Aid: Kiwis Up, Wallabies Down (and Solomon Island Aid)

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If you’re going to ignore international norms, it’s always easier if someone else is ignoring them with you. Once, New Zealand helpfully provided Australia cover when it came to being a miserly aid donor. This is no longer the case. As Australia’s inflation-adjusted aid spend continues to slide, something odd has happened over the Tasman.

For a long time New Zealand’s aid budget moped around looking unimpressive. That’s all starting to change though   .... READ MORE

And some question marks about Australian aid to Solomon Islands

Measuring Aid Quality, and where does NZ Stand?

Hosking's view of aid See link above.  pn179 

SEE ALSO THESE LINKS
Ardern defends NZ Aid
Hosking gets it wrong, as usual
_________________

Ian Mitchell* and Caitlin McKee
* Deputy Director for CGD Europe and Senior Policy Fellow
November 15, 2018

Donors have lost their focus on aid effectiveness in the last decade, limiting aid’s impact. Here we report on new results of one of the few measures of aid “quality”—the Quality of Official Development Assistance (QuODA), which aims to bring aid effectiveness back into focus. Aid effectiveness still matters enormously to the world’s poor; donors should revisit effective aid principles and agree measures which take better account of today’s challenges and context.
Below we look at how we can currently measure aid effectiveness, how countries and multilateral donors rank, and where the agenda should go next. Across the measures, New Zealand, Denmark, and Australia rank highest. The results also highlight what many countries can and should improve on: eliminating tied aid and enhancing the use of recipient country systems and priorities. 
How can we measure aid effectiveness?

Pacific Roving Ambassador, Big Plans for Health, New NZ Aid Policy, A Tick for FijiToday, and its Polldaddy Poll

N0312. NEW PACIFIC ROVING AMBASSADOR. Another indication of Government's intention of developing closer ties with its Pacific neighbours is the appoint of Mrs. Litia Mawi as Roving Ambassador/ High Commissioner and Special Envoy to the Pacific Island Countries.

Until recently a career public servant, Mrs Mawi was Fiji’s First Secretary then Counsellor at the Fiji Embassy in Tokyo under the Qarase government. and a Permanent Secretary and the Deputy Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Trade under the Bainimarama government. She retired from the public service in late 2009 when she travelled extensively overseas for personal and professional reasons.  She has just returned from Tuvalu and a one-year consultancy for the UN as an International UN Volunteer Specialist in Aid Management and Coordination assigned to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Funafuti, Tuvalu. -- Based on No.776/MOI.

N0313. BIG PLANS FOR HEALTH. Fiji should have a facility within the next five years which will enable local surgeons to perform heart and kidney transplants. Permanent secretary for Health, Dr Salanieta Saketa, said  major reforms over the last two years such as the decentralisation of the General Outpatients Department at CWM and the current upgrading of their ambulance fleet have helped improve current services. The Ministry's plans for the future also include better services for non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, cancer treatments and kidney diseases. A dialysis unit is now available thanks to assistance from the private and public sector.-- Based on No.0781/MOI.

N0314.  NZ'S NEW AID POLICY. The New Zealand government has released its new International Development Policy that aims to support "sustainable economic development, particularly in the Pacific region." To receive a copy of "International Development Policy Statement: Supporting Sustainable Development" please email: aidcommunications@mfat.govt.nz.

N0315. CONGRATULATIONS TO FIJITODAY.  Thank goodness for another rational blog. Most political blogs on Fiji are so full of venom and hatred they cannot make  a useful contribution to Fiji's situation, or the way forward other than as advocates of violence and a return to the divisive racism and rampant corruption of Fiji from 2001 to 2006. Peter Firkins's FijiToday (I think the name is  a pseudonym) is very different.  It's anti-government, there's absolutely to doubt about that,  but many of its criticisms (usually contained in a long heading before a copied post item) are rational, thought-provoking and need to be made.  Recently it ran a poll asking readers to tick the statements with which they agreed on a wide range of government actions (see below).

Last Saturday it asked this question: "Leaving aside Political and Moral Issues, what actions of the current administration do you approve of?  I thought this comment and another reader's reply worth sharing with readers of my blog. I don't think Peter will mind.

"A Camel is a Horse Designed by a Committee"

2011 PUBLIC HOLIDAYS, SCHOOL TERMS, see left sidebar. 

New QUOTE FOR THE WEEK, see right sidebar.

NZ COMMITTEE'S NON-REPORT ON FIJI. The multi-party NZ Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee was charged in March 2006 to investigate and to report to Parliament on NZ's relations with Pacific Island nations. This it did in December 2010 following numerous consultations and a visit to four Polynesian islands. Few of its ten members had any prior knowledge of the Pacific but they were assisted with advice from MFAT. The report covers 96 pages.

The single page on Fiji and the country's  rare mention elsewhere shows that Fiji was peripheral to the Committee's main interests, but clearly it had to say something. Of the 116 written submissions I can identify only three from people with Fiji knowledge. Not surprisingly, the report provides no new insight into the Fiji situation, and makes no recommendations on NZ-Fiji relations.

In essence, it merely restates the already well-known position of the NZ government and appears to have been unaware of, or unwilling to visit,  alternative interpretations. I thought its tone a little patronising and its assessment of the situation on the ground in Fiji dated and lopsided.

