"The man in charge, the PM has remained silent for the most part and has, as far as I am concerned, abdicated his responsibilities as Prime Minister. But regardless, it is he who we must hold accountable for everything because the buck stops at the top." - Mick Beddoes
GRAHAM DAVIS ON "GRINNING PARROT":
'The Grinning Parrot [Bainimarama] goes to the podium to dutifully read out the speech written for him by Qorvis and the AG announcing the lifting of internal borders on Viti Levu. 544 Fijians have died from Covid - twelve times the number killed by Cyclone Winston - and there are still almost 13,000 active cases. Any other leader might have expressed sorrow for the agony and heartbreak suffered by so many families. Even a simple expression of sympathy. Plus a word of gratitude and encouragement on behalf of the nation to the army of front line health workers who've risk their lives for their fellow Fijians. But not the Grinning Parrot...He certainly doesn't understand that being able to read someone else's words off an autocue every now and then isn't leadership. He long ago abrogated that to the increasingly crazed ventriloquist [Khaiyum] who pulls the dummy's strings and is the real power in Fiji.'
'Make every vote count and toss them out'
I am probably going to be the only person in the country to suggest that it is pointless pointing the finger at the AG and Minister for the Economy for all the dreadful actions he has taken thus far on behalf of the Fiji First government, including the imposition of the 17 anti indigenous Fijian decrees with the full support of the PM and indigenous Ministers in the Fiji First Cabinet.
For sure he bears much of the responsibility for these outrageous, unethical, dictatorial actions and we have every right to be incensed and outraged.
But let us be honest about how flawed this journey back to democracy really is, with our current model of an elected government, including most of Bainimarama's key co-conspirators in his 2006 act of treason, pretty much in charge of the country and none of them have to account in a court of law for their capital crimes in 2006 because they are all protected by Chapter 10 Immunity provisions.
Unlike citizens today who break curfew or forget to wear a mask, or political leaders who exercise free speech, all get hauled into a cell for 24 hours in some instances then released or are made to appear in court.
We must not ignore the fact that this government is also being propped up by scores of selfish aiders and abettors, silently enjoying the excessive financial benefits that come with it, at the expense of our people especially the 258,000 struggling with poverty today.
The man in charge, the PM has remained silent for the most part and has, as far as I am concerned, abdicated his responsibilities as Prime Minister. But regardless, it is he who we must hold accountable for everything because the buck stops at the top.
The underlying message that these decisions that the government is conveying should be clear to all. The Fiji First foundation of lies, deception, greed, nepotism, corruption, favoritism, self enrichment is finally cracking and total collapse is near.
But we should not doubt for one second their determination to stay, because they just have too much to lose, so we must expect them to pull every trick in the book to stay.
So the question we must ask ourselves is this. How badly do we want change in 2022 and how much effort are we all willing to collectively put into making this change happen?
Let us not forget, that the only limitation to achieving the success we seek in 2022 is the one we place on ourselves.
So lets 'Make every vote count and toss them out
I am probably going to be the only person in the country to suggest that it is pointless pointing the finger at the AG and Minister for the Economy for all the dreadful actions he has taken thus far on behalf of the Fiji First government, including the imposition of the 17 anti indigenous Fijian decrees with the full support of the PM and indigenous Ministers in the Fiji First Cabinet.
For sure he bears much of the responsibility for these outrageous, unethical, dictatorial actions and we have every right to be incensed and outraged.
But let us be honest about how flawed this journey back to democracy really is, with our current model of an elected government, including most of Bainimarama's key co-conspirators in his 2006 act of treason, pretty much in charge of the country and none of them have to account in a court of law for their capital crimes in 2006 because they are all protected by Chapter 10 Immunity provisions.
Unlike citizens today who break curfew or forget to wear a mask, or political leaders who exercise free speech, all get hauled into a cell for 24 hours in some instances then released or are made to appear in court.
We must not ignore the fact that this government is also being propped up by scores of selfish aiders and abettors, silently enjoying the excessive financial benefits that come with it, at the expense of our people especially the 258,000 struggling with poverty today.
