Brigadier-General Mosese Tikoitoga: Man of the Moment, undoubtedly

By RAJENDRA CHAUDHRY

As head of the Fiji military his appointment of last week will be seen by many in different contexts.

There will be those currying favour and offer him contrived lavish praise. There will be those who see him as and will say that he is a puppet of Bainimarama who does not have a mind of his own.

Then there will be those who will be prepared to give him a chance to demonstrate his leadership qualities. I believe in giving him an opportunity to show Fiji of his leadership qualities as a military commander.

The name Mosese is the Fijian vernacular equivalent of Moses. Moses is the heroic biblical character, mentioned in the Books of Genesis and Exodus. He was an Egyptian prince and warrior and who later became a religious leader and a prophet. He is seen as the liberator of the Israeli people from slavery by the Egyptians.

In the Fiji of today, Mosese is a person on whom exacting demands will be made by the people of Fiji. People who have been subjected to seven long years of oppressive rule by the former military commander Frank Bainimarama. 5 December 2006 was a time when Mosese was a relatively junior officer in the military compared to the original players in the RFMF leading up to the extra constitutional act on 5 December 2006. He followed orders and over time progressed up the ladder of seniority at the RFMF to Land Force Commander when he was appointed Commander RFMF around 5 March 2014.

Mosese has acquitted himself reasonably well in the last week and in an interview with ABC’s Bruce Hill let it be known that all military personnel serving in the illegal civilian administration of Bainimarama have effectively been released and are not returning to the military. He further said that the military will no longer involve itself in politics and that the election results will be respected.

One issue that troubles me is Mosese’s continuous reference to the agenda for the nation as set by Bainimarama. The agenda for the nation will be decided by the people in September 2014. Bainimarama’s agenda cannot have any legitimacy as it did not have the input of the people. It is here that Mosese needs to make a clean break with his predecessor, who has the ignominy of pitting the military against the Great Council of Chiefs, the Fijian people and the Church.

Bainimarama has yet to answer to police inquiries on the CRW murders. He has yet to answer on the glaring mismanagement of the Regimental Fund and he has yet to answer for authorizing the torture of civilians by military and police personnel.

By seeking to justify the warped and failed policies of Bainimarama which has led to:

• crippling public debt
• soaring food prices
• unemployment now standing at its highest level in Fiji’s history
• increased criminal activities by foreigners
• corruption at its highest at any time in Fiji’s history
• nepotism being rife
• agriculture industry being totally neglected
• basic services such as medical and social welfare being severely hamstrung on account of lack of funds and lack of competence of the relative ministers.

There are many other instances of gross mismanagement of public finances and resources which form the bases of discussions around the grog basin. The pending closures of PAFCO and Fiji Fish are another example of poor management of our maritime resources and allowing the Chinese to overfish our waters to feed the population on mainland China.

Large tracts of agricultural land is given to Asians at next to nothing and these lands are then farmed and produce exported, whilst locals suffer from fresh produce shortage and end up paying well above what should be the going rate.

Prime State land such as next to Garden City in Raiwaqa is given to Chinese interests who have cleared the natural filtration system of mangroves and by draining the swamp have killed off marine life which were native to these areas.

Passports are issued to foreigners who clearly do not qualify. The criminal activity associated with these foreigners is further stretching the already paltry resources of the Police Force.

High levels of urban migration is thwarting the development of our rural areas and leading to a total lack of attention to these areas by an administration that is pouring money into areas where they expect electoral support. Villages which seek to espouse support for a person other than Bainimarama is punished with suspension or withdrawal of development funding.

The changes to the appointment of the NLTB by the NLTA Amendment Decree 2010 means that the NLTB Board will all be political appointees rather than representatives of the GCC and the Provincial Councils as majority of the Board. The other appointees are the Prime Minister and the President and 2 other appointees by the Minister Fijian Affairs. Politicizing the NLTB will have huge social, political and economic ramifications and which could have an impact on the security of the nation. It is here that Mosese needs to be more assertive.

The establishment of the Land Bank, is another issue that Mosese needs to be upfront on. The decree establishing the Land Bank is oppressive and land once banked cannot be accessed by the landowner for up to 99 years. No court challenges are permissible under the Land Bank decree. The decree effectively takes away large tracts of native land and the owners of the land will not have any input into how the land is used and what would be a fair market return for the land. Most importantly, the decree, like all decrees, does not have the sanction of the people, who in all such cases were never consulted.

He needs to tell the Bainimarama administration that all native land changes must be reversed immediately. The changes must be reversed to ensure that the Fijian people feel secure of their most important tangible asset and that is land.

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In doing so, Mosese will only be acting as Bainimarama did prior to 5 December 2006 in demanding that the Qarase government remove the Qoliqoli and Land Tribunal Bills as they were a threat to peace and stability in Fiji.

He must also demand a greater role of the GCC into the affairs of the nation, by complementing the constitution.

Mosese must also make it clear that an independent judiciary is essential to good governance. the judiciary under Bainimarama has been tainted by allegations of partiality.

The above demands would be made under the context of national security and which under the 2013 Constitution comes under the purview of the RFMF.

Mosese must also immediately suspend Mohammed Aziz and order an inquiry into Aziz’s role in sedition case of Driti and Mara. He should also examine the Regimental Fund to see how much of soldiers monies were used to pay for Aziz’s law studies at Bond University.

To protect himself from future claims of financial mismanagement, Mosese must also order an audit of the RFMF from 5 December 2006 to 5 March 2014.

This way he will know exactly what he has inherited and will not be tagged as yet another fiscally irresponsible military commander.

The burden on Mosese's shoulders in indeed heavy.

He has to be seen to be his own man and not a Bainimarama lackey.

He has to be accepted and respected by the Fijian soldiers who make up our military. He must be diplomatic when necessary and truthful at all times.

If he were to apply himself to the laws of the nation, the conscience of the nation and the teachings of the Bible, he may be able to accomplish some of the feats in the Fijian equivalent of the great Biblical character after whom he was named.