NZ Aid's New Direction, Neo-Liberalism, and Poverty as a Structural Problem

Fr Kevin Barr's "rushed comments" on last weekend's article by Gerald McGhie on NZ Aid. Fr Barr is the Chairman of the Wages Councils.  You should read McGhie's article if you have not already done so.

The Vexed Question of Effective Aid by Gerald McGhie

Gerald McGhie is a former NZ diplomat who cut his Pacific teeth  with a three-year posting to Samoa in 1960. Later postings included Consul General in Hong Kong, High Commissioner in PNG, Ambassador in Moscow and Seoul. He was also Acting HighCom in Zimbabwe and Tonga, and led the NZ component of the ANZ peacekeeping mission to Solomon Islands.  

More recently he has been the National Director of the NZ Institute of International Affairs, Founding Director of the Pacific Cooperation Foundation, Hon.Vice-President of the NZ Institute of International Affairs, and until this year Chairman of the NZ Chapter of Transparency International.  He was awarded  the Queen's Service Order (QSO) in 2004.

Temm-pus Fugit, PSC Restructuring, I Stand Criticized, VAT & Inequalities, Pacific Eye Institutute

TEMM TOO BUSY. New Zealand Law Society President Jonathan Temm (photo), a strong critic of Fiji, was invited to attend the Attorney General’s Conference that starts on Friday so that he could speak with members of the judiciary and legal fraternity on law and order issues in Fiji, and —  "see for himself." Mr Temm, who had earlier accepted the invitation, has now informed Solicitor General Christopher Pryde that he will not be able to attend due to his busy work schedule. Instead, the Solicitor General who, presumably, is also busy will travel to Wellington to discuss the concerns of the New Zealand Law Society.

[I doubt it is worth the effort and expense. Temm's mind is made up. A major hardware store here has just released a new cement product called Mind-Cem. One of my sources tell me Temm was at the launch, looking decidedly unwell (his left hand was trembling),  but if I've only learnt one thing this week it is that blogs can't always trust their sources.]

PSC RESTRUCTURING AND JOBS. Public Service Commission PS Parmesh Chand  says the current review to determine appropriate staffing levels does not necessarily mean job losses because civil servants can be re-deployed to other departments, ministries and agencies that are under-staffed.

He said the review will ensure that all expenditure relating to salaries and wages is prudently managed through the government's payroll system and that agencies do not exceed their budgetary provisions for personnel emoluments.

"As part of the Strategic Framework for Change and the need to rationalise functions and eradicate duplication, from January 1 the functions of the Ministry of Multi-Ethnic Affairs will be farmed out to different and relevant ministries already performing similar responsibilities. In other words, the Ministry of Culture will now have the responsibility of all cultural aspects, PSC will have the responsibility of the scholarships and the Ministry of Provincial Development will be responsible for rural advisory councils. Such devolution and assimilation will also assist in the removal of ethnic-based development and administration."

I STAND CRITICIZED. A reader asks "if it's entirely necessary for [me] to raise the spectre of Christians bearing false witness by using the Bible to castigate the regime's opponents. Do you really have to embrace the chronic Fijian practice of using biblical tracts to make your case? I think that in a faintly grubby secular political argument like this one, it comes perilously close to breaching that other biblical injunction about taking the Lord's name in vain." Fair enough but I though it an unambiguous way to get the message to them.

Another reader says I attack the Methodists but not the Catholics. I do not attack either. My attacks are very specific. The targets are those Methodist Church leaders who were actively involved in promoting ethno-nationalism to the point of racism and involvement in the Speight Coup.

Yet another reader thinks I was overdoing it in my reports on Bainimarama's health. I made two comments, on Friday and Monday. Both were factual and both attacked the CoupFourPointFive and its sister blogs that had been publishing false rumours of his health for a nearly a week — and have still have not corrected their misinformation.   False rumour-mongering has become a major weapon aimed at destabilising the Fiji government.

Discerning readers will know that I have many reservations about Government.  They have been constantly spelt out on this blog. But I support their declared aims and the general direction of their policies. A failed coup would take Fiji back to 2006 with none of its basic problems resolved.

I do, however, have some agreement with an anonymous reader whose comment, of course, I cannnot publish in the normal way.  He or she writes, "The lies, half truths and the sheer nonsense that appears on blogs about Fiji politics are the result of censorship and media muzzling. Is it really necessary to have the double whammy Permanent Emergency Regulation and Media Decree? If there is nothing to hide, well let the media report. At least you have named publishers who can be held responsible for misinformation."

Finally, vinaka to another reader who thought I could have coined a new phrase with my "let sleeping blogs lie" and thought it an "apt description."

'ODIOUS INEQUALITIES.'Why not tax the rich more instead of increasing VAT? a reader asks. 'Why not reinstitute capital gains tax? Ditto or gift duty. And re-examine ‘progressive forms of taxation’ that do not put regressive tax burdens on the poor. IMF, World Bank, WTO and even the UN have presided over ‘global development’ that has led to unprecedented and odious inequality between and within countries – with the USA and the UK among the worst cases in the developed world.  Inequality in Fiji continues to be of “Latin American proportions.” We have no minimum wage. The Wages Council wage orders are continuously being undermined by the business lobby and, when the government does act firmly, companies like Fiji Water shut their factories.


