Koro villagers told to sign petition for "seawood project" but Frank Bainimarama claimed the petition called for him not to hold election

6/11/2013

UFDF says an attempt by the Bainimarama government to defraud the itaukei community of Nasau village in Koro on September 24 is obviously part of the regimes strategy to justify not holding elections in 2014

In a statement issued today the UFDF said the information its members have been receiving from Koro explains why Bainimarama is linking the establishment of his party and his resignation as Commander to his plans to complete the regimes development program first.

The UFDF believes the regime plans to ‘extract’ signed letters and petitions of support from mainly itaukei communities in exchange for promised development and to use this as a justification for them to remain in power and not hold an election.

The UFDF said in Nasau in September a petition was circulated to villagers to sign with the explanation that their written consent was needed for a proposed seaweed project in their qoliqoli. However when the actual letter was sighted, it turned out to be a letter from the Tui Nasau (Ratu Aporosa Kaunisela) and his people to Prime Minister Bainimarama giving him a mandate not to hold general elections in 2014.

The typewritten and prepared letter the sources say could not have been prepared by the Tui Nasau or anyone in Koro and is likely a document that originates from Regime sources.

The villages refused to sign the petition and have called for elections in 2014. The UFDF says the regime is clearly planning to manipulate the itaukei community and they are using the promise of development funds to extract the support.

Entangled in his own web of deceit?

The UFDF calls on all other community leaders who have similar stories to the Nasau people to come forward and expose the wrong doing.

Authorized By

UFDF

For further elaboration or interviews on our statements please contact anyone of the following:

Mick Beddoes – 830524;
Laisania Qarase – 9993113;
Mahendra Chaudhry – 9921865
Attar Singh – 9921184;
Tupeni Baba – 9373364

Koro chief dismisses UFDF claim of his people being misled by regime

A chief from Koro, the Tui Nasau, Ratu Sake Kaunisela Matavesi has dismissed claims made in a statement by the United Front for a Democratic Fiji that the itaukei community of Nasau were being misled by the government.

A statement issued earlier this week by the United Front spokesperson, Mick Beddoes to the media here and abroad and to a number of anti-government blog sites claims that a letter being taken around to support the government and not to have elections was not prepared by the Tui Nasau and anyone in Koro.

The Tui Nasau has today stressed to Fijivillage that he prepared the letter of support to the government and elections not to be held next year. He said he then took it to the people of Nasau.

Ratu Sake Kaunisela Matavesi said he never forced anyone to sign however everyone signed the letter of support except two people. Source: Fijivillage.com

18 Comments

Fiji forward

6/11/2013 01:36:30 am

It looks like this regime was spiraling out of control since 2006 and it will speed up and crash soon. All the promise of clean up is gone now it seems they are taking Fiji to the cleaners for their own personal pockets. Now the Military Leader and the Lawyer are just looting Fiji.
The Fijian people are whilting under them and soon they have nothing to stand on...the people have evaporated and they come crashing down...!!! The looters loot the very people in their midst is observing their deeds and they are the very people the will pounce on them...!!!!! The day will come..!!!

Fiji forward

6/11/2013 03:21:59 am

I hope things will get better for all..going to the election asap makes more sense then keep on going this same way.

RM72

7/11/2013 02:59:09 pm

The Qarase government before this regime would surely have crashed the economy way back if FB had not forcefully taken over...what are you? Blind? Go to RBF, do some research and stuff it where it should be...you people only want to yell and whine about things you only hear about but have no backing for it. But you and your like are the very people who secretly enjoy all the benefits of the numerous changes implemented since 2006. So the new budget says no fees for any child because there's a per-student allocation of $250 - why couldn't any previous government do this? I will tell you why...BECAUSE THEY WERE TOO BUSY LOOKING AFTER THEIR OWN INTEREST AND FAT POCKETS but the likes of you will not be able to see that. You will only be able to pick on FB and his govt because he didn't give too effin hoots to the lies of you...lol.

