It beggars belief that the Attorney General, Graham Leung, is so ignorant of the law that he doesn’t understand that he can play no role whatsoever in the government’s decision-making on whether to release the Ashton-Lewis Commission of Inquiry report into the “rotten circumstances” of the appointment of FICAC Commissioner Barbara Malimali. Why? Because he was a witness at the Inquiry and worse, there are reports that Justice David Ashton-Lewis has made an adverse finding against the AG over his role in Malimali getting the job.
How much longer is this farce going to continue? How long is a piece of string, as an old saying goes. The COI has reportedly made a series of explosive findings that have enveloped certain Coalition ministers in unprecedented scandal, including Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad, along with senior officers of state including the Chief Justice, Salesi Temo and Barbara Malimali herself. (see our previous story).
A great many people at the top are desperate that the Report never sees the light of day. But having instituted it in the first place and undertaken repeatedly more recently to make it public, the Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, is behaving not like a decisive leader in control of events but like a frightened rabbit in the headlights.
For Rabuka not to know that the AG can’t be part of the decision-making process and for the AG not to tell him tells us a great deal about the hopeless dysfunction at the heart of this government.
Is it corruption or sheer incompetence? We will soon find out. Because if the eventual decision is to suppress the COI report and try to bury its recommendations, we will know for certain that it is corruption. And it will dog the Prime Minister and the Coalition all the way to election day.
The Fiji Sun carries a full page report today on the COI imbroglio by Jernese Macanawai that provides us with a valuable timeline of the saga so far.
The anatomy of a political and legal car crash.
The whole Judiciary hierarchy is corrupted and needs a massive clean up.
Clean out. OUT.
However, nothing of the sort is going to happen until the removal of the most dull, stubborn, shameless, idiotic, racist, bigot CJ ever is removed. As in booted out.
For that to happen, the COC must act.
For that to happen, the most dull, stubborn, shameless, idiotic, treasonous, corrupted, racist, bigot PM ever must be booted out.
For that to happen a real, neutral, wise president must act in the interest of the nation.
A real president would have acted decisively to desolved the current farcical parliament when this minority government lost the vote on the constitution amendment bill.
Failing all (as we have), for that to happen, the rfmf must awake from hibernation and act on its constitutionally prescribed-perhaps mandatory role – as the final arbiter to protect and uphold the Constitution.
Otherwise this government will find “lawful” ways and means shift the goal posts. Like going to the Supreme and supremacist court to get an “opinion.”
Like changing the 75% parliamentry threshold required for amend the constitution.
Like changing the 75% public referendum threshold required to amend the constitution.
Like changing the electoral act to remove the present 5000 signatures requirement for political parties.
Shifting goal posts some more to remove required money deposit for each candidates.
It’s truly mind boggling how deep in poo poo we stand as a country.
Without narry a care that the poo keeps rising as politicians continue bloviating hot air.
“Bloviating”. I wasn’t aware of the word but I like it. Meaning: “talk at length, especially in an inflated or empty way”. You learn something every day, as the old saying goes. Vinaka. 🙂
We can call it what you will:
Complete disregard for the Fijian nation.
Total and complete disrespect for the Fijian nation.
Emphatically flipping the finger at the chiefs and all Fijians and the Commission.
Dereliction of duty.
Deliberate tomfoolery.
Clueless *unts.
Blissfully ignorant.
Completely stupid.
Bottom line: the snake and his cabal continue to feck the nation at will.
Time has arrived to close the fire Keke.
The government’s lack of response, the lack of transparency, the blindingly obvious gigantic levels of corruption, the avoidance of accountability, the dire state of the economy, education & health, all reveal how ripe Fiji is for a takeover by China or America. Surely Rabuka would accept the smallest con now for Fiji to be absorbed as the next state of the U.S.A. It might even be a win-win.
There’s a wee problem with USA annexing Fiji. They’ll annex then send all Fiji citizens to that horrible prison in El Salvador because the Donald will claim that all Fiji citizens are overstayers and thus illegal immigrants. He likes the real estate here in Fiji as well as in Gaza.
Be careful what one wishes for.
Quote from Rabuka’s interview with Fiji Village today: “I was very proud of the way I helped craft the terms of reference….it only proved to me that what I thought was happening, was happening, but that will be brought out in the full report and the recommendations of the COI”
Great analysis, GD.
It would be wholly inappropriate for the AG Graham Leung, to provide independent legal advice to Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka on the Commission of Inquiry (COI) report. Leung is not a neutral party in this matter. He is not only a witness in the COI but was also directly involved in the appointment of Barbara Malimali.
Furthermore, Leung’s personal and professional relationship with Malimali — including perceptions of friendship — further compromises his ability to act impartially.
