BLEAK DIWALI: After FLP, now NFP wades into sugar cane payment: '9,000 cane growers and their families will have a bleak Diwali after the deductions by [FSC] for commodities, loans, leave them with no income'

17/10/2017

Fijileaks: "DIWALI PHIR AGAI SACHINI"

Commissioner of Police Sitiveni Qiliho:
'I always looked forward to Diwali as a young kid and even now at this age, I still have a kid in me that goes for the sweets."

PC Anit Lal (right) sings Kirtan joined by Commissioner of Police Sitiveni Qiliho (middle) during the diwali celebration at Poice HQ . Police Director of Traffic Mahesh Mishra had organized the celebration at the Police Headquarters

The banned couple - Brij and Padma Lal

The banned Fiji-born academic Professor Brij Lal:
"While I was in detention at the QEB barracks, awaiting deportation to Australia, Qiliho slapped and spat at me, breaking my reading glasses.
I was falsely accused of making anti Indo-Fijian Muslim comments in Fiji."

“In one case a grower who harvested 236 tonnes of sugarcane in 2016 is left with only 82 cents from a payment of about $1500 after deductions by FSC. This is preposterous. How can FSC and the Government expect this grower like thousands of others to celebrate Diwali?” - NFP

October 17, 2017

MEDIA RELEASE

Top-Up Cane Payment a sham
Bleak Diwali

The National Federation Party says more than 70 percent or over 9,000 cane growers and their families will have a bleak Diwali after deductions by Fiji Sugar Corporation for commodities and loans have left them with no income in the 4th and final cane payment for 2016.

This shows that Government’s decision to top-up the 4th cane payment of 44 cents per tonne by $9.15 per tonne was a sham, says NFP Leader Professor Biman Prasad.

“We have cited several statements issued by FSC to growers. The statement itself is misleading. The deduction by FSC is listed as reversal of 50% of FSC debt. In reality, this means that a grower has paid 50 percent of debt owed to FSC for fertilizer, rice, sugar etc. Other deductions include rent to i-Taukei Land Trust Board, Sugar Cane Growers Fund and Fiji Development Bank”.

“In one case a grower who harvested 236 tonnes of sugarcane in 2016 is left with only 82 cents from a payment of about $1500 after deductions by FSC. This is preposterous. How can FSC and the Government expect this grower like thousands of others to celebrate Diwali?”

Professor Prasad said the fact that the FSC announced the payment even before the Sugar Industry Tribunal certified it raises serious questions about the payment like: -

Was the Sugar Cane Growers Council Chief Executive Officer aware of the actual amount of the payment and the top-up?
If the SCGC CEO was aware, did he request FSC and Government not to make any deductions from this payment because of Diwali?
Why did the FSC announce the payment before the Tribunal certified the payment because any cane payment is first announced by the Tribunal?
Why are $3.05 cents per tonne from the top-up to be paid in January 2018 when the payment is for the 2016 season?
Does this mean that FSC and Government will use the deferred payment of $3.05 as a Special Payment that is advanced to growers from the previous season, in this case the 2017 season, for educational needs of their children?

Failure by those at the helm of the sugar industry institutions to answer these pertinent questions, namely the Sugar Industry Tribunal, Sugar Cane Growers Council, Fiji Sugar Corporation and the Ministry of Sugar will confirm the deviousness of these institutions.

This façade re-enforces our consistent call for the democratisation of the industry institutions, especially the SCGC that is the umbrella body of growers who are the largest and most important stakeholders in the industry.

It also confirms that FSC and Government are colluding similar to the CSR and colonial rule to subjugate growers. They have lost the plot and seriously undermined the livelihood of growers because the industry has been declining under their control since the military coup of 2006.

The NFP has already announced the implementation of a minimum guaranteed price of $100 per tonne of cane if it forms government. This will be part of sound and sensible measures to be implemented by an NFP Government to ensure the industry once again produces 4 million tonnes of sugarcane and at least 400,000 tonnes of sugar.

Authorised by: -

Professor Biman Prasad
NFP Leader

19 Comments

Dekho

17/10/2017 09:45:04 am

A lot of former Fiji cane farmers and even their hired seasonal labourers are now enjoying the good life in greener pastures overseas. No more all work and no pay for them. Now they get a just return on their labour and investments.
Sugar is bad for the health. It's already affecting the health of the cane farmers faced with financial stress and poverty. Cane farmers should leave cane farming and go into goat farming or go and live in Nadawa and do some job in the urban centres for hard cash. Nadawa migrants less stress, more picnics at Suva Point, more matinees at Village Six and more mutton curries.

Bahuki

17/10/2017 09:54:05 am

By the looks of it, whoever can thoroughly sort out the sugar industry effectively rules the country but thats just my opinion.