OZKIWI NEIGHBOURLY  ASSISTANCE — STATE OF THE ART EYE INSTITUTE. The Pacific Eye Institute $NZ2.7 million building in Suva which the PM opened yesterday has been welcomed by the foreign ministers of Australia and New Zealand that provided much of the necessary funding. They said the facility would vastly improve the treatment and training of the ophthalmologists, doctors and nurses from around the Pacific who would now get eye care training in Fiji.

Australian FM Kevin Rudd said: “The new buildings house training rooms for eye-care nurses, doctors and technicians from across the region, along with operating theatres, a laser-treatment room, an optical laboratory, offices and a resource centre” and NZ FM Murray McCully said that up to 80,000 people in the Pacific were blind, and a further 250,000 visually impaired. Making a major improvement to a person's sight is often not  expensive or difficult if there are qualified health professionals on hand to diagnose and treat people via simple surgical procedures. Research suggests that through better access to eye health care and treatment 75% of blindness cases are preventable.”

In 2010 PEI outreach teams undertook over 5,000 consultations and a thousand surgeries,including nearly 900 cataract removals in Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, PNG, Samoa and Fiji. Funding for their work is a key component of Fred Hollows New Zealand's $A13.5m Pacific Regional Blindness Prevention Program (PRBPP), which is funded by the Australian and New Zealand Governments in partnership with the Fred Hollows Foundation.-- Based on 2037/MOI.

Chiefly Disputes, No More Racism, Poor Accounting, NZ's Phillip Taula

CHIEFLY Money. Who should receive money from land leases and other entitlements is the main cause of chiefly disputes in the country, says  an official of the PM's office. Kisoko Cagituevei told FBC News that differences over who should hold chiefly titles should not happen, but money was causing most of the disputes to drag on. Cagituevei says it must be clear that a chief’s responsibility is to his or her people and not to money. He says officials from the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs are visiting districts and villages that are having chiefly title disputes to help solve the issue.

"NO Racism in Fiji After 2014."  The RadioFiji heading is not quite what PM Bainimarama said. Racism cannot be removed by government decree or elections. Overseas studies have shown that residual racism, affecting 5-15% of the population, remains whatever governments do to remove it. A similar proportion probably believe the earth is flat.

 The article went on: PM said that "the new government that will come into power after the 2014 elections must continue on the current multiracial path being forged for Fiji and not return to racism." The reforms being put in place will ensure that the incoming government does not divert from their vision for a  better Fiji. He says people not allow politicians to take them back to the racist discourse of the past.

This is a very different perspective to that of ousted Fiji Sun publisher Russell Hunter who claims the 2014 election will produce "a puppet parliament in thrall to the military." I've no doubt the military will ensure the new government keeps to the new Constitution but I can't see how this would make it a puppet government.

UNPAID Water Rates. As a further example of the need to improve the civil service, an assessment of the 2006 Auditor General's report on Infrastructure Services shows laxity by the Department of Water and Sewerage in the recovery of $36 million, $15.4 of which was outstanding for over five years.

FNPF (Fiji National Provident Fund) has  written off  $327 million worth of its assets in order to reflect the true value of members accounts. This is an auditing adjustment. The amount in individual member's funds remains the same.

RADIO Fiji Reports that Police took ten executives of the Van and Carrier Operators Association in for questioning yesterday during their annual meeting. No reason was given.

GOOD For Business. Fiji Ranks 85 out of 179 countries on a scale measuring the ease of doing business in a country. Fiji is ahead of other South Pacific countries except Samoa, which is rated at 84. Vanuatu is rated at 108, Micronesia 142, PNG 126, Kiribati 166, Tonga 127 and Solomon Islands at 170. Of countries in the Asia-Pacific region, Fiji ranks 14 out of 41. China ranked 124, India 134, Brazil 113, Russia 143 and Sri Lanka 120.

STANDARD And Poor aka Very Poorly,  the same ratings agency that gave many American financial instutions clean bills of health before they collapsed, says the quality of data emanating from Fiji has been declining in recent years. Kyran Curry says the outlook for Fiji is stable as the vital tourism sector is recovering from last year's global downturn, but figures are not as reliable any more because of the gradual militarisation of the bureaucracy. Well, to what else would they attribute as the cause!

NEW ZEALAND Acting Head of Mission Phillip Taula launched the Save the Children Fiji’s five-year strategic plan on Tuesday. Referring to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Fiji is a signatory, he said "the rights of children transcend cultural and political traditions; regardless of gender, religion, economic status, nationality, or any other differences that exist. Save the Children's vision of a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation is entirely consistent with the Convention. Education is also the focus of New Zealand's key area of support for Save the Children Fiji.”

NEW ZEALAND Immigration in Suva will now require all immigration advisers and service providers providing advice about travel to New Zealand will have to be licensed by New Zealand Immigration.

