ABOVE THE LAW: We have the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister BIMAN PRASAD who has refused to step aside, or Rabuka forcing him to step aside, until his case for allegedly sexually insulting the modesty of the wife of his former election candidate Taniguchi has been decided by the acting Chief Justice, hearing the Judicial Review.
*Prasad's chairman of the FRC RICHARD NAIDU shamelessly repeats that he is 'a convicted lawyer' while giving two fingers to his case, reminiscent of the stooges of the East German dictatorship.
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Fijileaks: The Coalition Government, if it deemed that it was necessary in the public interest to do so, had the discretion to engage any other recruitment agency to interview the applicants for PS positions, particularly in this case where the husband of a senior executive of KPMG was one of the applicants.
*While Mrs Chand may not be directly involved as her partner Mike Yee Joy is, the fact is they know each other very well as partners and close working colleagues in the same company.
*For example, the FFG had an annual contract with Fiji Sun but that did not prevent the FFG from advertising also in the Fiji Times if it deemed necessary in the public interest.
*In the case of KPMG, Parmesh Chand himself should have recognized this potential area of conflict of interest as regards his wife’s position and should have brought it to the attention of the Chairman, PSC or Rabuka so that a different agency was hired.
*But it is now obvious he deliberately withheld this information from both the Chairman, PSC and his line manager RABUKA.
CHAND should do the honorable thing and RESIGN.
*Basically, in future if you want any job in Government, stand as an election candidate, and if you lose but your party wins, you get the job.
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A PR blitz justifying the recent appointment of permanent secretaries - including the whole of page 2 of today’s Fiji Times - reflects intense concern at the top of the Coalition government about being labelled no better than FijiFirst when it comes to cronyism and “jobs for the boys”.
The comments by the PSC Chair, Luke Rokovada, come in the wake of a strong backlash not only from the usual critics but from within the government itself, including the People’s Alliance. These dissenters are said to be both uncomfortable and embarrassed that the principle of “who you know” has clearly triumphed over merit and the principle of an independent civil service.
That disquiet applies especially to the Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, and the small team he has assembled around him, including the newly confirmed Permanent Secretaries for the Civil Service and the PM’s office – Parmesh Chand and Pita Wise. According to insiders, neither of them should have been appointed. And it has left the Prime Minister facing the same accusations of cronyism that plagued his predecessors, Frank Bainimarama and Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
Parmesh Chand had been permanent secretary in the prime minister’s office during the Bainimarama dictatorship until he was removed, like an army of others, after falling foul of the now ousted duumvirate. Even before he stood as a PAP candidate at the last election, Grubsheet understands that he tried to make a comeback but was rejected in his bid to return to the civil service under the former Public Service Commission headed by the ANZ banker, Vishnu Mohan.
Parmesh Chand later threw his weight behind Sitiveni Rabuka’s own comeback and has clearly been very valuable in allaying Indo-Fijian fears about Rabuka rooted in the trauma on 1987. But whatever his experience and talents, his critics say the fact that he stood for the PAP at the December election and failed to make the cut should have automatically excluded him from being in contention for a senior civil service post simply because he fails to meet the requirement to be apolitical. The same applies to Pita Wise – a long-time close ally of Sitiveni Rabuka, who followed his patron out of SODELPA and worked behind the scenes on the PAP election campaign.
These are demonstrably political appointments in direct contravention of Section 4 (f) of the Civil Service Act, which states that the civil service must be: "apolitical, performing its functions in a neutral, impartial and professional way."
Apolitical? Neutral? Impartial? None of these terms can be applied to Parmesh Chand and Pita Wise. And far from restoring the independence and professionalism of the civil service – one of its pre-election undertakings – the Coalition government is as guilty as FijiFirst of placing its own cronies and supporters in top positions.
An insider writes:
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“Parmesh Chand, as a failed People’s Alliance political candidate, should not have been considered. The reason they are called “permanent secretary” under the Westminster model which Fiji’s system of government is based on, is that they are career civil servants and apolitical. They are there to maintain neutral administrative governance throughout the duration of a particular government’s tenure, and when that government changes, to provide the required administrative transitioning support for a new government.