The man in charge, the PM has remained silent for the most part and has, as far as I am concerned, abdicated his responsibilities as Prime Minister. But regardless, it is he who we must hold accountable for everything because the buck stops at the top.
The underlying message that these decisions that the government is conveying should be clear to all. The Fiji First foundation of lies, deception, greed, nepotism, corruption, favoritism, self enrichment is finally cracking and total collapse is near.
But we should not doubt for one second their determination to stay, because they just have too much to lose, so we must expect them to pull every trick in the book to stay.
So the question we must ask ourselves is this. How badly do we want change in 2022 and how much effort are we all willing to collectively put into making this change happen?
Let us not forget, that the only limitation to achieving the success we seek in 2022 is the one we place on ourselves.
So lets 'Make every vote count and toss them out
The Grinning Parrot goes to the podium to dutifully read out the speech written for him by Qorvis and the AG announcing the lifting of internal borders on Viti Levu. 544 Fijians have died from Covid - twelve times the number killed by Cyclone Winston - and there are still almost 13,000 active cases.
Any other leader might have expressed sorrow for the agony and heartbreak suffered by so many families. Even a simple expression of sympathy. Plus a word of gratitude and encouragement on behalf of the nation to the army of front line health workers who've risk their lives for their fellow Fijians. But not the Grinning Parrot.
With his government showing the same signs of disintegration as the economy, good old Frank puts on a fresh bula shirt and fronts the cameras as if nothing has happened, a cheery smile in the face of a catastrophe for which he bears a great deal of responsibility. He has never had much self awareness. He certainly doesn't understand that being able to read someone else's words off an autocue every now and then isn't leadership. He long ago abrogated that to the increasingly crazed ventriloquist who pulls the dummy's strings and is the real power in Fiji.
Frank Bainimarama ends the week having lost his Permanent Secretary for Agriculture - who was lured from the private sector to spearhead the revival of the most vital industry after tourism - the acting head of the Fiji Revenue and Customs Authority - his chief revenue raiser - and most damaging of all for the government's fortunes because of the manner in which it was done, the CEO of the Fiji Bureau of Statistics.
We now know that Kemueli Naiqama did absolutely nothing wrong. Nothing. Far from being "questionable" or "unreliable" - as the AG claimed - his household income survey was conducted to internationally accepted standards, with the assistance of the World Bank and the University of Bristol in the UK. It is also routine practice the world over for official statisticians to factor ethnicity and religion into such surveys. But not in Fiji. Naiqama was summarily dismissed and frogmarched from his office by a squad of goons the day after Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum went on prime time national television to trash his reputation. The whole country knows a terrible injustice has been done and that Naiqama's only crime has been to reflect the truth.
Frank Bainimarama's freshly-shaved face, clean shirt and grin can't hide the fact that this has been a terrible week for his leadership. Even his strongest supporters can see that the ground has shifted under him. First with Mere Vuniwaqa and now with Kemueli Naiqama, he has allowed the AG to get rid of two members of the educated iTaukei elite who are widely respected and whose many supporters have been left aghast. The AG has also come under withering attack not from the usual suspects but from Shamima Ali - an equally respected Indo-Fijian and fellow Muslim - whose call for the Prime Minister to sack Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has been greeted with almost universal acclaim.
So no amount of spin can alter the fact that the government is bruised and battered and on the ropes. It cannot rely on the economy to rebound and save it. No-one knows whether even if the borders are open, the visitors will come. Or at least come in numbers significant enough to start getting Fiji - the beggar nation living off credit - back on its feet. No-one knows whether even if the government's vaccination target is reached, Covid can be contained. And we already know that there are possibly even more dangerous mutations of the virus lurking behind the Delta variant.
The least the Prime Minister could have done last night was to throw away the Qorvis/AG script and speak from the heart to a people crying out for empathy from a government that doesn't seem to care about anything other than getting its own way. Alas. He once again failed the test.
