President Wide Awake, Still There, and Not “Gutless”

Bainimarama (L), Ratu Epeli. Photo: Coup4.5

CoupFourPointFive spread a rumour last week that Bainimarama was about to sack the President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau and that the President was going to denounce Bainimarama before taking refuge in the US Embassy, all within the next 24 hours.

They’d said something  similar in February but like the other prediction last week that the world was about to end, nothing happened. 

Assuming, generously, that they don’t  make these stories up, one has to ask why they publish them in advance of events that do not happen. 

If they really believed their own story, one would think they acted unwisely in alerting Bainimarama before Ratu Epeli acted — and not giving him time to get the the Embassy before Bainimarama had him arrested.

I visited their website to see how they could explain how they had again got it wrong.   I should have known.  The explanation was simple.  He would have acted against Bainimarama if he was not so  “gutless.”

They say one of  their “insiders” was having a beer with the President after he had not reacted to the “latest call for him to do something.” 

I quote from their blog:

"I am not gutless," the President was reported to have said. "People have been crying out on blogs sites and efforts are being made to draw me into a compromising position by declaring Frank's administration insolvent. Surprisingly, the international news agencies are carrying the same stories but the real solution to this lies in the hands of  the people of Fiji. “

"How,” he asked,  “can they expect a HEAD of State to exercise his powers and intercept a running administration when the people themselves are roaming freely on streets singing and dancing - carrying on with their daily lives? Fiji currently has no instability and no complaints have been raised by the people of Fiji against Frank's administration."(my emphasis)

CoupFourPointFive concedes: “Sources say the President feels the majority of people in Fiji are living a harmonious life in a secure and stable economy and nobody, even to the extent of a political party, has raised its voice against Bainimarama's administration.

They say he believes that "It doesn't matter what people say on blog sites or international media. The populace at home is at ease and the security forces in control of the national security - lobbying the Head of State through blogs is just like praying to win lotto without buying a ticket."

But they haven’t given up hope. They think the President could act if the people change their minds about the Bainimarama government. Their explanation leaves me a little puzzled: how could their informer have remembered in such detail what the President said?