"BACK TO DEMOCRACY FOR FIJI"

You are invited to share and pen your ideas, views or opinions that will facilitate/assist our country back to democracy. All positive and/or negative ideas and comments to steer us back to the road of democracy are welcome.

Whichever way one looks at our current situation back home, democracy has been completely raped. The rape of democracy in Fiji is a virtual degradation of the populus of Fiji. Their human rights are being deprived:

1. the right to decide their government;
2. who they want to represent them;
3. their right to free assembly;
4. free protest;
5. free to organise into groups so that they can talk about what is pertinent to their daily lives;
6. protest on issues they do not agree with....with no fear of intimidation from anybody.

With this military regime in place, the concept of freedom per the Constitution is a total myth!

And, we, the people of Fiji need to come together and be vehement about our total disagreement with the military regime. So give us liberty or death! The reality of the issue is that democracy in Fiji has been raped...from top to bottom...left to right....inside and out and vice versa!

Here we have a military regime that talks about freedom to the people and yet the very same military regime randomly arrest people, torture them, inflict unnecessary harrassment and emotional stress to those that seem a threat to them. The military regime talks about racial unity.......the communal concept of togetherness and yet Fiji is far more racially divided today than it ever was.

The so-called advisors, viz-a-viz, John Samy, these are rejects from their adopted countries and yet they are being rewarded with exuberant amount(s) of money by these rogue military regime who have no idea what they are doing. Lying to the international community does not augur well with this interim government and yet the interim Prime Minister continuously talks with a forked tongue when addressing international issues. The ministers talk about internal securities as if Fiji is going to be invaded.

All around it is clearly seen that the economy is in tatters and the Constitution is just a useless piece of paper. The rule of law is as what the military regime wants it to be.

The above are just some of my views (from a pro-democracy viewpoint). But, do not let that deter you from penning your comments if you share otherwise.

So, let us come together and voice our views/comments, whether they be for or against the military regime and have a very healthy discussion here so that in the end we can factually understand what our role is, what we need to do and how we can come up with ideas to help restore democracy back in our beloved Fiji!

Please feel free to write what you like or dislike about the military regime. Be sincere and honest about your thoughts, without getting personal or spiteful.

Kindly note, this "topic" will expire as soon as we have an election.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kai Ra-sia on January 12, 2010 at 10:23pm: Police raid pawnshop

1/13/2010

Police raided a pawnshop in Suva City yesterday.
FijiSUN arrived at the scene to see officers from the Fiji Police Force Mobile Tactical Unit confiscating items from Henry’s Pawn Shop.

Sacks of items were loaded into police vehicles. When contacted yesterday, Police assistant public relations officer Suliano Tevita said he was unaware of the raid.

“I am trying to figure out who gave the order for the raid,” he said.

FijiSUN gathered that sacks of tabua (whale’s teeth) were confiscated from the pawnshop.

It is illegal to sell tabua.

Similar raids were conducted on pawnshops last year.

If Suliano Tevita was not aware of the raid...then who gave the green light for the police to perform the raid? Na qito Pusi Kalavo se baci caka lol; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Joanne Campbell on January 13, 2010 at 5:26am: There must be a shortage of Tabua in the Police stores.... so what better way to collect....just go raid pawn shops!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mere Tuisalalo Samisoni on January 13, 2010 at 6:32am: 13/1/10
Good one Joanne. Criminal mind at work here.
I couldn't help laughing. Hee! Hee! Hee! Haa! Haa! Yei! Wai Lei!.
Mere.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tevita Korodrau on January 13, 2010 at 11:21am: Goes to show the nation is being runned by people running differrent direction and intentions.Poor reflection to the illegal Adminstrators; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tevita Korodrau on January 13, 2010 at 11:46am: I thought that clause was abbrogated and for them to quote it is laughing joke. This illegal Regime are all over not knowing where to start.Have they a decree for that too?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mere Tuisalalo Samisoni on January 14, 2010 at 3:08am: 14/!/10
Sovea,
You are generalizing and over simplifying an issue of great value to the Fijian people.
In your ignorance you are mixing up the purpose, process and results at by-laws level.
The purpose for banning the sale of Tabua is to protect the value of Fijian culture and traditions.
The processing of the ban is case by case under the by-laws for desired results.
Accordingly, we can see right through your bad mouthing SDL, which is working against you and the IIR.
As the saying goes "fools rush in where angels fear to tread".
Dr. Mere Tuisalalo Samisoni elected Member for Lami Open Constituency (deposed 2006).; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Suliasi Daunitutu on January 12, 2010 at 11:47pm: Church executives meet this hour

Executives of the Methodist Church of Fiji will meet this hour in Suva to discuss their next step after Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama announced earlier today that there will be no Methodist Church Conference in Fiji until 2014.

Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has today stressed that the decision now made by the government is final and nothing will change that.

Commodore Bainimarama said it is evident that the Methodist Church executives are not working with the government and the conference is not needed to collect funds for the church as sufficient funds were collected in the church circuits last year without having the conference.