(o) NZ Foreign Minister McCully "Step by Step": How NZ Can Really Help Democracy in Fiji

Murray McCully's recent  statements on Fiji suggest a much more realistic appraisal of the situation than was evident under the former Labour-led government, and an improvement on his own earlier statements. McCully's meeting with Fiji Foreign Minister Kubuabola last week will bolster diplomatic representation. It did not change NZ's basic position --  elections with which it is prepared to assist in whatever ways it can -- but it was a crucial first step. 

The second step is his reaction to kerfuffle about pensions and the Methodist Church, both quite misrepresented by the media (see earlier post on pensions). McCully dismissed them as moves to quell dissent but "not a reason for us not to try and improve diplomatic relations. We expect progress to take place in terms of the relationship step by step with allowances for some setbacks from time to time."

He could, however, underestimate Fiji's threat to withdraw from PACER (Pacific Closer Economic Relations Agreement) unless it is represented at Forum discussions on PACER Plus, the Australian-initiated add-on to PACER that has been received with suspicion in many quarters. I doubt Fiji will be satisfied with being "briefed on progress."

What was particularly pleasing to hear was that Fiji's exclusion from the PI Forum, and PACER Plus discussions, is not fixed in concrete. McCully "would regard this as just one of the pieces of the jigsaw that is on the table over the coming months." 

Step 3 would see NZ supporting Fiji's readmission to the PI Forum, or some accommodation not too short of admission, which in turn could lead to similar rapprochments with the Commonwealth, the EU and the UN, and a resumption of aid and other economic assistance. 

Step 4, though stated last, should be high on the diplomatic agenda, and needs to be implemented ASAP. It is composed of several elements, all concerned with good governance.

• The travel sanctions have to be relaxed to allow Fiji's most talented administrators to apply for government positions. 
• NZ (and Australia) should second suitable qualified lawyers to draft legislation, especially constitutional legislation, and to prosecute corruption cases. 
• Fiji also needs forensic accountants to unravel the corruption, and experienced senior judges.

Fiji is lacking in these specialised skills. Later, in 2011- 2012, assistance would also be welcome with elections and electoral reform. Assistance in these areas will do much to restore our relationship with Fiji.
We have the expertise to assist Fiji to establish a much fairer society than in has been in the past. It is a pity a military-led and non-elected government seeks these reforms. Earlier "democratically-elected" government had the opportunity but none put its hand up.

Postscript. New Zealand lawyer Robert Miller has been appointed Chief Legal Draftsperson in the Attorney-General’s Chambers. This is a Fiji Government appointment, unrelated to McCully's "steps," but it is the sort of assistance that is sorely needed.       Photo:guide2.com

NZ Aid: What is Given May Be Taken Away

One again, with the arrival of NZAid's newssheet No. 63, we are reminded  that Fiji has dropped off the map and is now somewhere south of the Pacific's "triple star." There's nothing to be done about it. NZAid is a government agency, and does what government says. But one item of news struck my eye. The Development Resource Centre is to get a new name: Global Focus Aotearoa, with a budget of $1.8m.  Development NGOs, university Pacific Studies and Development Studies departments, and development agencies generally must ever be alert to what, subtely, they may be asked to pay for governnment funding.  What is given may be taken away.

(o) Money Matters

NZAid is to provide F$330,000 to fund Habitat for Humanity Fiji, an NGO that assists low-income people, to repair and retrofit 105 houses damaged by January's floods. F$159,167 has has already been given to the Fiji Red Cross for a Disaster Risk Reduction project in flood-affected villages and settlements. The funding is part of a NZ$3m package to support flood recovery work. --NZAid.

Fiji's Infrastructure Money Situation
Loan. $40m (Exim Bank,Malaysia) to upgrade roads, especially in outer islands. Approved.
Loan. $70m (Exim Bank, China) for Housing Authority and Public Rental Board housing. Approved.
Loan. $240m - total soft loans being sought from China
Non-loan. $190m, Fiji's share of IMF global economic crisis assistance. Received.
Non-loan. $85m, EU, for development assistance (on hold)
Non-loan. $300m, EU, for restructuring sugar industry (on hold)
Undisclosed further amounts sought from International Monetary Fund and World Bank

The Governor of Fiji’s Reserve Bank Sada Reddy has hit out at critics of his move to devalue Fiji’s currency. The critics were mainly bloggers.-- Fiji Live.

Village Chief Steals from His Villagers
The former turaga ni Koro of Nacereyawa village outside Labasa has pleaded guilty of stealing $4,350 raised by villagers for their rural electrification scheme-- Fiji Village.

(Bo+) Update on Corruption: Eradication High on Bainimarama's List

One of the reasons Bainimarama gave for the December 2006 was the need to end what he claimed to be endemic corruption. His opponents and doubters have dismissed his "reason" and the extent of corruption.

But in its 2001 report, Transparency International claimed corruption included civil servants in various ministries, government agencies and public sector companies that were "imposing and demanding ‘extra levies’ for provision of services which they were expected to deliver in the normal course of their duties." Its 2005 report placed Fiji in 55th position with a score of only four points (ten being the least corrupt) on its Corruption Perception Index. Neither report was acted upon by Qarase in 2001 or 2005 despite Fiji being a signatory to the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). In 2006, before the coup, The Fiji Times also accused the Qarase government of corruption.

