Fijileaks: Davis brings other elements together on previous posting
"Were the PM's remarks a sign of the military encouraging him to distance himself from the AG as a means of shoring up his support in the face of the widespread expectation that he will be beaten by "the Snake" in the 2022 election? Just what happened up at the camp to produce such a startling deviation from the usual script? It is all a bit like Soviet times when western observers honed in on the smallest of details to try to decipher movements in the Kremlin in Moscow. But it's worth mentioning, in this instance, what the new RFMF commander, Major General Kalouniwai, told western diplomats in Suva soon after he arrived back from undergoing his master's degree at military college in Australia. Kalouniwai told them that he would not support a coup to keep any government in power in Fiji, the "days of coups are over" and the RFMF's task is to uphold the 2013 Constitution. If that is still the case, then Bainimarama has to win the 2022 election fair and square. So the pressure on him from the military to reverse his parlous electoral position will be immense because they generally don't like Rabuka either but will have to get used to the idea unless Bainimarama - their former commander and rear admiral - plots a radical change of course. Which perhaps means doing what they asked him to do three years ago to clip the AG's wings and even throw him overboard." Graham Davis
WHAT was said at this event that prompted the Prime Minister in its aftermath to issuing a bizarre statement that "he was firmly in control" of the country? We know that in the immediate aftermath of the 2018 election, the Military Council asked Frank Bainimarama to reform the government and reduce the power of the Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. "The military's secret blueprint for change", is how I described it in this Grubsheet article https://www.grubsheet.com.au/the-militarys-secret.
The installation on October 4 of the newly promoted Major General Ro Jone Kalouniwai as Commander of the RFMF would have been followed by a social event and an exchange of views between the Prime Minister, the military hierarchy and Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho, who is effectively still part of that hierarchy.
*Did the military say anything to the PM about his deteriorating political position and the rise as preferred prime minister of the man Bainimarama refers to as "the Snake" - People's Alliance leader Sitiveni Rabuka?
*Did the military eventually provide the PM with remarks that deviated from his normal narrative and included biblical references that are unlikely to have been approved by the AG?
*Was the stand-out phrase he used - "I am firmly in control" - a message to the nation designed to counteract the widespread perception peddled by the government's critics that Bainimarama is a puppet of the AG and that Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is actually in control"?
* Were the PM's remarks a sign of the military encouraging him to distance himself from the AG as a means of shoring up his support in the face of the widespread expectation that he will be beaten by "the Snake" in the 2022 election? Just what happened up at the camp to produce such a startling deviation from the usual script?
It is all a bit like Soviet times when western observers honed in on the smallest of details to try to decipher movements in the Kremlin in Moscow. But it's worth mentioning, in this instance, what the new RFMF commander, Major General Kalouniwai, told western diplomats in Suva soon after he arrived back from undergoing his master's degree at military college in Australia.
Kalouniwai told them that he would not support a coup to keep any government in power in Fiji, the "days of coups are over" and the RFMF's task is to uphold the 2013 Constitution. If that is still the case, then Bainimarama has to win the 2022 election fair and square. So the pressure on him from the military to reverse his parlous electoral position will be immense because they generally don't like Rabuka either but will have to get used to the idea unless Bainimarama - their former commander and rear admiral - plots a radical change of course. Which perhaps means doing what they asked him to do three years ago to clip the AG's wings and even throw him overboard.
The installation on October 4 of the newly promoted Major General Ro Jone Kalouniwai as Commander of the RFMF would have been followed by a social event and an exchange of views between the Prime Minister, the military hierarchy and Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho, who is effectively still part of that hierarchy.
*Did the military say anything to the PM about his deteriorating political position and the rise as preferred prime minister of the man Bainimarama refers to as "the Snake" - People's Alliance leader Sitiveni Rabuka?
*Did the military eventually provide the PM with remarks that deviated from his normal narrative and included biblical references that are unlikely to have been approved by the AG?
*Was the stand-out phrase he used - "I am firmly in control" - a message to the nation designed to counteract the widespread perception peddled by the government's critics that Bainimarama is a puppet of the AG and that Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is actually in control"?
* Were the PM's remarks a sign of the military encouraging him to distance himself from the AG as a means of shoring up his support in the face of the widespread expectation that he will be beaten by "the Snake" in the 2022 election? Just what happened up at the camp to produce such a startling deviation from the usual script?
It is all a bit like Soviet times when western observers honed in on the smallest of details to try to decipher movements in the Kremlin in Moscow. But it's worth mentioning, in this instance, what the new RFMF commander, Major General Kalouniwai, told western diplomats in Suva soon after he arrived back from undergoing his master's degree at military college in Australia.
Kalouniwai told them that he would not support a coup to keep any government in power in Fiji, the "days of coups are over" and the RFMF's task is to uphold the 2013 Constitution. If that is still the case, then Bainimarama has to win the 2022 election fair and square. So the pressure on him from the military to reverse his parlous electoral position will be immense because they generally don't like Rabuka either but will have to get used to the idea unless Bainimarama - their former commander and rear admiral - plots a radical change of course. Which perhaps means doing what they asked him to do three years ago to clip the AG's wings and even throw him overboard.