Fream On

6/11/2013 03:31:29 am

Fiji forward - you and others including UFDF think that Frank and Aiyaz will simply hand back power and watch from the sidelines - wake up, you fools - election will merely legitimitize their rule, for they will rig to stay in power - and the chiefs and the i-taukei will fart from the sidelines with no wind to blow these criminals away

Voter

6/11/2013 03:38:14 am

How will Tupeni Baba protect my vote if I voted for SODELPA for change. He said the aprty will change the Constitution and remove Immunity - all good promise but tell me will the military allow Baba and his party? I am afraid to vote for if I vote for any other party except Frank's, there will be another coup and Baba will be the first one to run away from Fiji

mustafa

6/11/2013 12:51:02 pm

this is the type of stupid logic that bainimagana is counting on. dont be afraid of the lunatic bainimgana.

the "people of Fiji" are mightier than the army (well only those few no-school that go around bashing soldiers and citizens for bainimagana. the majority of the army dont support bainimagana) and come election day the people will have their say and show to the world that they dont want bainimagana with his puppet masters hand up is qara ni tati!

Sootsayer

6/11/2013 03:49:58 am

A very clear scenario is beginning to emerge now - just look at the statement below from NFP. Well, Indo-Fijian voters might vote for FLP and NFP including Felix Anthony's PDP.

Frank will accept it - for they will not want to change all the goodies Indo-Fijians have got from the Constitution and the Coup.

That leaves Fijian voters - if they don't vote for Frank's party but SODELPA, the military will overthrow Govt or annul election results and then form a Coalition government with Indo-Fijian backed parties with Frank again as PM and Aiyaz as A-G

And we i-taukei will go back to where we have been for the last eight years - hoping chiefs and church will lead the revolt

So go for it, Frank, you are in a win, win, win, path

NFP support two core values in Constitution
November 6, 2013 | Filed under: Fiji News | Posted by: newsroom

For the first time, Fiji’s oldest political party, the National Federation Party (NFP) has declared that it supports two core provisions in the new Constitution.
The provisions are the ‘one person one vote’ and the ‘common identity’.
Previously the NFP had publicly rejected the Constitution.
It’s new position is in harmony with the slogan “One nation, one people, one destiny”coined by party founder and first leader, the late A.D Patel.

snuka

6/11/2013 12:56:46 pm

an indian in india is an indian
an indian in china is an indian
an indian in england is an indian
but in fiji - an indian is a fijian - so that they can rule fiji and steal its valuable resources.

BORENGE

6/11/2013 08:24:53 pm

YES THEY HAVE STOLEN ALL YOUR LAND AND EVERYTHING THAT YOU OWN ....HAHAHAHAHAHAHA MUST BE NICE SMOKE AYE.........CHUTIA !!!!

RM72

7/11/2013 03:04:44 pm

an indian in india is an indian (true)
an indian in china is an indian (true)
an indian in england is an indian (true)
but in fiji - an indian is a fijian - so that they can rule fiji and steal its valuable resources. (YOUR BIG THICK BLOATED HEAD!!) AN INDIAN IN FIJI CAN ONLY BE AN INDIAN IF HE IS FROM INDIA. WHAT IS GENERALLY TERMED AS INDO-FIJIAN ARE PEOPLE WHO WERE BORN, RAISED, BRED IN FIJI, THEY ARE FIJIANS.

Rajesh

6/11/2013 10:09:59 am

Frank and Khaiyum are great liars.No election will happen.
when did any dictators left power?-never they have to be kicked out.
No party and people should support illegal BKC and Regime.
Auss/NZ/Others shouldnt support the regime thugs.

Bill Carson

10/11/2013 12:22:58 am

What about former Minister Rajesh ( who was fired by SDL) who promised to donate his salary but did not ??

Is he not a liar ??

NadiKai

6/11/2013 09:56:54 pm

Mick Beddoes has clearly outlived his expiry date. Why not retire quietly in Nasoso if he can peddle nothing else but half baked stories?

Mick Beddoes link

7/11/2013 01:18:14 pm

Nasau Petition

The advantage that someone like Vijay Narayan has as a reporter is that he can use whichever part of an interview he feels will best deliver the news item in the way he wants, which is not always about balance and fairness.