Bleeding Heart

17/10/2017 10:32:37 am

Fiji Times of 26/3/2017:

Viliame Gucake , Sugar Ministry Director , said that 3 former ex FSC Chief Executives recommended the complete scrapping of the 38 member sugar growers council in 2008 to the cabinet and it was accepted .

They were Rasheed Ali and Gautam Ramswarup , both of whom fled Fiji in 1987 to Australia ,after having made their fortunes on the back of the cane farmers in Fiji .

The third person was Deo Saran who is sitting on a plum ambassadors job in Europe funded by Fiji taxpayers and cane farmers.

If growers are powerless ,defenceless and without a voice today , then it is more because of the treacherous disloyalty of these 3 than anybody else.

Wake up

17/10/2017 05:03:46 pm

Chaudhry points out the exhorbitantly high salaries of the top FSC executives from $250-600,000.

This can never be justified in a Poorly run, loss making and heavily state funded and subsidised with government guaranteed loans company .

What do they do on a daily basis snd what value have they added to the lives of the thousands of farmers , workers and the rest of the country ?

Just flying around the country snd the cane fields mouthing empty snd meaningless rethreaded failed ideas , and globetrotting to international forums is not in way improving the industry .

Graham Clark and his cohorts have to genuinely listen to the farmers and stop pontificating and lecturing from their pulpits.

Despite warnings from every quarter Abdul khan the previous Chief executive
was allowed to ruin the industry and no body is asking him to account for his own conflict of interests .

What has Clark and the Navin Chand management delivered so far other than their patronising sermons to consolidate their own positions .

The Clark era appears to be a replay of the Abdul Khan episode part two repackaged under different name .

The only long term solution lies in listening to farmers and workers , transport providers , reinstating their rights and most importantly providing a liveable and sustainable economic return of at least $120 per ton of cane and also a living wage and just not a minimum wage to its employees .

Game Over

18/10/2017 02:11:43 am

It must rock the moral conscience of the nation and its peoples to learn that the new management at FSC are helping themselves to salaries between $250,000 and $650,000. For an ailing company that has been on life support for the last at least 20 years and now with its latest 1.7 million tonnes forecast cane production, its terminal future is almost a certainty.

Much was made of the stewardship eras of Rashed Ali, Goodman Ram Rup , Abul Khan ,Boo Gutam and now Mohan. The industry was hyped and warmed to the prospects of great reforms, improvements , better management, efficiencies in milling and production, harvesting a infrastructure upgrade in roads, bridges, transportation drainage eradication of corruption, nepotism, cronyism , better markets and most importantly better returns and living standards for farmers , workers and all those connected to the industry.

Instead, to our continued horror , it has been an unending litany of gross failures, mismanagement and abuse of power.

Some of these failed executives have been re engaged as many as 3 times without any success or fresh strategies and vision. All they have done is to fleece the industry as much as possible.

Time has come to go back to investigate these fiduciary breaches and hold them all accountable for the irrepairable damage they have caused .

Just take a trip to Australia and NZ and you will find how some of them are living a life of obscene opulence and affluence , in the comfortable cradle of extreme wealth and property whilst the farmers and workers are immersed in perpetual hardship and suffering.

FSC Fat cat turns a rat and jumps the FSC sinking ship

19/10/2017 12:57:40 am

From FIJI TIMES

4 /10/2010

Felix Chaudhry

"
FSC Chairman Quits

FSC board Chaiman Gautam Ramswarup resigned on Thursday after 3 years in the post.

He said he did so with a heavy heart and concern over the problems facing the industry.

" FSC, sugar and Fiji are very dear to me and my committment to the industry has been proven by years and more recently as board chairman . I am 68 years old and instead of putting my feet up and relaxing, I decided to take on a mammoth task and a heavy burden."

He said he left with no regrets or animosity.

He said he would consider returning if asked to help put the industry back on track .

" I have extensive experience in the industry and if asked to assist in getting it back to its feet , I would give it deep consideration."

" However, in the meantime, I will return to Sydney , Australia this morning. I am a permanent resident there and that is home for me."

Attempts to get comments from Permanent Secretary Colonel Manasa Vaniqi and FSC CEO Deo Saran were unsuccessful.

Breathtaking hipocrisy and dishonesty from somebody whose entire motivation was pecuniary. Not a drop of patriotism nor altruism. Period, full stop.

He could not sort out any of the problems in 3 years and yet talks about putting the industry back on track if asked to. Mate when are going to accept your failures , irrelevance and mediocrity. You and your cabal are the architects of all the problems and form no part of the solutions.

What is this talk about " heavy heart" from somebody known for his serial and pathological opportunistism and heartlessness.

Ad then the patronsing posture and feigned claim and sacrifice of not being able to put " my feet up and relaxing ." because of his call of patriotism.

