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 | *Sitiveni Rabuka's claim of using Prime Minister's prerogative is recklessly preposterous because under Fiji Government’s Manual of Ministerial Practice (revised edition, October 1993 when he was SVT Government PM), which is generally based on the Westminster system, there is no provision for an individual Cabinet Minister, let alone the Prime Minister, exercising his or her own prerogative. |
*In fact, Section 4 of the Manual states under the heading ’Cabinet’ as follows:
'Ministers are responsible for ensuring that major matters of policy (like giving the green light to Japan to dump its Fukushima Nuclear Waste Water into the Pacific) are submitted to Cabinet for consideration, together with anything which statutorily must be.'
*In deciding what to submit, a Minister bears in mind that any power he exercises individually is carried out within the collective responsibility of the Cabinet as a whole. If he submits too much it may be thought that he is not prepared to carry his share of that responsibility.
*If too little, he may lose the confidence of his colleagues. So the decision can be difficult. If in any difficulty, any Minister may consult the Prime Minister, who will in any case co-ordinate Government activity in all its aspects and who should therefore be kept fully informed about the important developments by all Ministers.
*So Rabuka is trying very desperately to defend the indefensible.
*He has clearly defied this Section 4 of the Manual of Ministerial Practice by not seeking prior approval of Cabinet before endorsing the IAEA findings, giving Japan the green light to dump nuclear waste on the Pacific Ocean.
*His action is inexcusable because even Parliament had recently unanimously passed a motion, moved by his own Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica, condemning the Japanese plan to dump nuclear waste into the Pacific.
*The unanimous approval of this motion by the House should have already sounded warning bells on Rabuka as Prime Minister that he would need to seek prior Cabinet approval to go back to the House to grant his Government (not him as Prime Minister) approval (despite the unanimous approval of his Government’s earlier motion to condemn the Japanese plan) to endorse the IAEA findings.
*By deliberately ignoring these standard Cabinet and parliamentary processes and recklessly claiming 'PM’s prerogative', Rabuka has defied both Parliament and Cabinet and thus in any normal and genuine democracy he would be investigated and charged for TREASON.
*Will his Paramount Chief and failed PAP candidate, the Speaker Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, allow a motion to that effect in the House or a vote of confidence in Rabuka's leadership?
*This incident has destroyed all hopes that this Coalition Government would usher in a new era of genuine participatory democracy for Fiji.
*Rabuka’s exercise of 'prerogative power' only reminds us that the shadows of the last 16 years (and 1987, despite his repeated apologies) will remain deeply entrenched under his leadership.
*And he will thrive because his Deputy Prime Ministers are all political suckers (masi polos), the rest are activists, and the Opposition are just a Bunch of JOKERS.
ANOTHER RABUKA LASULASU at the MELANESIAN SPEARHEAD GROUP Summit in Vanuatu
 *We notice that Rabuka was claiming personal credit for Fiji joining the MSG during his first term as PM. In fact the issue of Fiji joining the MSG was first brought up in Ratu Mara’s Interim Government Cabinet from 1987 to 1992. | LENORA, never take lessons on HISTORY from your boss Rabuka |
*But that Cabinet deferred to Ratu Mara’s stand that Fiji’s joining MSG would threaten the very unity of the South Pacific Forum, which had succeeded in bringing together all the three main sub-regional groupings of the Pacific - Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia and which he as Fiji’s Prime Minister was one of the founders.
*He therefore did not want Fiji to be involved in any further sub-regional political or socio-economic splits or rivalries that would raise unnecessary tensions and undermine that unity.
*But Ratu Mara was happy though for Fiji to continue to participate in the Melanesian Arts & Cultural Festivals.
*However, shortly after the SVT Government was formed after the 1992 elections, Filipe Bole as Rabuka’s Foreign Minister revived the issue of Fiji joining the MSG which Rabuka’s Cabinet happily endorsed.
*Now Fiji under Rabuka has betrayed the rest of MSG by joining PNG to oppose West Papua’s quest for self-determination through Indonesia’s cheque book diplomacy in the Region. What a shame?
*For a long time there were rumours that it was the late FILIPE BOLE, one of many co-conspirators in the 1987 COUP, who actually brought the proposal to Ratu Mara's Cabinet.
*We might recall that Bole after completing his term as Ambassador to the UN was immediately seconded to the East-West Centrer in Hawaii. After a short stint there he was recalled by Ratu Mara and was posted to the PM's Office for Special Duties (the rumour was that Bole was being groomed for a potential Ministerial appointment).
*As part of his special duties, Bole was tasked by Ratu Mara to review Fiji's foreign policies in light of his stint at the UN and the East-West Center. In fact, one of the notable recommendations Bole submitted to Ratu Mara was for Fiji to join MSG.
*Ratu Mara was so disappointed with this recommendation (which he expressed on file, and in possession on us), he directed that Bole's posting for special duties in the PM's Office be terminated and that Bole be posted back to the Ministry of Education.
*We saw Bole re-emerge in Cabinet of another Coupist - Bainimarama.
Fijileaks Archive: How Ganesh Chand and FNU Council criminally siphoned off over $250,000 from FNU coffers to pay for Filipe Bole's
New Zealand medical bills!
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