The best that can be said is that the PM looks a lot better physically than the AG, whose haggard appearance on television the previous night was startling. But that too is to be expected. Because these days Frank does little other than front up to show the nation, yet again, how well he can read. Everyone knows it's the AG who really does the heavy lifting. Except that it's become the heavy dragging. Down, down, down in the direction of electoral defeat and political oblivion.
Any other leader might have expressed sorrow for the agony and heartbreak suffered by so many families. Even a simple expression of sympathy. Plus a word of gratitude and encouragement on behalf of the nation to the army of front line health workers who've risk their lives for their fellow Fijians. But not the Grinning Parrot.
With his government showing the same signs of disintegration as the economy, good old Frank puts on a fresh bula shirt and fronts the cameras as if nothing has happened, a cheery smile in the face of a catastrophe for which he bears a great deal of responsibility. He has never had much self awareness. He certainly doesn't understand that being able to read someone else's words off an autocue every now and then isn't leadership. He long ago abrogated that to the increasingly crazed ventriloquist who pulls the dummy's strings and is the real power in Fiji.
Frank Bainimarama ends the week having lost his Permanent Secretary for Agriculture - who was lured from the private sector to spearhead the revival of the most vital industry after tourism - the acting head of the Fiji Revenue and Customs Authority - his chief revenue raiser - and most damaging of all for the government's fortunes because of the manner in which it was done, the CEO of the Fiji Bureau of Statistics.
We now know that Kemueli Naiqama did absolutely nothing wrong. Nothing. Far from being "questionable" or "unreliable" - as the AG claimed - his household income survey was conducted to internationally accepted standards, with the assistance of the World Bank and the University of Bristol in the UK. It is also routine practice the world over for official statisticians to factor ethnicity and religion into such surveys. But not in Fiji. Naiqama was summarily dismissed and frogmarched from his office by a squad of goons the day after Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum went on prime time national television to trash his reputation. The whole country knows a terrible injustice has been done and that Naiqama's only crime has been to reflect the truth.
Frank Bainimarama's freshly-shaved face, clean shirt and grin can't hide the fact that this has been a terrible week for his leadership. Even his strongest supporters can see that the ground has shifted under him. First with Mere Vuniwaqa and now with Kemueli Naiqama, he has allowed the AG to get rid of two members of the educated iTaukei elite who are widely respected and whose many supporters have been left aghast. The AG has also come under withering attack not from the usual suspects but from Shamima Ali - an equally respected Indo-Fijian and fellow Muslim - whose call for the Prime Minister to sack Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has been greeted with almost universal acclaim.
So no amount of spin can alter the fact that the government is bruised and battered and on the ropes. It cannot rely on the economy to rebound and save it. No-one knows whether even if the borders are open, the visitors will come. Or at least come in numbers significant enough to start getting Fiji - the beggar nation living off credit - back on its feet. No-one knows whether even if the government's vaccination target is reached, Covid can be contained. And we already know that there are possibly even more dangerous mutations of the virus lurking behind the Delta variant.
The least the Prime Minister could have done last night was to throw away the Qorvis/AG script and speak from the heart to a people crying out for empathy from a government that doesn't seem to care about anything other than getting its own way. Alas. He once again failed the test.
The best that can be said is that the PM looks a lot better physically than the AG, whose haggard appearance on television the previous night was startling. But that too is to be expected. Because these days Frank does little other than front up to show the nation, yet again, how well he can read. Everyone knows it's the AG who really does the heavy lifting. Except that it's become the heavy dragging. Down, down, down in the direction of electoral defeat and political oblivion.
Speaking to Fijivillage, Speaker Ratu Epeli Nailatikau says the Parliamentary Standing Orders are very clear and you cannot get your own way because the Standing Orders do not allow it. He says parties can get around the Standing Orders but they have to negotiate, not with him, but with the other side of the House. Ratu Epeli says that is how it is done in any other Parliament.

NFP General Secretary Seni Nabou says Parliamentary democracy has been reduced to a façade
The National Federation Party believes parliamentary democracy has been reduced to a façade by the actions of the Speaker, the Secretariat and the Tables Office of Parliament.