The truth is that he did not have any worthwhile job of any substance and consequence since his move to Australia in 1987 some 30 years ago. The opportunity of the FSC Chairmanship was a financial lifeline taken by mercenary . End of the Story.

Please Explain

20/10/2017 12:42:02 am

The Fiji public need to know a bit more about this man called Mr . Rawswaroop.

Industry insiders know him as a serial opportunist cloaked as a wannabe patriot and purporting to be a sugar industry messiah between 2007-2010.

He thinks he has done Fiji a great favour and service by being the FSC chairman when he should really be " putting up his feet and relaxing." This is rank hypocrisy.

Our sources confirm that he hobnobs with the highest of Sydney socialites and belongs to the A listers of the Fijian community in Australia. Exactly how he is able to sustain that lifestyle is a mystery to all , given the fact that he has not had any meaningful employment for the last 30 years. Even more inexplicable, is the fact that he lives and owns multi million dollar property in Warroonga - one of the most expensive and exclusive suburbs of Sydney, entry to which is reserved to the very richest; whilst thousands of Fiji migrants struggle with six figure life long mortagages.

How, when and where did he acquire this wealth?

For the last 30 - 40 years, FSC has been a bullet proof sanctuary of corruption fortified with an impregnable wall of secrecy and an ugly underbelly of complicity with big businesses, contractors , local and foreign consultants, suppliers and tenderers and even banks and regulatory authorities and widespread conflict of interests.

The absence of even the very basic minimum standards of accountabilty and transparency in the conduct, governance and management of its affairs, has raised many alarm bells, only to be stonewalled, silenced and crushed by a beligerent defiant and unaccountable management.

Farmers, employees, transport sector and the general public have raised numerous grievances with hardly any support from any quarter.

When will this rort stop?

An now we hear of $650,000 salaries. No body in Fiji is worth that money . The ordinary gets barely $100 per week equating to about $6000 per year which is less than 100 times that salary. After all both the fat cats and the poor live on the same bowl of rice as the Chinese say and there is only 24 hours in a day.

Samjoe

17/10/2017 10:48:01 am

Some people have been having "Diwali" from the day God blessed them with arbitrary power via a " clean up " coup on 5 December 2006.
Unlike the Hindu believers who are required to clean up for Diwali so that good things can come to them with God's blessing, these coupist Diwali gang did not need to do any clean up. Good things just fell into their laps courtesy of the armed robbery of government.
God does work in mysterious ways.

Socho

17/10/2017 11:12:43 am

I am sure Professor Brij Lal is mistaken about Qiliho slapping and spitting on him when he was held in detention by the military thugs in Fiji. I am sure Qiliho has never harmed an ant in his life let alone abuse a respected university professor. I am sure Qiliho goes to Church every Sunday like a pious Christian and seeks the Christian God's guidance to keep him from doing any evil. That's why he is now Commissioner of Police making sure nobody else does any evil as well.
The same goes for Bainimarama and all the other military thugs ...

Chiku

17/10/2017 01:42:21 pm

For they are all, all honourable men. I wonder if George Speight has been invited to celebrate Diwali. He too is a coupist thug. He must have looked forward to Diwali as a kid and all that. Why shouldn't he get invited to Diwali? It's discrimination for him not to be invited to celebrate Diwali. Where's the Anti- Discrimination director ? What's he got to say about this blatant discrimination?

Dekho

17/10/2017 08:47:16 pm

Sugar in the morning sugar in the evening sugar at suppertime. But not for the 9000 sugarcane cultivators. The sugary Diwali delicacies not for the hard life living farmers. That's now something to be enjoyed by the coupists and their sycophantic cronies.

Alibaba

17/10/2017 09:22:08 pm

The sugar industry in Fiji is basically a dead horse, The only problem is the stakeholders are refusing to except that it is a dead horse and that it died about 20 years ago. If we could not develop and modernize the industry while getting about 50% more than what the world fair market price was for sugar what hope do we have now. The industry is still run as it was run 100 years ago by the British.I mean seriously who uses words like "sardar" anymore
Even $100 a tonne proposed by the NFP is not going to solve the problem. The industry must be run on a purely commercial scale with complete breakup and decentralization of the milling and juicing of the cane. The ideas are there and a submission was made to the military government on how to turn the industry around but of course in Fiji only the current government has all the answers and the rest of us are just playing politics.

ram singh

17/10/2017 10:45:26 pm

lets talk about the present thieves who have stolen so much more and no one is ding much about it!!!
WHERE ARE OUR LEGAL CUSTODIANS ..
WHO WILL TAKE THE STEP TO TAKE THIS GOVERNMENT TO COURT FOR STEALING OUTRIGHT.?
OR will be talking about it in 10 years time

Sanjay Sharma

17/10/2017 10:46:39 pm

Despite being cheated and screwed over and over again by Kai/Bai, the cane farmers continue licking their feet and worshipping them. Don't feel sorry for them as they have brought the misery on themselves by trusting the devils.

