Not being a confidant of Aca Rayawa, the newly appointed Director of Public Prosecutions (an alleged "supporter of the regime") or of the Attorney General, I have no way of knowing why these people were dismissed, but it is possible they were dismissed because they were not performing on the job.
Government has had to appointment a number of people who would otherwise not be appointed because many better qualified people have not applied for Government positions due to the Australia and New New Zealand travel bans. And the judiciary is not on its own: similar action has been taken in other areas purportedly to improve the civil service and statutory authorities.
How one interprets these events stems more from one's political presumptions than any special knowledge of the situation. No government is obliged to reveal why employees are dismissed. That is between them and the employee, unless contested in law. But if those dismissed do not object, it would "clear the air" if Government provided its reasons. I hope it does.
Meanwhile, Luveiviti, an anti-Government blogger, has called on those dismissed (with nothing more to gain from associating with government) to help bring down the Government. The message here speaks poorly of some anti- blogger motives. Luveiviti seems to be saying: Forget principle. Forget Fiji. Just focus on what you can personally stand to gain or lose. Come and join us other losers.
Photo: FBCL.
12 comments:
if you knew the prosecutors that got sacked, i can most certainly tell you that they were not sacked for non-performance!
Anon (please use a pseudonym), Would you please elaborate. What do you think the reasons were? I made no claim to know.
Don't know the prosecutors personally but one of them Nand was the alleged victim in a robbery case in a Lautoka nightclub. When he gave evidence against his attackers, the court did not believe Nand and acquitted the defendents!! This happened pre-2006 so we can't blame the Bainimarama judiciary for THAT decision! As for the magistrates, one of them, Hudson, famously abuses the defendents in her court, and thinks that domestic violence is just a normal marital problem! In fact the Womens Crisis Centre has officially complained about Hudson and Rokoika for gender bias. Might be a different story now they have been sacked!
I believe the DPPs Office to be a problem for a long time. Josaia Naigulevu politicized it when he openly backed the Qarase administration in the Chandrika Prasad case and he ran the office using his Pentocostal religious beliefs with a prayer group of his favourites meeting daily in the office. The same group got all the promotions. These cliques were led by the very people who have been removed. What is not known is that when Rabuku came into the office he found more than 200 files concealed in Naigulevu's office, all criminal files involving famous people in the Qarase government! Rabuku tried to clear them but he too fell in with the same cliques and no one was charged. Thats the real reason. The cliques had to be broken for the office to regain some respect.
Michael Field does not have any idea of what is really happening here in Fiji.
How can they have been the same cliques when the two DPP's were appointed by separate powers. One legal and the other illegal. The prosecutors that were fired, starting from Rabuku down, were fired for different reasons. I don't purport to know all the reasons, but what I do know is that two got axed just because of the families that they came from...one chose to leave, because the new actg DPP has an old USP score to settle, and the boss got done in for running things too independently from the mainstream agenda that the government of the day wishes to uphold. Ironically, I can tell you that when all of them were terminated, no reasons were given in their terminations letters as reasons for termination...what does that tell you?
The problems in DPP's office commenced when the Qarase regime refused to renew the work permit of the then Deputy DPP, Peter Ridgeway, (in June, 2005) who was very close on the scent of the coup culprits who were friends of the Qarase regime. The only way to save them was to send the independent kaivalangi packing and replacing him with "the boys". That was the beginning of the end of Qarase as Bainimarama was closely observing all these. The biggest casualty in this instance was Fiji media, mainly the Fiji Times which was so meek in this poor governance and corrupt practice of Qarase regime. If Fiji media had played its role and did not merely become lapdogs of Qarase regime, Fiji's history may have been different, and there may have been no need for the December 2006 takeover.
@ Liu Muri
That's more like it! Now why would any self-respecting Fijian not wish for an independent, courageous, intelligent and acutely efficient DPP? Because that is what we have never had for ten years or more. There can be no due process without a sagacious and focused Director of Public Prosecutions (and honest, one might add?). Further, there is most assuredly NO JUSTICE for the people of Fiji (whomsoever they may be, whatever their provenance) without one.
Roll on the appointment of this courageous, dedicated prosecutor to Head the DPP's Office. He/she must be above suspicion and 'on the scent' 24/7. Nothing less is expected and we watch and wait in utter earnest: it is SO important after all to be earnest?
@Yoicks &Ballyhoo
So now you're going to get a truly independent and courageous DPP? lol thats a good one.....
@ PieintheSky
That is the job description. Such a person must be found. They surely do exist? Your profound cynicism is quite unhelpful just like the neighbours to the South. So where exactly do you suggest the search begins?
@Yoick &
In finding a DPP - and for that matter any other judicial officer - who meet the selection criteria of this particular regime, I would have thought that independence and courage would be the last characteristics being sought.
Though I hear there are a number of anti corruption lawyers, having exercised their considerable talents prosecuting enemies of the regime for operating alleged illegal bistroes, who would make an excellent DPP.
@PieintheSky
Such glib, throw-away cheek does neither you nor the task at hand any favours at all. There are a number of persons charged with serious abuse of office and misuse of public money offences. These people and anyone like them must be prosecuted in a manner likely to bring about a salutary outcome: salutary that is for the State and for all Fiji taxpayers (whose taxes have undoubtedly been grossly abused and misused over many years). There is nothing in this to merit such a cavalier response. The seriousness of the situation should concentrate the mind forcefully. This is not a game. So a DPP is required who exhibits such talent and let us very much hope that justice will at last be done: the scales of justice require some balancing, do they not? At any rate, it is high time exemplary convictions were arrived at and exemplary sentences meted out. The less time spent on needless, useless sophistry the better. Cleanse the Augean Stables - once and for all. That is what is now required. Find the best means to do it and put all potential miscreants on notice: Fiji will no longer tolerate the pilfering and pocketing of public money intended for development. Those who attempt it will be gutted in the courts: due process of course!
As for Luveiviti and those who support such nonsense, his/her distinct lack of patriotism and love of country speaks forcefully and fully: of a selfish, valueless, nihilistic and 'beyond the pale' mentality. What kind of governance does Luveiviti propose? When he/she has achieved this iconoclastic 'bringing down'? What purpose will it serve? What benefit will be derived that will serve the 'Greater Good'? Hasn't thought it through? Of course not. Too difficult to flesh it out and 'boring, boring'? The stance of the eternal loser. What Constitution of Liberty is to be wasted on such clueless ranting? A March of Folly without end. Ably assisted by Australia and New Zealand's demonstrably unhelpful, short-sighted policy designed to give creature comforts to erstwhile supporters and beneficiaries of corruption and terrorism? What will US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton think about that, one wonders? She is no fool, thank God. Perhaps she is en route destined to "bail them out"?
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