While Parmesh Chand and Pita Wise were once civil servants, their direct involvement with the People’s Alliance means that they do not meet the apolitical requirement. It’s not fair that public resources are being used on former civil servants who are not apolitical, removing the opportunity for career civil servants to progress their careers upwards.
Then there is the “Kama Sutra scandal” in the Prime Minister’s Office, in which information was leaked from the PMO concerning Pita Wise’s involvement with a staff member recruited after the Coalition win during a state-funded trip to Panama. This was with the full knowledge of the PM.
It is reflective of a level of decadence and moral turpitude that is allowed to thrive in the highest office of government. This is the only conclusion one can arrive at, when instead of an inquiry, the PM ensures that Pita Wise is confirmed in the post. Certainly, the taxpayers do not deserve this. Once more the machinery and mechanisms of government were used and cynically manipulated to confirm two of SLR’s favourite boys. It does not reflect well on the leadership and the organisational culture at the PMO and PSC”.
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Ouch.
The comments by the PSC Chair, Luke Rokovada, come in the wake of a strong backlash not only from the usual critics but from within the government itself, including the People’s Alliance. These dissenters are said to be both uncomfortable and embarrassed that the principle of “who you know” has clearly triumphed over merit and the principle of an independent civil service.
That disquiet applies especially to the Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, and the small team he has assembled around him, including the newly confirmed Permanent Secretaries for the Civil Service and the PM’s office – Parmesh Chand and Pita Wise. According to insiders, neither of them should have been appointed. And it has left the Prime Minister facing the same accusations of cronyism that plagued his predecessors, Frank Bainimarama and Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
Parmesh Chand had been permanent secretary in the prime minister’s office during the Bainimarama dictatorship until he was removed, like an army of others, after falling foul of the now ousted duumvirate. Even before he stood as a PAP candidate at the last election, Grubsheet understands that he tried to make a comeback but was rejected in his bid to return to the civil service under the former Public Service Commission headed by the ANZ banker, Vishnu Mohan.
Parmesh Chand later threw his weight behind Sitiveni Rabuka’s own comeback and has clearly been very valuable in allaying Indo-Fijian fears about Rabuka rooted in the trauma on 1987. But whatever his experience and talents, his critics say the fact that he stood for the PAP at the December election and failed to make the cut should have automatically excluded him from being in contention for a senior civil service post simply because he fails to meet the requirement to be apolitical. The same applies to Pita Wise – a long-time close ally of Sitiveni Rabuka, who followed his patron out of SODELPA and worked behind the scenes on the PAP election campaign.
These are demonstrably political appointments in direct contravention of Section 4 (f) of the Civil Service Act, which states that the civil service must be: "apolitical, performing its functions in a neutral, impartial and professional way."
Apolitical? Neutral? Impartial? None of these terms can be applied to Parmesh Chand and Pita Wise. And far from restoring the independence and professionalism of the civil service – one of its pre-election undertakings – the Coalition government is as guilty as FijiFirst of placing its own cronies and supporters in top positions.
An insider writes:
----------------------
“Parmesh Chand, as a failed People’s Alliance political candidate, should not have been considered. The reason they are called “permanent secretary” under the Westminster model which Fiji’s system of government is based on, is that they are career civil servants and apolitical. They are there to maintain neutral administrative governance throughout the duration of a particular government’s tenure, and when that government changes, to provide the required administrative transitioning support for a new government.
While Parmesh Chand and Pita Wise were once civil servants, their direct involvement with the People’s Alliance means that they do not meet the apolitical requirement. It’s not fair that public resources are being used on former civil servants who are not apolitical, removing the opportunity for career civil servants to progress their careers upwards.
Then there is the “Kama Sutra scandal” in the Prime Minister’s Office, in which information was leaked from the PMO concerning Pita Wise’s involvement with a staff member recruited after the Coalition win during a state-funded trip to Panama. This was with the full knowledge of the PM.
It is reflective of a level of decadence and moral turpitude that is allowed to thrive in the highest office of government. This is the only conclusion one can arrive at, when instead of an inquiry, the PM ensures that Pita Wise is confirmed in the post. Certainly, the taxpayers do not deserve this. Once more the machinery and mechanisms of government were used and cynically manipulated to confirm two of SLR’s favourite boys. It does not reflect well on the leadership and the organisational culture at the PMO and PSC”.
--------------------
Ouch.
