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Fijileaks Declaration: The following is from the Fiji Sun, 14 August 2021:
Pictures tell a thousand words... Mereseini Vuniwaqa gets cozy with Varinava Tiko at Naitata, Navua, as she changes vehicle after arriving with him on Tuesday. Photo: Lusiana Tuimaisala
Why did Mereseini Vuniwaqa unexpectedly resign?
She had just returned from an interview for the top job at the UN Women, to be the new executive director. Her trip to New York for the interview obviously signified the Government’s endorsement.
But a day before she was released from isolation at the Hilton Fiji Beach Resort and Spa in Denarau, her resignation citing ‘personal reasons and new opportunities’ was posted on the Fijian Government Facebook page.
There was no warning or indication of her resignation except that it is understood that she did not support the proposed amendments to the iTaukei Land Trust Act commonly known as Bill No. 17 of 2021.
It has emerged that her rather close association with a strong pro-indigenous advocate, Varinava Tiko, may have influenced her stance.
Mr Tiko is a paying member of the Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA). This was confirmed by SODELPA General Secretary, Lenaitasi Duru.
Mr Tiko has been critical and vocal about the party as well. On his Facebook account, Mr Tiko promotes himself as an Independent political candidate for 2022.
Among other businesses, he runs a private recruitment company called Access United (Fiji) Ltd.
Media reports in 2003 said that Mr Tiko was charged with a number of serious offences related to the 2000 Speight coup when he led the armed seizure of Korovou town. He was sentenced to two years jail.
Mr Tiko is a widower. His late wife Frances Malani, a lawyer, passed away last September.
Mrs Vuniwaqa on the other hand once belonged in the inner sanctum of the FijiFirst party.
She was a flag bearer for the women’s fraternity and fought for the rights of women, children, the physically challenged and the elderly.
In Parliament, she stood for family values and the family unit as the sure foundation for our society.
And then she breaks the cardinal rule in family relationships.
It is understood that after her release from quarantine last Saturday, Mrs Vuniwaqa was uplifted by Mr Tiko early that morning.
A source followed them from the hotel up to Mr Tiko’s home at Kashmir, Lautoka.
Sources have revealed that they were travelling together in Mr Tiko’s private vehicle over the weekend.
On Tuesday both Mr Tiko and Ms Vuniwaqa were spotted in Naitata, Navua at around 7.05am.
Mr Tiko dropped off Ms Vuniwaqa who later boarded a waiting vehicle for Suva. Mr Tiko returned to Lautoka.
Attempts to get a clarification from Mrs Vuniwaqa about the alleged association and reasons for her resignation were unsuccessful.
Her only reply via Facebook Messenger under the profile Mereseini Rakuita was:
“Bula Lusi. Have a Blessed Day.”
Mr Tiko was also approached for a comment. He denied all allegations of any relationship or association with Mrs Vuniwaqa.
When asked if they were involved in a romantic relationship, Mr Tiko said:
“Ai tukutuku levu ni kaya tiko mai qori.” (Those are some very big allegations.)
“E ka vou saraga vei au na I tukutuku qori. Ke dua na i taba qori, au sega ni kila na i taba qori. Au kurabui saraga e na i tukutuku qo. Au kidacala taka na i tukutuku qo, au sega ni rawa ni kaya kina e dua na ka.”
(That information is news to me. If there is a picture, I don’t know anything about it. I’m surprised and shocked about this information and can’t comment about it.)
When further probed he said:
“Valoloma saraga o keda na I taukei va qo. E dua e vakayagataki kemuni tiko mai, e dua na kai Idia?”
(It’s a pity that some iTaukei are like this. Is someone using you, is it an Indian?)
Why did Mereseini Vuniwaqa unexpectedly resign?
She had just returned from an interview for the top job at the UN Women, to be the new executive director. Her trip to New York for the interview obviously signified the Government’s endorsement.
But a day before she was released from isolation at the Hilton Fiji Beach Resort and Spa in Denarau, her resignation citing ‘personal reasons and new opportunities’ was posted on the Fijian Government Facebook page.
There was no warning or indication of her resignation except that it is understood that she did not support the proposed amendments to the iTaukei Land Trust Act commonly known as Bill No. 17 of 2021.
It has emerged that her rather close association with a strong pro-indigenous advocate, Varinava Tiko, may have influenced her stance.
Mr Tiko is a paying member of the Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA). This was confirmed by SODELPA General Secretary, Lenaitasi Duru.
Mr Tiko has been critical and vocal about the party as well. On his Facebook account, Mr Tiko promotes himself as an Independent political candidate for 2022.
Among other businesses, he runs a private recruitment company called Access United (Fiji) Ltd.
Media reports in 2003 said that Mr Tiko was charged with a number of serious offences related to the 2000 Speight coup when he led the armed seizure of Korovou town. He was sentenced to two years jail.