Uday Narain (pundit)

18/10/2017 09:51:42 am

Cane farmers (those who are left) are grateful to Bainimarama and Khaiyum to have sorted out our leases, for a roof under our heads and for equal citizenry. If it was left to RACIST Qarase and the Sodelpa and their program of ruthless, merciless evictions, then a lot more of us good farmers would be bad taxi drivers in Suva. My son has said with Racist Rabuka back in the picyure, we are to make sure to vote for Bainimarama.

Totaram

18/10/2017 05:28:24 am

The politicans are at it again. Using the sugar cane fames as political football.

The farmers were only supposed to receive 44c. However, the Govt gave an added $6.00 pet tonne. Shouldn't the farmers be happy. Even, if part of the $6.00 will go towards the deductions. It's something the farmers will have to pay. The deductions is for their own dues. Not anyone else.

In total, Govt will pay $12 million more. Yes, 12,000,000. Farmer's are not complaining but politicans are as they were beaten by the government.

As MPC said, it's a grant. Accept it as it's free. Don't put conditions FLP, NFU, NFP, FCGA.

Ratu

18/10/2017 04:28:59 pm

The basic issue is 85% of farmers produce sugar cane where their cost of production is higher than the world market price. under its present form of production Fiji cannot compete with countries like Brazil with hundreds of thousands of acres of flat fertile land under sugar cane produced by machines. Fiji needs to ensure productivity gains through the application of science and technology led by research or be eliminated from the game. Fiji has the worst record of productivity of all sugar producing countries. With the exception of Ratu Mara's Alluance Party where sugar prices jumped to 3 times the world price under a negotiated price with the EU Successive governments have failed. The farmers and their unions must also take some responsibility for this sad state of affairs

Tomasi

19/10/2017 01:04:59 am

Thank you folks for the great exchanges on real vital issues that affect our farmers and our nation. Let me summarise and add my half-penny worth to the sugar industry revitalization program.

1. The sugar industry must now be gradually transitioned to the private sector, to be run under commercial enterprise rules and rewards. This will stop the politicisation of farmers and the industry, force the executives to earn their unjustified salaries, and give our farmers a better future to look forward to.

2. Change is constant, and it is the only constant in our realm. Everything else must and do change. Yet, the FSC struggles like the extinct dinosaur that it is because it has miserably failed to adapt itself to the constancy of change.

3. We the people of Fiji have also experienced a fundamentally and radical change over the last 3 decades in the matter of government and national leadership. Internal and external forces have acted to influence our lives, perceptions and values to the point where today, we are all witnesses to the most deplorable group of people dictating to us how we must live our lives even against our own good judgements and expressed will. We must therefore seriously reframe our fundamentals and aggressively and peacefully act to change our direction and the whole system of government. The old system is so broke and corrupted, and it must be fixed. To those who doubt this, please tell me, How on earth can we now have thugs, murderers, criminals, bomb-makers, etc rule over us with exorbitant salaries and perks they do not deserve??

4. Finally, we the people must seek compensation and reparations from those who have robbed us and committed atrocities against any person or group over the last three decades. A Truth and Justice Committee must be set up to pursue this matter. We must hold people accountable. Failure to do so has triggered an avalanche, the nature and destruction of which will render the masses totally overwhelmed and helpless.

5. Evil comes in various forms and disguises. But one thing is certain. When evil comes garbed in legality, respectability, beauty, glory and with great public display and repeated over and over again, the ordinary human mind gets dulled and saturated to the point where the evil simply becomes normal, commonplace, acceptable and nothing to worry about. Then the evil now becomes good, ok and normal. This is the current state of our general consciousness in Fiji, where only a few are still able to distinguish the genuine and the fake normalcy and the proper way to live our lives with one another in God's own little garden called Fiji.

Ratu

19/10/2017 11:58:28 pm

Tomasi
Yr so called summary does not in any way accurately depict the views of contributors on this thread that you purport yr writing to be. How on earth you concluded the FSC should be sold to the private sector beats me. That's just yr prescription drawn from ideology and neo liberal dogma. Check out what happened in Greece when publuc owned enterprises were forcibly sold off - efficiency dropped and prices skyrocketed hurting the public and the Greek economy. The same people, namely the EU who wrecked the Greek economy are the ones trying to promote diversification in the sugar industry and it's not working. Australia this week shut down into iconic Holden car plant in Melbourne as it could no longer sustain an annual $3bn subsidy. Hard decisions are needed in the Fiji sugar industry. Lowering the pay differentials in FSC needs to happen. The other solution is just sack 70% of FSC staff and bring in the Chinese to run it say for ( years with a strategy in place to transition to a fresh face of young Fiji citizens after a period of say 7 years.

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