 |  |  |
Astonishingly, only six days ago Iliesa Raiduduva received invitation from NFP to attend the NFP's 60th Anniversary Convention and Party Celebrations. According to Grubsheet, the NFP used the whistleblower Raiduduva and jettisoned him, to eek out a living on the farm. Those accused of betraying him include Pio Tikoduadua, Biman Prasad, and Lenora Qereqeretabua.
Fijileaks: Is the invitation by NFP form of bribe to Raiduduva and family?
| |  |
While Waisele Tavatuilagi – a cameraman and editor at the parliament – shot the footage, it was Iliesa Raiduduva – a parliamentary civic education officer – who played it to Lenora Qereqeretabua during an encounter at the Pearl Resort. Friends of Raiduduva say he was later approached by Pio Tikoduadua to provide him with the clip. And Tikoduadua gave him an undertaking that if there were to be adverse consequences for the two, the NFP would do what it could to look after them.
According to these friends, when Iliesa Raiduduva lost his job at the parliament, he received a specific promise from Pio Tikoduadua that he would be reinstated in the event that the NFP won office. That promise, they say, still hasn’t been kept. And four years on, Iliesa Raiduduva is eking out a living on his teitei as a small-scale farmer and selling produce at the market when he was once on the front line promoting democracy in his civic education role at the parliament.
According to these friends, repeated emails and messages to the NFP hierarchy reminding them of their undertakings to reinstate Raiduduva have gone unanswered. And he is becoming increasingly desperate as a once promising career lies in ruins and he is reduced to selling vegetables while those who persuaded him to leak the video enjoy the spoils of office.
It’s a story that goes to the heart of the integrity of the NFP and its leaders and the Coalition government as a whole, as well as highlighting the absence of adequate protection in Fiji for whistleblowers who leak material such as the Bainimarama assault video that is demonstrably in the public interest.
Hundreds of Fijian workers who were terminated under the last government at Fiji Airports and Fiji Airways have been reinstated since the Coalition took office but not the two men in the Fijian Parliament who put their jobs on the line to expose Frank Bainimarama's thuggish conduct for the benefit of both the Coalition and every Fijian.
It is a blatant injustice that must be rectified. The NFP is holding its AGM in Rakiraki tomorrow (Friday) and this case should clearly be addressed. Because it certainly doesn’t reflect well on the party or the individuals involved that they keep ignoring representations reminding them of their promise to two men who have been forgotten in the euphoria of the NFP’s election win.
According to these friends, when Iliesa Raiduduva lost his job at the parliament, he received a specific promise from Pio Tikoduadua that he would be reinstated in the event that the NFP won office. That promise, they say, still hasn’t been kept. And four years on, Iliesa Raiduduva is eking out a living on his teitei as a small-scale farmer and selling produce at the market when he was once on the front line promoting democracy in his civic education role at the parliament.
According to these friends, repeated emails and messages to the NFP hierarchy reminding them of their undertakings to reinstate Raiduduva have gone unanswered. And he is becoming increasingly desperate as a once promising career lies in ruins and he is reduced to selling vegetables while those who persuaded him to leak the video enjoy the spoils of office.
It’s a story that goes to the heart of the integrity of the NFP and its leaders and the Coalition government as a whole, as well as highlighting the absence of adequate protection in Fiji for whistleblowers who leak material such as the Bainimarama assault video that is demonstrably in the public interest.
Hundreds of Fijian workers who were terminated under the last government at Fiji Airports and Fiji Airways have been reinstated since the Coalition took office but not the two men in the Fijian Parliament who put their jobs on the line to expose Frank Bainimarama's thuggish conduct for the benefit of both the Coalition and every Fijian.
It is a blatant injustice that must be rectified. The NFP is holding its AGM in Rakiraki tomorrow (Friday) and this case should clearly be addressed. Because it certainly doesn’t reflect well on the party or the individuals involved that they keep ignoring representations reminding them of their promise to two men who have been forgotten in the euphoria of the NFP’s election win.