Mr Tiko is a widower. His late wife Frances Malani, a lawyer, passed away last September.
Mrs Vuniwaqa on the other hand once belonged in the inner sanctum of the FijiFirst party.
She was a flag bearer for the women’s fraternity and fought for the rights of women, children, the physically challenged and the elderly.
In Parliament, she stood for family values and the family unit as the sure foundation for our society.
And then she breaks the cardinal rule in family relationships.
It is understood that after her release from quarantine last Saturday, Mrs Vuniwaqa was uplifted by Mr Tiko early that morning.
A source followed them from the hotel up to Mr Tiko’s home at Kashmir, Lautoka.
Sources have revealed that they were travelling together in Mr Tiko’s private vehicle over the weekend.
On Tuesday both Mr Tiko and Ms Vuniwaqa were spotted in Naitata, Navua at around 7.05am.
Mr Tiko dropped off Ms Vuniwaqa who later boarded a waiting vehicle for Suva. Mr Tiko returned to Lautoka.
Attempts to get a clarification from Mrs Vuniwaqa about the alleged association and reasons for her resignation were unsuccessful.
Her only reply via Facebook Messenger under the profile Mereseini Rakuita was:
“Bula Lusi. Have a Blessed Day.”
Mr Tiko was also approached for a comment. He denied all allegations of any relationship or association with Mrs Vuniwaqa.
When asked if they were involved in a romantic relationship, Mr Tiko said:
“Ai tukutuku levu ni kaya tiko mai qori.” (Those are some very big allegations.)
“E ka vou saraga vei au na I tukutuku qori. Ke dua na i taba qori, au sega ni kila na i taba qori. Au kurabui saraga e na i tukutuku qo. Au kidacala taka na i tukutuku qo, au sega ni rawa ni kaya kina e dua na ka.”
(That information is news to me. If there is a picture, I don’t know anything about it. I’m surprised and shocked about this information and can’t comment about it.)
When further probed he said:
“Valoloma saraga o keda na I taukei va qo. E dua e vakayagataki kemuni tiko mai, e dua na kai Idia?”
(It’s a pity that some iTaukei are like this. Is someone using you, is it an Indian?)
Fijileaks: Varinava Tiko was charged with a number of serious offences related to the 2000 Speight coup when he led the armed seizure of Korovou town. He was sentenced to two years jail. George Speight is his nephew. During the 2000 failed coup, this former violent thug TIKO and his racist mob beat, robbed, and even raped members of our current Editor-in-Chief's family living in Korovou Town and around the surronding areas. Many had lived in Korovou for generations, and fluent in the i-taukei language. His own mother, another fluent i-taukei speaker, was born and raised in Korovou Town. Her father and her uncle were fondly referred to as Tui Levu and Tui Lailai, for their sterling services to Korovou. Our Editor-in-Chief's own father served as President of Ratu Mara's Alliance Party in Tailevu in the 1970s. However, during the Korovou uprising, one cousin hid for several days with her son, now a medical doctor at the Korovou Hospital, in the bushes from Varinava Tiko's thugs.
As for Mereseini Vuniwaqa, she was up there with Aiyaz Khaiyum until they fell out. Whatever spin her supporters want to put on her views regarding Bill 17, she did not come out to oppose it in Parliament or in public. We have never shied away from confronting racist and nationalist i-Taukei thugs, whether Sitiveni Rabuka or George Speight, for bringing so much violence and suffering on the Indo-Fijians in Fiji, couched in bogus indigenous rights garbage. Like Bainimarama, Rabuka is hiding behind the IMMUNITY he granted himself, and which has been entrenched in Khaiyum's illegal 2013 Constitution. We, also, do NOT suport FijiFirst Party thugs in Government. We care for Fiji.
Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows.
Korovou sentencing too lenient
"Fiji Labour Party is concerned at the leniency shown in the sentencing of Varinava Tiko and six others who were involved in the siege of Korovou town at the height of the 2000 political turmoil. How can the court have failed to take into account the extent of lawlessness and suffering that these people inflicted upon the innocent rural communities living around Korovou. You must remember the lawlessness that was unleashed on the surrounding countryside following the siege of Korovou town. Scores of families, at times entire settlements, were forced to flee from their homes in fear after they were terrorised by marauding gangs…Homes were ransacked and burnt down, crops pillaged, livestock stolen and killed, shopkeepers terrorised, residents beaten up and raped women. These seven men should be held accountable for not only seizing the town but for the terror that was unleashed on the rural community as a result of their actions, often instigated and condoned by them...The men who took over Korovou town were in close league with the rebels in Parliament.”
FLP leader Mahendra Chaudhry to DPP, Letter, 4 December 2003
From Fijileaks Archive, 15 December 2015