The Party will write to the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU), of which Fiji is a member, to alert IPU of the shenanigans of the Speaker and his team, in trying to protect the Fiji First Government by stifling debate, truth, and facts on issues of national interest that impact lives and livelihood of people.
The rejection of their party Motions and Questions submitted to the Secretariat and Tables Office proves that parliament under the authority and leadership of the Speaker, is doing the bidding for the Fiji First Government by preventing debate on the floor of parliament on important issues.
This is no longer a people’s parliament. The people of Fiji no longer have access to parliament to air their concerns through their elected representatives.
If NFP tries to raise matters on the people's behalf, the Speaker, Secretariat and Tables Office scuttle it, before it even reaches the Business Committee for discussion”
When questions and motions are put before the Business Committee for approval, the Speaker disallows them on the strength of Government's refusal alone during the meeting, even if he has approved it for the Business Committee to discuss, during the so-called vetting process.
It happened yet again today when a Motion by Leader was rejected by the Business Committee because Fiji First opposed it. At least two questions were also ruled out simply because Fiji First opposed them.
So basically what this means is that when Government opposes anything brought for debate by the Opposition, the matter is not put on the floor of parliament for debate.
However, when Government wants something to be tabled in Parliament, it will be allowed.
It renders meaningless Standing Order 125(2) where the Speaker must be satisfied that any determination of the Business Committee fair to all parties and does not discriminate against or oppress a minority party or minority parties.
The next sitting of parliament is from Monday 20th September to Friday 24th September. This is the last sitting of parliament for the calendar year, before parliament is prorogued and a new calendar year of sittings begin in November.
Next week was the last opportunity this year, for the peoples voices of concern to be amplified in the House through their representatives. It was also the last opportunity this year, for the Party to follow up on Government responses to questions raised in earlier sittings, in accordance with the Standing Orders..
The next parliamentary sitting scheduled for November will be devoid of any parliamentary business by the Opposition parties, because it will mainly focus on responses to the President’s speech where he or she opens the new year of sittings, and Government business only.
Two Motions were scuttled by the Secretariat and Tables Office upon the decision of the Speaker during vetting.
They were on the establishment of special standing committees to firstly inquire into mismanagement, wastage and pilferage of taxpayers’ funds as highlighted by Reports of the Auditor-General until 2019, and secondly, inquire into the operations and management of municipal councils as well as effectiveness of service delivery to ratepayers.
In these proposed motions by NFP, both special committees were to report back to parliament, by February 2022.
However those tasked with vetting the agenda, together with the Speaker determined that the Public Accounts Committee was the right Committee to carry out these inquiries, when its true function is toothless, after the Government side railroaded highly restrictive changes to the Standing Orders, in February 2016.
Then there are two examples of Questions that were, in our considered opinion, erroneously ruled out of order.
One sought information from the Local Government Minister as to why women are being asked to sell seafood outside the public conveniences at Nausori market. A perfectly legitimate concern that this was conveyed by vendors to NFP MP and Vice President, Hon Lenora Qereqeretabua”.
The NFP President and MP Hon Pio Tikoduadua also sought to ask the Prime Minister and Minister for Sugar, whether or not investigations into the conduct of a former Fiji Sugar Corporation Executive Chairman/CEO had been completed, following the PM’s answer in February 2019 that investigations were on-going.
Both were rejected with the Speaker ruling that these breached Standing Orders. If this is not doing bidding for the Fiji First Government, then what is?
The Speaker and his team’s rulings, decisions and actions have rendered Fiji's parliament to Mickey Mouse status. It is basically acting like a comical kangaroo court, instead of exemplifying its proper role as the highest and most important court in the Land where Government is questioned and held accountable, by the people, through their elected representatives.
It is a beyond farcical that 15 September, International Democracy day was lauded on the Parliament Facebook page, but the basic tenets of ensuring democratic debate in parliament, are willfully ignored.
By now, all voters are ready to grant consent only to those who can ensure that this parliamentary facade becomes a thing of the past.
The National Federation Party believes parliamentary democracy has been reduced to a façade by the actions of the Speaker, the Secretariat and the Tables Office of Parliament.