In one of my first postings on this blog I expressed the view that the NZ government could put an end to government and anti-government claims and counter-claims simply by making some of its forensic accountants available to Fiji. It is unfortunate they never did, because detecting corruption and providing sufficient evidence to convict requires high levels of skill and experience, and Fiji had no forensic accountants.

In April 2007 the Bainimarama government established the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) to investigate acts of corruption by public servants, irrespective of their rank, status or income. This was followed by The Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption Promulgation 2007 (Corruption Promulgation) and ‘The Prevention of Bribery Promulgation 2007’ (Bribery Promulgation).

Up to December 2008, the Commission has received 4291 complaints, of which 1521 were referred to other government departments for action. The Commission itself has charged 35 public servants, one is in prison, and two businessmen and their cases are in currently before the courts. It has also successfully resolved 492 cases through mediation.

A high profile case that could come before the courts in November involves ousted PM Laisenia Qarase for abuse of office when he was chairman of Fijian Holdings Ltd between 1992 and 1995. He is alleged to have transferred a large number of Class A shares, intended for the provinces, to his family-owned trust.(FijiLive) See also previous posting "Questionable Dealings in Fijian Holdings Ltd."

When Bainimarama talks about the need for infrastructural reforms before holding elections, making the civil service corruption-free is high on his list. -- Story based on Indian Newslink.

(o) NZ's "High" Moral Ground

No to Fiji, Yes to Burma

Gordon Campbell in the NZ independent online paper Scoop writes: "The New Zealand foreign policy stance – a tiger towards Fiji, a pussycat towards the far worse regime in Rangoon- is taking its cues from the US, and from ASEAN. Same as it ever has. Funny how a government that makes such a fetish about the need for consistency in economic policy, should be so happily inconsistent when it comes to its foreign policy.” [Photo credit: Murray Fagg, Fungus on dung.]


Opinion: COZYING UP TO THE REGIME IN BURMA Click here for Scoop or for Pacific Media Watch.

(o) Driti Calls, Media Council Report, NZ Aid

Acting Military Chief Again Calls for Shut Down of Fiji Times

Acting Military Commander Colonel Pita Driti has attacked Fiji's largest newspaper The Fiji Times again - and also Fiji Television. He claims both news organisatons are biased against the military. Without specifying the instances of alleged bias, the Land Force Commander Pita Driti, in a military statement issued yesterday, said both media outlets should be shut down. 29 March. Fijivillage.com/Pacific Media Watch. 

Review Says Media Council Must 'Work on' Government Relations

The Fiji Media Council Review report says the council needs to take the initiative to work on the relationship between the government and the media.It says the relationship between a government and a free media is never an easy one. Titled "Free and Responsible: Towards a More Effective Media Council", the report says the adversarial nature of the relationship is worsened in Fiji where political instability has been a feature of the environment over the past 25 years.It states: "There is, as a result, a heightened sense of hostility between the government and the media, particularly when the media are seen as vocal opponents of government proposals."However, the report says it is not the job of the Media Council to be a partisan of either side in this relationship.

The report further states that the Media Council has been perceived as not projecting itself sufficiently as a credible advocate for a free and a responsible media.It is the review’s belief that the government has no place in the regulation of the media and should encourage responsibility as far as possible, through its existing membership of the Fiji Media Council. 

Prepared by a three-member team led by [Australian Press Council executive secretary] Jack Herman, and comprising [civil society advocate Suliana Siwatibau and [media lawyer] Barrie Sweetman, the findings are based on submissions and oral interviews. 29 March 2009. Pacific Media Watch/Fiji Broadcasting Corporation Ltd. * See full text of the Report at www.pacmediawatch.aut.ac.nz

New Zealand Aid: Criticisms of Proposed New Focus

NZ Foreign Affairs Minister seems bent on changing NZ's Aid focus away from poverty reduction to economic development.  One of his ideas for development is to subsidise certain Air New Zealand flights to Tonga, Samoa and the Cook Islands.  His proposals have met with strong opposition from the NGO community and others.  See Megan Anderson's report.

Last Week in Fiji: Second Week of March

Postings

Monday 9th.  

"Who Owns the (PI) Forum?"  A background paper  the Forum by its former Director of Economic Governance, Dr Roman Grynberg, in which he discusses the debate on whether or not Australia and New Zealand should be members, and their near "ownership" today.

"Un-Pacific Neighbours". Extracts from Thakur Ranjit Singh's article in the Fiji Times in which he answers statements attacking Bainimarama by Samoan PM Tuilaepa.

"What, Exactly, Did the Ambassador Say?" in which I expressed doubts that US Ambassador McGann's speech to a Prophet Mohammed's Birthday meeting had been accurately reported.  The press reported that he'd urged Fijians to put pressure on the Interim Government.

Thursday 12th.  

"PM's Unwise Decision on PPDF Meeting" in which I gave reasons why the PM's decision not to invite the SDL party was unwise. [It later transpired the media had got this wrong. The SDL was invited.]

"Media Did Distort What Ambassador McGann Said." I read the speech.  Most of it was on American-Muslim relations and religion generally. Only passing refererence was made to Fiji. The Ambassador urged people to put pressure on all leaders, not just the Interim Government.

Friday 13th.  

