I DON'T GET THIS. Two readers informed me FijiLive had pulled its story about the ILO visit five hours after it was published. The implication was the item had been censored. One reader speculated Government would not allow the ILO team in the country. This is how rumour and speculation gather momentum.
But then the same FijiLive published another item with the A-G confirming the ILO visit. So whatever this was all about, it couldn't be censorship. The A-G's says the ILO team is "coming to Fiji tomorrow to meet with Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama and various stakeholders to clarify issues relating to trade unions."
I think the ILO team will want more than clarification of what the A-G claimed to be "misinformation that has been spreading by individuals who have got self interest.” Several clauses in the recently passed employment decree are said to be in breach of ILO resolutions to which Fiji is a signatory.
HINDUS REQUIRE PERMIT UNDER PER. The police say a permit is required for any gatherings that include more than ten people. The clarification follows queries from Hindus around the country who will be celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna next week. The police could have their work cut out issuing thousands of permits, making it an opportune time to commit a few burglaries. But it's good to know, thanks to PER and the police, that a Hindu Coup may well have been nipped in the bud.
PENSION FUNDS. Several Pacific countries are having problems with pension funds that like Fiji were initiated in the 1950s.
NGO COALITION ON HUMAN RIGHTS. I don't know who they are and who they represent, and Shamima Ali did not tell us in this interview with ABC's Bruce Hill, but they are concerned about umpteen decrees they hold the A-G personally responsible for, ignoring the fact that the legal drafting of all government regulations and decrees is the responsibility of the A-G's office, as they are elsewhere in the Commonwealth. They are calling on the A-G to quit.
BOND-BREAKERS ORDERED OFF PLANES. Government has once again warned scholarship recipients to honour their bonding agreements. This after two former recipients of the iTaukei Affairs Scholarship were ordered off from flights bound for overseas after they failed to serve their bonds by working in Fiji.
