*This is unprecedented. So the contract was initially for 3 months until March 31 at $160,000 which has expired and now they want it extended because to date only Pita Wise and Pramesh Chand have got jobs while the rest are awaiting the results of the PS interviews. |  |
Fijileaks Fact Check on Rabuka's Transitional Team:
*The transitional team is made up of PAP Office staff /supporters and failed election candidates (like Pramesh Chand) and they are not established civil servants.
*From the recent Fiji Sun report, it is obvious that it is a consultancy group hired by the Coalition Government not only to promote its image but also to advise the PM on the appointments and movements of senior officers (PS, Departmental Heads, Ambassadors).
*This is unprecedented. So the contract was initially for 3 months until March 31 at $160,000 which has expired and now they want it extended because to date only Pita Wise and Pramesh Chand have got jobs while the rest are awaiting the results of the PS interviews.
*This is highly irregular for a group from a political party (which has formed a coalition with 2 other parties to be able to govern), to be advising Rabuka on postings and reshuffling of civil servants when the PSC and its Chair are already in place.
*Does this not remind us of how the FFG outsourced the payment of salaries and perks of its Cabinet Ministers, including payment of consultancy fees to Nur Bano Ali’s company from 2009 (when Aiyaz Khaiyum took over as Finance Minister from MPC) to 2014, just 3 or 4 months before the elections that year.
*This was really criminal because Ministerial salaries were normally being paid from the Treasury like all public servants at no extra costs to Government but here Nur Bano Ali must have been paid no less than $20 million dollars consultancy fees annually for 6 years.
*So, this Coalition Government is no different from its predecessor. And worse it has destroyed the political neutrality and independence of the Public Service Commission by opening the door for PAP and the Opposition FFP (first time since independence) to nominate the 5 members of the Commission (3 Government and 2 FFP). Accordingly, appointments and promotions in the public service will now be determined not only by merit and qualifications but also on political affiliation.
*Hence, this “transition team” sounds suspicious to us as it is the first time ever a new Government in Fiji has put in place at the PM’s Office to do what exactly?
Surely, existing Permanent Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries in the Public Service are well trained to handle. Rabuka didn’t have such a team when he walked into his PM’s office after winning the 1992 elections, nor did the past Governments of Qarase and Chaudhry. So why now ?
* Bainimarama's ’s former Secretary to Cabinet Yogesh Karan (who replaced Pramesh Chand) was there all the time after the elections and only got transferred by Chairman PSC Luke Rokovada to the Ministry of Sugar and Multi-ethnic Affairs as its new PS.
*Karan could, with Rokovada, have helped in setting up PM’s new Cabinet Office staff while waiting for appointment of his successor before his transfer. *There were other Permanent Secretaries in other Ministries who could have been assigned temporarily to the PM’s Office to assist.
*There was actually no need to hire a transition team whose head is Peter Wise and who has since been appointed acting Secretary to Cabinet and Pramesh Chand as acting PS of PSC?
*Where is the lady who was PS for PSC?
*We assume that Wise and Chand were also being paid from the transition team budget of $160,000 until their acting appointments were made when their salaries would be paid for by their departments.
WELCOME TO FIJI'S NEW ANIMAL FARM
 |  Tikoduadua, PS to Prime Minister's Office |