"How to Stir the Pot by Pramod Rae" in which I traced day-to-day reporting on the leak to the media of UN/Commonwealth letters adressed to the PM. Pramod Rae took over two days to admit he had leaked the letters, during which time "everyone" condemned the police for searching the Fiji Times offices. I thought Rae this a political stunt by Rae.

"Fiji Leaders Agree on PPDF Agenda" reported the agreement and, citing the media, the appointment of former PNG PM Sir Rabbie Namalui as chairman. 

Saturday 14th. 

"At Last Some Good News." The leaders comments about their meeting, and a correction that the meeting had not appointed Sir Rabbie as chairman.

Sunday 15th.  

"You Can't Please Everybody: Reactions to the Pre-PPDF Meeting" focussed on Fiji Daily Post negative reporting and Prof Brij Lal's concern that the question of the military had been deliberately left off the agenda.  I  thought the military would have been included under anther heading. [It is under the People's Charter"]

"Statement on Pramod Rae Leak by Jone Dakuvula." The PPDF Coordinator said publishing the confidential letters could  lead to the UN and Commonwealth opting out of their PPDF role. 

Compulsory Retirement Age

The Court upheld the Public Service Association's determination to change the compulsory retirement age for civil servants back to 55. It had briefly been lifted to 60. The action will not win friends among older civil servants and their trade unions but it will open doors for promotion and recruitment.  Several thousand school leavers and hundreds of graduates are unemployment.  Exemptions to this ruling will include professionals whose skills and experience are in high demand.

Related New Zealand News

NZ Axes Pacific Programmes 

Labour Party spokesman Phil Twyford has criticized Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully's decision to axe $1.95m from the Fiji-based NGO, Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific, that operates in seven Pacific Island nations. 

Twyford claimed "This is an example of McCully meddling in the aid programme ... It shows the minister's hostility to the kind of high quality grassroots development work that NZAid is doing around the Pacific and ... demonstrates his willingness to medal and intervene."  McCully countered by saying most of money funded  FPSP salaries and overheads that did not meet his criteria of funding projects which made a "tangible" difference to people's lives. NZAid to the Foundation's youth and mental health  ($1.6m) and disaster risk reduction ($1.5m) programmes will continue.

McCully awaits the results of two reviews into the future of NZAid, one on its structure and possible re-integraton into MFAT; the other on its policy on poverty elimination. NZAid has an annual budget of $480m.

It also looks likely that the Pacific Divison of NZ's Immigration Department will be scraped following a report showing leadership, financial and strategic problems. The report found service and compliance problems to be most pronounced in the Auckland office, and the Apia, Suva, and Nuku'alofa branch offices. The Division had worked well in filling access quotas but there were major backlogs and questions about the quality of decisions. It was common for applicants to queue all day for a form in Apia. In Suva, one applicant referred to the line of up to 100 people as the "queue of shame". Queues formed at 4am in Tonga. Despite these shortcomings, the report said the division should remain a separate body. [Condensed from Martin Kay, Dominion Post.]

Concern Over NZ Government's Move to Change Focus of NZ Aid

Click here for full report.

The United Nations Development Fund for Women has expressed concern over signals fromNZ Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully that NZ aid's focus will change  from poverty elimination to economic development. The UNDFW is joined by the Council for International Development representing 91 aid-related NGOs in opposing this sharp shift in focus. Click here to access the new NGO website on this matter. 

(o) NZAid Gives More for Flood Relief

NZAid is adding $3 million to the $600,000 already given for Fiji flood disaster relief and rehabilitation. The money will be directed to "reconstruction, providing social services, and helping to mitigate the impact of future disaster events in Fiji. Support will be channelled through local, regional and multilateral organisations working on the ground in Fiji ... [there will also be]...scope for partnering with other donor governments providing assistance." For more information, contact Richard.Dirks@nzaid.govt.nz

Fiji Last Week III: Second Week of February 2009

[Flashback: New Zealand and Fiji lost out in the Wellington Rugby Sevens last weekend. John Key and Voqere Bainimarama declined to comment. But these are not the times for political humour.The kerfuffle over the Elections Office's possibly humourous but unwise video skit on democracy in Fiji, major headlines last weekend, with Elections Supervisor Felicity Heffernan's job reportedly at stake, appears, thankfully, to have blown over.]

* Check Out Three Major Posts during the Week
Bainimarama's about-face on wages and bus fares
Qarase's abuse of office charges
Facts and opinions on the 1997 Constitution

A Letter from a Friend. "The UN/Comsec team of four officials are here this week to talk to the regime and other worthies about the President's forum and the process of political engagement. This is probably the best opportunity we have for a dialogue. The regime 's attitude will be critical because the political parties are waiting on it to take matters forward. The Commander has said he wishes to consult the political parties and the chiefs further on the draft agenda put forward by the two independent interlocutors (Messrs Nair and Halapua). It seems to me that this will take yet more time. The lack of urgency on the part of the regime is a matter for concern, because it raises questions of their motives and their commitment.

"Our economic situation cannot have been improved by the floods. I think that losses probably are in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Add to that the global financial crisis and our own circumstances, and you have a sense of our plight. But if it causes us to grow more in our backyards then it might have had some benefit. I do not mean to sound negative but cannot quite bring myself either to agree with Aiyaz Saiyed Khaiyum there is no crisis (told to the media in Port Moresby). It all depends on which side one takes."

