military ones. Not any academic qualification that attains him an employment opportunity like a Degree in Finance or Law or Journalism!
Rabuka is a nut and an uneducated bully who thrives on receiving honorarium degrees from Universities.
In 1999 he would have been in his late 40’s? So imagine not being able to secure a job then ! And this is the person Fijians thought would be able to take Fiji to a peaceful prosperous future !
Dream on guys ! Enjoy the fruits of your choices !! You’ve got a monkey for a PM!
Tomi tavaya ga ni lala Nomu qavokavoka. Gauna o PM tu kina ra kania kecega nomui lavo na kalavo!
Fiji’s Coalition government seems more focused on acting according to its own interpretation of the law rather than what the law actually requires, undermining the legal framework.
One clear example is the Malimali case, where despite a Commission of Inquiry, she continued to interfere with witnesses, acting above the law. She is protected by Rabuka and Temo, both of them questionable characters.
Any responsible Prime Minister would have suspended her, but Rabuka claims not to want to interfere with the inquiry.
There are also rumors that Lynda may very soon get a ministerial role.
Additionally, four G17 MPs who supported the Coalition’s constitutional bill might be rewarded with positions, or perhaps cleverly used by Rabuka to achieve his goals and dump them. These four are no big names.
Meanwhile, the former Minister for Fisheries is likely angling for a return after he was acquitted by the court.
If everyone is rewarded, imagine the cost to the taxpayers. Rabuka and Biman’s actions have pushed the country into a deplorable state and towards bankruptcy.
Like they gathered them from QVS Old Boys Club , Metropole Hotel and Bali Hai.
Before opening time they were on best behavior.
Then the party started, turned Parliament House into one whore house ( without the discipline without the honesty) that the people of Fiji are paying for.
Drunk on power they claim to be their God given right to wave in our face.
Even have their own resident door man bouncer.
Put a mirror up, look at it, and admit , its the system !
2026, and the system will give you exactly the same result, which according to a genius and any dumbo can understand , is the meaning of insanity.
So i heard this morning that Rabuka wants to clear the air….by taking a 150k fart in the face of poor Fijians.