The Party will write to the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU), of which Fiji is a member, to alert IPU of the shenanigans of the Speaker and his team, in trying to protect the Fiji First Government by stifling debate, truth, and facts on issues of national interest that impact lives and livelihood of people.
The rejection of their party Motions and Questions submitted to the Secretariat and Tables Office proves that parliament under the authority and leadership of the Speaker, is doing the bidding for the Fiji First Government by preventing debate on the floor of parliament on important issues.
This is no longer a people’s parliament. The people of Fiji no longer have access to parliament to air their concerns through their elected representatives.
If NFP tries to raise matters on the people's behalf, the Speaker, Secretariat and Tables Office scuttle it, before it even reaches the Business Committee for discussion”
When questions and motions are put before the Business Committee for approval, the Speaker disallows them on the strength of Government's refusal alone during the meeting, even if he has approved it for the Business Committee to discuss, during the so-called vetting process.
It happened yet again today when a Motion by Leader was rejected by the Business Committee because Fiji First opposed it. At least two questions were also ruled out simply because Fiji First opposed them.
So basically what this means is that when Government opposes anything brought for debate by the Opposition, the matter is not put on the floor of parliament for debate.
However, when Government wants something to be tabled in Parliament, it will be allowed.
It renders meaningless Standing Order 125(2) where the Speaker must be satisfied that any determination of the Business Committee fair to all parties and does not discriminate against or oppress a minority party or minority parties.
The next sitting of parliament is from Monday 20th September to Friday 24th September. This is the last sitting of parliament for the calendar year, before parliament is prorogued and a new calendar year of sittings begin in November.
Next week was the last opportunity this year, for the peoples voices of concern to be amplified in the House through their representatives. It was also the last opportunity this year, for the Party to follow up on Government responses to questions raised in earlier sittings, in accordance with the Standing Orders..
The next parliamentary sitting scheduled for November will be devoid of any parliamentary business by the Opposition parties, because it will mainly focus on responses to the President’s speech where he or she opens the new year of sittings, and Government business only.
Two Motions were scuttled by the Secretariat and Tables Office upon the decision of the Speaker during vetting.
They were on the establishment of special standing committees to firstly inquire into mismanagement, wastage and pilferage of taxpayers’ funds as highlighted by Reports of the Auditor-General until 2019, and secondly, inquire into the operations and management of municipal councils as well as effectiveness of service delivery to ratepayers.
In these proposed motions by NFP, both special committees were to report back to parliament, by February 2022.
However those tasked with vetting the agenda, together with the Speaker determined that the Public Accounts Committee was the right Committee to carry out these inquiries, when its true function is toothless, after the Government side railroaded highly restrictive changes to the Standing Orders, in February 2016.
Then there are two examples of Questions that were, in our considered opinion, erroneously ruled out of order.
One sought information from the Local Government Minister as to why women are being asked to sell seafood outside the public conveniences at Nausori market. A perfectly legitimate concern that this was conveyed by vendors to NFP MP and Vice President, Hon Lenora Qereqeretabua”.
The NFP President and MP Hon Pio Tikoduadua also sought to ask the Prime Minister and Minister for Sugar, whether or not investigations into the conduct of a former Fiji Sugar Corporation Executive Chairman/CEO had been completed, following the PM’s answer in February 2019 that investigations were on-going.
Both were rejected with the Speaker ruling that these breached Standing Orders. If this is not doing bidding for the Fiji First Government, then what is?
The Speaker and his team’s rulings, decisions and actions have rendered Fiji's parliament to Mickey Mouse status. It is basically acting like a comical kangaroo court, instead of exemplifying its proper role as the highest and most important court in the Land where Government is questioned and held accountable, by the people, through their elected representatives.
It is a beyond farcical that 15 September, International Democracy day was lauded on the Parliament Facebook page, but the basic tenets of ensuring democratic debate in parliament, are willfully ignored.
By now, all voters are ready to grant consent only to those who can ensure that this parliamentary facade becomes a thing of the past.