Time for a change

On 6th December 2006, Frank Bainimarama, under the guise of a "clean-up" campaign, overthrew the SDL government while claiming it was being done to prevent the government from passing racist bills and other bills which would result in the release of George Speight and his accomplices.

What followed from there is well documented and there is no use traversing that area of the ground again. They say "the rest is history." 

One only needs to use Google to find all the information about what Bainimarama has done for the past 16 years against the people of Fiji. Obviously some good also came out of it but as Marc Antony said "the evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interrèd with their bones." 

In Bainimarama's case, he was quite right to state that the past 16 years is his legacy. People will certainly never forget what he did. From what he set out to do under the guise of a clean-up campaign to where he took the country over the course of a decade speaks volumes for a man who was once seen as the champion of the poor, to a person who abused the government systems for the benefit of him and his family. Through a process of flagrant abuses of powers, a new constitution was also established under his rule which was forced onto the people of Fiji.

All of this in the span of 16 years. All of this, simply because he refused to listen to anyone except his Attorney General who, like Gríma Wormtongue (the chief counsellor at the court of King Théoden of Rohan) brought the former commander of the RFMF to become a mere puppet in his hands.

16 years later, the people of Fiji had enough and formed sufficient coalitions between political parties to bring the Bainimarama government to its knees in the 2022 Fiji Elections as well as usher in a new Prime Minister who not only happened to be a former PM but also the father of all military takeovers in Fiji - Sitiveni Rabuka.

Naturally, Bainimarama is furious that he's not only lost the election, the perks of office and his ability to continue inflicting misery on the people of Fiji, it is primarily on the basis that he's lost to the very man he's hated all his life and blamed for Fiji's woes. The fact that Rabuka refused to stoop to the derogatory and personal attacks made by Bainimarama further incensed the flames of hate as people used everything to show the vast difference between the two men. In Rabuka's case, time has been kind to him and softened his views on the world. The Rabuka we know today versus the Rabuka we knew in 1987 are complete contrast whereas the Bainimarama the world knew in 2000, 2006 and today are also complete contrasts; in the case of Bainimarama, time has made him a harsher, suspicious and tunnel-visioned individual.

Both men have committed crimes against the state however only one of them acknowledges it today publicly and accepts the devastation it brought about. The other continues to deny it, claims it was for the the good of the people, stopping short of claiming himself the messiah of the Fiji people. However in the case of Rabuka, time has softened peoples views against him and while no one will ever forget what he did back in 1987, people have realized that the young military officer back then, who was swayed by others in the halls of politics for their own gain, was simply following his heart and his rather confused mind at the time. Anyone who has read the books and done their research will note who stayed in the shadows when the takeover occurred in 1987 and who benefitted from the sudden changes in Fiji's political systems.

Moving forward to Bainimarama in 2006, he claimed that he was made aware of bills which would throw Fiji into racial chaos and the SDL government was no longer capable of leading the country. What he neglected to mention was that his contract was being prematurely ended as commander of the RFMF by the then Minister for Home Affairs and while this was being finalized, the police commissioner was also preparing to bring about charges on the commander for criminal acts which included murder.

The writing on the wall is clear - one man committed treason because he had been brainwashed. The other did it to save his job to ensure he could continue living the life of luxury with a hefty pay packet. And, he had a willing accomplice who would later worm his way so deep within the mindset of Bainimarama that he became deaf and blind to anything said against this person. He would later lose his power of speech as well as the accomplice started determining what Bainimarama could say or even think. It is because of one person who has more influence over every single action in Bainimarma's world that the government lost the election.

The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they do turn. Having been accused of a bomb-making plot which saw an individual injured and killed later, Bainimarama's whisperer has done everything to ensure the matter never proceeded beyond the formalities of the judicial systems, despite the claims that the judiciary is an independent body. It therefore begs the question as to why there is a Chief Justice who, on record, is known to have determined the outcome of cases before they are even completed, particularly if they are cases against the Bainimarama government. 

Opponents of the government know all too well the outcome of their legal challenges and many have been sent to prison to ensure they are unable to make any further progress in their legal challenges.

We return to the December 2022 elections. The people have spoken and while there was no absolute majority to make up the government without any issues, this election required a coalition government to bring about an absolute majority and overthrow a 16 year old dictatorial government which was run only by two men who saw it fit to do anything and everything for their own benefit.

The writing on the wall should be clear for the Bainimarama team - the people have had enough and was change. That change will come about and I sincerely hope that an audit is undertaken of the past 16 years by the new government. Of particular interest to the people of Fiji, but not limited to are the following:

• What was Bainimarama earning and what perks were awarded to him and his family members
• How much was the second (and only) member of his government (AG) earning and what perks were awarded to him and his family members
• Why is the independence of the judiciary compromised so severely by a CJ who is on record for passing judgment before a trial concludes?
• Why is Bainimarama's ex-government so vocal in the protests that people in government not be replaced with selections from the current government when they did exactly the same thing in 2006 when they overthrew an elected government?
• How many contracts and their total values have been awarded privately, without tenders being called?
• Why are senior executive positions such as CEO's, CFO's and other C-Suite roles, including members of the judiciary being awarded to foreigners without even giving locals a chance to step into the role? Is that not the key word in Bainimarama's political party - FijiFirst, i.e. Fiji(ans) first?
• Why is there so much hesitation by Bainimarama to allow the disbanding of FICAC and returning its role to the rightful system, i.e. the Police Force.
• Who authorized the cessation of the investigation against Bainimarama's son who was involved in a drug bust in Fiji and subsequently fled to Australia, where he was later arrested on over 30 different criminal charges? 
• Who authorized case against the AG for his alleged involvement in a bomb-making plot be dropped?
• Why is Bainimarama threating the new government as they begin to make changes which are necessary to ensure the systems function in line with the strategies of the new government?
• Why is Bainimarama referring to his previous title of RFMF Commander in his recent public speech with threatening undertones?
• During COVID, the Australian Government allocated $40 million to Fiji. Where has this money gone? Why is there never any mention of this by the FFP?
• Why were people such as Rajendra Chaudhry, Victor Lal and other pro-democracy intimated legally, professionally and physically by the Bainimarama government to the point they had to leave the country to protect themselves? Why does the government continue to harass anyone who queries these illegal actions?
• Even in death, Brij Lal was unable to return to Fiji and this was never explained by the government who continued to engage in mud-slinging on Brij Lal - what possible aggression would his ashes have against the Bainimarama government? Or, was this all done to suit the self-narcissistic, tyrannical fascist and over inflated ego of Bainimarama's whisperer?
• Why were people employed by government or the private sectors and who questioned the government's operating methods, personally targeted by the AG?

These are not questions being pulled out of the blue - they are justified and necessary to give the people of Fiji an insight to the workings of the FFP government over the past 16 years. The people have spoken and they demand answers.