The visiting UN/Commonwealth joint technical team, that will facilitate the President's Political Dialogue Forum, met all interested parties during the week, and left on Saturday. The Attorney-General expects the Forum will be held in the first or second week of March, and Interim PM Voqere Bainimarama hopes more sections of civil society, including churches, will join those already involved.

(-)Two worrying events occurred the week that bring no credit on the Interim Government: the reversal of the minimum wage rates and bus fares decisions (see separate posting) and the dismissal of municipal mayors (see below).

(-) Citizens' Constitutional Forum chairperson Rev. Akuila Yabaki says municipal reform did not require the dismissal of municipal mayors. Calling the decision "undemocratic", he asked Government for a firm timetable to return to democratically elected councils.

(-) The Military Involvement: One View.... Former military second-in-command Lt Col. Jone Baledrokadroka, dismissed before the 2006 coup for "subordination" or opposition to the pending coup, depending on your viewpoint, said in a FijiLive interview on Thursday that the "military (could) be part of our political landscape for some time."

The "military exit strategy is based on the implementation of the Charter”, he said, but "what happens when the Charter is not implemented or not implemented fully according to their wishes? Government militarization at all levels, from ministerial down to the permanent secretaries and even in all departments, adds to this fear. Perversely, a statement from Bainimarama adds weight to this claim.' He told visiting Vice President PRC Xi Jinping that the military will only stay in power until all its objectives are achieved.

.... And (+) Another. “The military", said Bainimarama, "essentially assumed control of the Government with clear objectives to eliminate corruption, racial discrimination policies and practices, and to bring about necessary reforms in the area of public service, governance as well as the electoral system in an effort to build a better and more progressive Fiji ... (it) did not intervene for the purpose of remaining in control and power beyond a reasonable time than what would be required to achieve the above objectives.” FijiLive 12 February 2009.

(B) Methodist Church to Decide on Annual Fundraising. The church's annual choir competitions, fundraising and two-week round of meetings has been a major event for the past 40 years. This year's meeting will be hosted by Roko Tui Dreketi Ro Teimumu Kepa in Rewa in August but whether it will include fundraising (at least on the scale of former years) will be decided by divisional heads in March. Fundraising, in which from village to province, participants seek to outbid each other, has, on the one hand, been criticized as imposing an excessive burden on poorer Fijians, and, on the other hand, as evidence of the unity of lotu (church), vanua (land) and matanitu (state) in Fijian thinking.

[I was once called all sorts of names -- a fly-by-night expert, ignorant, insensitive, offensive, communist, atheist -- by church minister and senator Tomasi Kanailagi (Fiji Daily Post 27 July 2002) for supporting MP Mike Beddoes who'd said church fundraising greatly added to the burdens of the poor.]

(B) Traditional Fishing Grounds. Fiji Police are monitoring Navala and Nanoko villages in the interior of Ba following a dispute over traditional fishing grounds. A Police spokesman said a bure had been torched and a man hospitalised following a fight involving knives, spears and stones. Land, inland waters and sea ownership boundaries are disputed in many parts of Fiji. One of the reasons Bainimarama gave for the 2006 Coup was to stop the SDL Government's Qoliqoli Bill (on Fijian mataqali [clan] foreshore and coastal rights), saying it would turn Fijian against Fijian in many parts of the country News item: Fijilive 12 February 2009.

(G) Raising the Flag. Interim Education Minister Filipe Bole has instructed schools to conduct a weekly flag-raising ceremony and sing the national anthem to instill patriotism. This is one of the recommendations of the People's Charter.

Media Council Review. A media review team comprising Australian Press Council executive secretary Jack Herman, senior lawyer Barrie Sweetman and community activist Suliana Siwatibau will address problems of funding the council (presently largely funded by the media owners), complaints procedures, the media code of ethics, and improving media standards. While funding is the most immediate problem, Council chairman Daryl Tarte also hopes the review will help improve the sorely-tested relationship between the interim government and the media industry.Condensed from http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=114147 Comment on this item http://www.pacificmediacentre.blogspot.com/

NZAID offers $2 million. Sugar Cane Growers Council (SCGC) CEO Surendra Sharma confirmed to Fijilive (13 February 2009) that NZAID is preparing a $2 million relief package to assist the sugar industry. Australia has declined help (it is also a sugar producer) and the EU has not yet responded.The SCGC hopes the interim Government will also help more. “Sugar needs a lot of assistance and the sooner the key decision makers acknowledge this fact, the better,” Sharma said. The sugar industry needs $60 million to salvage a potentially bankrupt industry. [Good on you, NZAID]

NZ Waitangi Day and Fiji. The Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 established relations between the British Crown and Maori, something similar to Fiji's Deed of Cession. The Treaty, celebrated on Febuary 6, is the topic for Thakur Ranjit Singh's weekly column in the Fiji Times. For the full column, see http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=114159

This is his conclusion:
"The message coming out of Waitangi Day celebrations is that visionary selfless leaders with an abundance of goodwill and humility can overcome insurmountable racial and ethnic problems besetting a country, and all gets achieved by the Pacific way of talking and dialogue that we call talanoa.It is time for a change in political leadership in Fiji.

