(WEDNESDAY 8th SEPTEMBER 2010 No:1412/FP) POLICE UPDATE ON MONEY THEFT . The Fiji Police have confirmed that the recent theft of money form a cargo container did not occur in Fiji. After preliminary investigations it can be confirm the theft was committed offshore. Fiji Police are working closely with overseas authorities and liaisons in this investigation. Further details cannot be revealed at this stage as it may hinder the investigation as it has now become multi-jurisdictional. Investigation is ongoing.
BAINIMARAMA TALKS ON EDUCATION, CHIEFS AND CHURCH. In the open session that followed the Naitasiri imatanigasau, the PM urged the chiefs to see that their people send their children to school, and warned parents would be "taken to task and even charged in a court" if they did not.
He also urged chiefs and church leaders to get their priorities right and focus on things that will develop and bring progress to the community. He said he did not want to speak ill of the church but church leaders and chiefs should get water and electricity in their villages and upgrade their schools before devoting resources to building churches or spending money on church activities.
CHARGE DROPPED AGAINST RO TEIMUMU.The charges of conspiracy to cause disorder in law and order against the paramount chief of Rewa province, the Marama Bale the Roko Tui Dreketi, Ro Teimumu Kepa, have been withdrawn with no reason given by the Director of Prosecutions Office.The charges relate to her statement last year that the Burebasaga confederacy and the province of Rewa would welcome Methodist church members to their annual conference to be held in Rewa. Government had earlier banned the conference. Ro Teimumu was originally charged with the offences noted above. The one remaining charge, now withdrawn, was one count of conspiracy to disobey an unlawful command. Charges against Methodist church ministers who gathered unlawfully to plan for the Methodist church conference remain.
RATU INOKE... Meanwhile, it is announced that Australian Queen's Counsellor Peter Maiden will arrive on Sunday to represent Naitasiri Paramount Chief, Ratu Inoke Takiveikata when his November 2000 mutiny re-trial proper begins on Monday.
DROUGHT EMERGENCY.The National Disaster Management Council is meeting today to discuss whether it should advise the PM to declare national state of emergency due to ongoing drought conditions. With no rain forecast, it is thought a solid month of heavy rain is needed to relieve the conditions that are seriously affecting homes and farms in the West and North. So far the drought has lasted four months and it expected to continue for another two to three months.
3 comments:
The heist of F$1m in newly-pressed $20 bills is now assessed to have taken place OUTSIDE of Fiji. So what does this tell us about the hysterical reaction of the Media (and many others) to an event which obviously occurred but the circumstances of which were yet to be determined. It tells us a great deal. Hence the constant circulation of rumours and character assassinations. Is there not one sceptic among us?
One absolutely agrees with the Prime Minister in the remarks he is reported as making to the gathering of Naitasiri people. Yes, parents should indeed MUST be charged if they fail to send their children to school. We also must look at legislation which makes parents responsible AT LAW for the criminal behaviour of their school-age children. That will very quickly instill responsibility if such a law were to be properly implemented. Children must be educated and restrained from criminal conduct. This is the 'bottom line' of nurture. If Church Ministers are unable to also endorse this, they too are to be held to account at Law. If they wish for New Testament endorsement: "Render to Caesar that which is Caesar's and to God what belongs to God".
For all their posturing in the Vanua, Ro Teimumu and the Qaranivalu are a bloody menace for the country as a whole. These paramount chiefs are a throwback to a not-so-distant past of competing confederacies, jealous rivalries, feudalism and religious and racial bigotry. They act as they feel, with no apparent sense of responsibility for helping to create a vibrant, successful, multiracial, modern nation. Each of them is in trouble for different reasons, Ro Teimumu for masking her political intrigues behind the veil of religious freedom, Ratu Inoke, for a reckless and ( if he's found guilty ) perhaps murderous attempt to seize power. Yet they share the same appalling flaw, thoroughly incapable of leading their people beyond the mindset that keeps the i'Taukei prisoners of their past. These two individuals exemplify everything that is wrong with the chiefly system in Fiji today - too many feebleminded and selfish hereditary figures putting their own ambitions and interests before those of their own people and the nation as a whole. It's especially tragic when we think of some of the great chiefly figures of the past, individuals of real accomplishment and mana who commanded the respect of everyone. What a pathetic bunch most of their successors have proved to be, some of the great family names and titles so traduced they're now regarded with general derision and ridicule. These people have squandered both their inheritance and the trust and confidence of the Vanua. Unless the chiefs as a whole wake up to themselves, surely it's only a matter of time before the whole house of cards comes tumbling down.
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