Given the serious implications of the COI report and the clear conflict of interest surrounding Leung, Rabuka has no credible option but to accept the findings of the report in full. He must then advise the president accordingly and ensure the report is released to the public in the interest of transparency,
Rabuka has no choice. He has to act decisively, and now.
Copy: Rabuka has no choice. He has to act decisively, and now and he must advise the president to ensure the report is released. End copy.
Then we watch the president enter the stage left, looking as confused as ever, feigning mythical traditional wisdom to declare some transcendental BS national security concerns.
The compliant populace will joyfully acquiescence in their chief’s mystical wisdom, applaud loudly, kaila, and continue on their usual blissful, ignorant, merry way.
The people will be completely fooled yet again, not realising the two senile lizards will together dilly dally ad infinitum to keep in everyone in the dark. SMH.
What a pile of shit we have voted into parliament and an even bigger pile of shit have been elevated to government offices by these donkeys in government.
Truly God has forsaken Fiji.
Rolex Rabuka has become Biman’s bitch, so to speak. Biman has such a hold over him that Rabuka put him first before the nation and citizen’s right to know. Biman is more important for Rabuka than his own integrity. Rabuka will go to the ends of the earth to protect his finance minister and even risk bringing down his own government. The question is why?
Most Expats who try running businesses in Fiji (and have experience of functional governments as a reference point) observe serious incompetence at all levels from the worker bee up to Government. They also see serious corruption at all levels. Those are both givens. The challenge is discerning which is which, whilst the locals learn to hide corruption behind incompetence, and have become savants at this.
Watch Rabuka use this savant skill to save his own backside & grab the popcorn to observe how it plays out around him.
This appointment of Graham Leung as AG seems to be his undoing. We can probably say the same about his pal in Barbara Malimali, hers probably a foregone conclusion now. His role in this whole circus has had a lot of us wondering about his suitability and competence for this role in particular… Such a mess. He inherited a mess and did nothing to clean up the image of the AG’s office.
To be fair, there’s the small matter that the previous AG was disliked for very different reasons.
The previous AG was not dumb. Alas, the same can’t be said for present dunderhead.
ASK was disliked for his intelligence, reviled for bringing a level of professionalism and performance expectations in the work place.
There was no kava in the government work places, no free use of government vehicles after hours, far fewer wrecked vehicles, nor did ASK give anyone 238% pay raises.
Most of all the previous AG did not f**k-up the AGs office credibility, did not f**k-up the ODPP, FICAC, nor did he f**k-up the Judiciary.
The current office holder is not worth pissing on.
Largely, the entho-nationalists hated ASK for his ethnicity and faith.
Independence, transparency and prejudice are not an issue in Fiji.
The AG, the CJ, the FICAC Commissioner, all those in the ODPP, Minister for Justice and all others are very independent and transparent and fair. Just ask the PM, his ministers and all the people mentioned above.
This is a special kind of independence and transparency – the Fijian kind. There is no one else who knows the law better than the iTaukei.
Its like Christianity, no one else knows Christianity and the message in the Holy Book like the iTaukei. If you have any doubts – just ask them.
Many Fijians have lived through an era of the 1980’s where it was touted “FIJI the way the World should be. And we have also experienced especially now FIJI the way the World SHOULD NEVER be. What an achievement of the ethno nationalists in control and RR (Rolex Rambo). The type of losers who at the beach will see beautiful sandcastles being built. Instead of doing the same to enter the competition they will just run over with a stick once the hard work was done and smash over the works of art and creative hard work. And say the sea and the sand is theirs. I doubt if there will be a sequel to John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
If you were in Rabuka’s shoes what would you do? Find replacements? Risk assessment? Strategise for the fallout? The report will make him look like a blind fool with no control over his government. He has been whiteanted by those he trusted to put in power positions. His best bet is a strategy to distance himself from them before the axe falls and have reserves in place to fill the gaps. So he can claw back some credibility before the next election. He knows it will come out one way or another, just like Lynda’s love life. Sasa levu to clean it up. His coalition will be in tatters. Maybe he is digging the graves right now.
I told everyone Rabuka is a magician and would make the COI report disappear.
PM has the mandate of the people to release the COI report or face a backlash from the people of Fiji in the GE2026
We have reach point of no return with the father of treasonous acts in Fiji. He must make way for a new generations of leaders who care for everybody and have the ability to govern our people well and equitably!
If the COI report is not release to the public then Fiji will continue to follow the pathway of treasonous acts rather than righteous acts under the LAW.
The people of Fiji have the right to know all the people impeached under COI and those that must face the full brunt of the LAW so that we don’t repeat the same mistakes again in the future.
Vinaka vakalevu PM for releasing the COI report – the people of Fiji will decide your fate at the ballot box GE2026!