He said it is also evident that the church executives want to continue to involve themselves in politics.

Commodore Bainimarama also said they have information that confirms that some Methodist Church ministers were giving information on the military to the Qarase government.

The Prime Minister also confirmed that some Methodist Church ministers were on the police payroll as informers for the Police Special Branch.

He said they were on the payroll during the Qarase government period and after December 2006.

However, he clarified that none of the church ministers are now on the police payroll.

Meanwhile, the Acting General Secretary of the Methodist Church of Fiji Reverend Tevita Nawadra said they will meet at 5pm today to discuss the issue.

Reverend Nawadra said they never knew that the Methodist Church ministers were being paid to give information to the Qarase government.

He said all these issues will be discussed this afternoon.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Suliasi Daunitutu on January 13, 2010 at 1:01am: The Church had better think carefully this time, the last time Bainimarama put them through humiliation, and treated them with utmost disrespect as men of the cloth. He has condemned everyone even as they execute their duties to the populace and God.

Bainimarama sure doesn't sound like a full quid anymore, we don't hear much from him, but what little we hear shows the mentallity of the men and what he is capable of.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Motoka. on January 13, 2010 at 3:04am: Yes Suli...........this guy is now toying with the Annointed Church Ministers!!

What we believed that had Fiji been blessed with for a long long time by the sweat of the spiritually elected is now being openly swept away in a humiliation manner by this one guy!
Once our people get used to seeing this then the begining of the end for us is inevitable!Faith in our church leaders will be gone and together with it is religious observance and later on chaos(new wild generation)!!!

All this for just one frightened Prime Minister!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Suliasi Daunitutu on January 12, 2010 at 11:49pm: Serious concerns over abuse of public funds

The latest Public Accounts Committee report has highlighted some serious concerns on the way public funds were used by the Social Welfare and Poverty Alleviation Ministry in 2006.

The committee said it considers the use of an Open Local Purchase Order by the Minister for Women and Social Welfare in 2006 to a local hardware company for the purchase of roofing iron for the Nakorolevu Housing Project as a very serious case to defraud the government.

The Public Accounts Committee said the issue is of particular concern as the Local Purchase Order was open and it was written out just before the 2006 general elections.

The Purchase Order was issued to then Minister from the Small Grants Section of the Prime Minister's Office on 30th November 2005.

The Committee said to aggravate the situation the balance in the fund was far less than the order. The Public Accounts Committee said in its opinion, it was a blatant use of public funds to finance a development in the Minister's own village and to gain political mileage.

There were also discrepancies noted in relation to Voucher Books of the Ministry.

There was no reconciliation of uncollected voucher books at the end of collection period at the Suva Welfare Office and the uncollected voucher books for June to December 2006 were not under lock and key but were in cartons and cabinets.

The committee said monitoring of Poverty Alleviation Projects was rarely carried out by Divisional Offices and they offices often relied on NGO's to implement and monitor projects.

The committee reveals that the NGO's were not providing acquittals in a timely manner.

The audit also revealed that 28 applications were received and approved in 2006 which were direct referrals from a former Minister. It said cabinet approved procedures for Poverty Alleviation Projects were not followed.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Suliasi Daunitutu on January 13, 2010 at 5:10pm: Tau, It would be undemocratic for me to select only those reports that I think is right for me, we should all be looking hard at how governments or future adminstration should conduct with transparency. If the report shows the minister for women was liable then we should let democracy takes its cause.....investigate, prosecute then penalise if it sees fit.

The very same things that we want to see with Bainimarama and his government Rt. Tau....can you please pass on our thoughts to them. There is a bottle of Brandy riding on it for you !!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mere Tuisalalo Samisoni on January 14, 2010 at 5:13am: 14/1/10
Suli on this issue of good governance and accountability, the SDL MultiParty Cabinet was using the 1996 Public Enterprises Act to bring about desired change in line with SDL polices, Paris Declaration 2004/2005 for good governance, inclusivity and accountability that aligned with provisions of World Bank, EU, EC etc and other Bilateral Agreements for AID.
I was a member of the Public Account Committee in 2006 where the problem was one of "skills gap" because in the old economic order in the Public Service the culture was to promote SENIORTY NOT SKILLS.
Hence people were promoted to look after money that had no accounting skills only bureaucratic skills to control and abuse.
The SDL Multiparty Cabinet were addressing these structural, systems and process problems through the Public Enterprises Act 1996, Finance Act 2004 and upgrade from the 1984 Finance Act, Management Information Systems that dovetailed with the Finance Act of 2004, the role of CEOs and the Training required for all these changes.
I might add that SDL and the SVT governments both tried to reduce the cost of Government operations from 83% to 70% in order to increase capital expenditure from 17% to 30% but the Labour Leader Mahendra Chaudhry would not allow the changes to labour wages. So we were in a RUT where personality had more sway than process and priorities.
The IIR will not be able to change the above culture.
It will take human development in motivation and empowerment that will take time.
So Sovea, you are wrong with you biased assumptions again as usual.

Mere,; ▶ Reply to This