In his introduction to me when requesting an interview, Vijay said that he had to check our claims out in order to give a balanced report [Something the Fiji Media has consistently failed to do despite Schedule 1 - Sec 1, 2 & 21 of the Media decree requiring them to be –impartial-fair-balanced when reporting] he said this was why they had not run the story?

He then proceeded to aggressively pursue the angle that the UFDF had misled the people by trying to accuse the regime of preparing the petition when the Tui Nasau had confirmed he had prepared the document.

Vijay did appear at all interested in establishing the motive behind the Tui Nasau’s decision to prepare such a petition [if indeed he did] and get his people to sign, which aside from demonstrating he and his people’s support for the regime, was a call for the regime to deny the rest of the people of Fiji their right to elect a government of their choosing and instead calling for the continuation of a Military Dictatorship beyond 8 years?

For the UFDF however:-

· The fact that the Tui Nasau confirmed to Vijay there was in fact a petition telling FB not to hold elections in 2014 that his people were asked to sign confirms that our source was credible.

During the interview Vijay also said that in response to our claims the document was likely prepared by the regime, the Tui Nasau said he had a home in Suva with facilities to write the letter for villagers to sign.

· This for us is a 2nd verification that our source was correct in saying the document was not likely prepared in Koro.

The incident took place on September 24th so until we released our statement Vijay and the rest of us would have been none the wiser that such an incident took place.

We have since been informed by our source that 64 signatories to the initial petition, who thought they were signing a request for a seaweed farming project, had their names scratched off the petition. So while the Tui Nasau may be right in saying that all but 2 villagers signed. However as soon as the real intent of the petition was discovered 64 villagers scratched their names off the petition so even if the petition was sent, it was not totally supported by the people of Nasau as Vijay's story implies.

Obviously the people of Koro was unhappy with what took place that they made contact with the UFDF to register their complaints and being satisfied that the complaints were genuine[Vijay's report confirms what our sources said] we issued the statement.

Our source has reinforced their anger through the following comment to us after Vijay Narayan’s news item: - QUOTE

I heard Vijay Narayan's account in Legend FM 5pm news. The statement by Tui Nasau that all except 2 signed is an outrageous lie.
The statement that Tui Nasau explained the letter to the villagers is another outrageous lie. The villagers signed because they were misled that their consent was for seaweed to be grown in their qoliqoli. Which raises the point, has the Tui Nasau any signatures from the Nasau villagers to support his allegations? This is just a con job. Vijay Narayan was very biased in his presentation: UQUOTE

The UFDF stands by our belief that this incident is possibly part of the regime's strategy for the 2014 elections and we encourage our people to be alert and to question the regimes activities at all times.

Mick Beddoes
UFDF

Bill Carson

10/11/2013 12:27:24 am

I wonder which party Millis Beddoes ( of theminsex) represents on UFDF, after disbanding his own political party due to lack of support.

Kutari

7/11/2013 03:23:09 pm

sobo voreqe vaqa sa yali tiko yani vakamalua na vakateratera ni sa voleka tiko maina election......
sega ni kila ra dau lamu sona talega na tu vei ira na dakai....
BOCI GA NA BOCI

LumiSeller

7/11/2013 05:04:53 pm

How can people sell their dignity for sea seaweed.

Keep The Faith link

8/11/2013 10:15:21 pm

Vinaka Mick for those revelations. There's Vijay's nekid butt once again exposed for all to see.

What a misguided incompetent fool masquerading as a journo and trying out all his pathetic 'Chistiane Amanpour' hard-core interview moves in the lill ol backwater of Fiji. This is what happens when you watch too much Al Jazeera & CNN and roleplay your role models Vijay - your spineless nekid butt starts showing up everywhere. Lawd ha' mercy.

Koro villagers told to sign petition for "seawood project" but Frank Bainimarama claimed the petition called for him not to hold election

Koro chief dismisses UFDF claim of his people being misled by regime

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