'I note Biman Prasad in his opinion article just days ago called for Chaudhry and Qarase to change their visions and agenda and join in dialogues of the President's forum. I disagree. You do not teach old dogs new tricks. They do not need to change; we need to change them, out with the old, in with the new. We can overcome our problems by rejecting divisive leaders and their narrow visions. Throw those out who have failed Fiji and get leaders of the new generation to make a difference."

(B+-) Issues Raised in Old Debate on People's Charter Still Valid. In April last year a public debate was held on the pros and cons of the People's Charter. Things have moved on but the issues they raised still need to be addressed if Fiji is to "move forward". Text and video may be accessed on http://www.fijitimes.com/peoples-charter-debate.aspx Affirmative speakers were Joseva Serulangilagi, then Chair of the Tailevu Provincial Council; Lorine Tevi, President of the NGO FCOSS, and Pundit Kamlesh Arya, Nat. Pres. of Arya Pratinidhi Sabha. Negative speakers were Dr Waden Narsey, Prof. of Economics at USP; Richard Naidu, a prominent Suva lawyer, and Tupou Draunidalo, a former V-Pres. of the Fiji Law Society.

(o) No wonder Fiji looks to China
Dominion Post Letter to the Editor 19.1.09

The grant of $100,000 to Fiji for the floods that have devastated the lives of thousands, with hundreds fleeing their homes, is another example of the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry’s childish and pathetic response to anything Fijian.It is not even enough to buy a bottle of water for those affected by the floods.How much did New Zealand give to Indonesia?We gave more in special aid to Tonga to buy its support for dismissing Fiji from the Pacific Island Forum. No doubt, Niue will be offered a substantial amount to support New Zealand when Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully visits it.I thought that, with the change of government, our dealings with our Pacific neighbours would rise above being childish, but I was wrong. Nothing has changed at the ministry. Our minister obviously has the strength of a wet bus ticket so there is little prospect of change.Is it any wonder Pacific nations are turning to China for assistance and advice?
Stuart Keene (Tauranga)
[Ed.Corrections: Tonga did not, and could not, dismiss Fiji from the PI Forum. NZ Govt flood assistance remains surprisingly low but now exceeds $100,000.]

(-) DominionPost Editorial: Floods offer way back for Fiji
The Dominion Post Friday, 16 January 2009

[A typical example of the media's bias and lack of knowledge. The floods were the worst in human memory. Many towns and cities are without drinking water. Thousands of people are homeless. Sugar and food crops have been ruined, and roads and bridges damaged. Damage in Nadi alone is estimated at $100 million. And all the editor can see is an opportunity to force Fiji's Interim Government to toe the NZ line. Do what we say and we'll give you more aid.]

Every once in a while, catastrophe has its uses. To borrow a cliche, every cloud has a silver lining, even a cloud that has delivered rain of biblical proportions across the Fiji islands since last Friday, The Dominion Post writes.

Flash floods have forced Fiji's people out of their homes, caused officials to urge them to head for higher ground and ruined tourists' holidays. At least 11 people are believed to have died because of the weather and at least 9000 have been displaced.

The miserable weather might just, however, provide New Zealand and Australia with an unexpected opportunity to reconnect with a renegade Fiji regime led by a military figure who seems incapable of grasping why both neighbouring governments find his illegitimate.

This week, the National-led Government announced it would donate $100,000 to the Fiji Red Cross to assist locals to cope with the emergency and its aftermath. Pointedly, the sum went to an aid agency, not to interim Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who has appealed worldwide for cash for a disaster relief fund that he controls.

Nevertheless, the message sent was that, though tensions bedevil the relationship, old friends can still be relied upon in an hour of need. Sentiment has its value.

The donation is a gesture that, if Commodore Bainimarama is smart, his administration will capitalise on because it says, in essence, that though New Zealand disapproves of his pretence of a government, its door is not closed to Suva. The next move is his.

New Zealanders might sometimes wonder why this Government and its predecessors have bothered themselves so much with the antics of the succession of bullies that have subjected the Fiji islands to four coups in 21 years. The answer is simple they comprise the largest nation in the Pacific and, like it or not, what happens in our backyard affects New Zealand. Take the migration here of hundreds of Indian families who fled Fiji after the first Rabuka coup of 1987.

The commodore's approach since he seized power in December 2006 does not make maintaining a relationship easy, however. Before Christmas, he crossed unnecessary verbal swords with new Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully over this country's refusal to extend the student visa of George Nacewa, whose father works for the Fijian president, and thus fell foul of New Zealand's travel ban.

In retaliation, Fiji expelled our acting high commissioner, Caroline McDonald, saying she had indulged in "undiplomatic behaviour". Such a claim, the returning diplomat said, was "arbitrary and unwarranted".

Young George and his father no doubt feel aggrieved. But their wrath should be directed at the proper target their interim prime minister, who might have had good intentions when he ousted what he saw as a corrupt government, but whose blatant lie about when new elections would be held and oppressive style lost him much of any empathy felt around the Pacific, within the Commonwealth, and by the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.

Nonetheless, natural disaster sometimes brings together the unlikeliest of people. If the awful Fiji floods encourage that, some good will come out of bad.