Even Q.B has admitted that S.D.L could fall from it's pedestal of power, due to this proposed Bill of Reconciliation and Unity.
Fiji Development Bank's decision to give unsecured loans to a Government owned company, is another crafty scheme engineered by the one and only crooked Attorney General- Q.B.
Q.B really enforces the Banking Act's clause of client confidentiality. Someone should remind him, that his duty is to be report state affairs transparently and not act like the F.D.B's lawyer.
Maybe his over-reaction does confirm that his name is probably on the F.D.B's loan list, like it was on the National Bank of Fiji's published list of defaulting debtors.
More comments on Fiji Government overspending- F$271 million in 3 years.
Yet Finance Minister is adamant that 8% economic growth is not impossible for Fiji. He must have his sums wrong, again- like with the national budget overspending.
Here's several interesting Letters to the Editor, of Fiji Times's Thursday June 16th, 2005.
Eek, a mouse.
The Reconciliation, Tolerance and Unity Bill is like a tiny mouse introduced to a pack of elephants, causing uproar.
I wonder which elephant will accidentally crush the tiny mouse but if it escapes, I dread the one where the tiny mouse will seek shelter up its trunk.
Whether the tiny mouse is blind or not ... it doesn't matter.
Eliki Gaunavou
Nadi
Commander Vs Vosanibola.
I have been following the criticism against the commander of the military by Josefa Vosanibola and I fail to see the sense of it.
Commodore Bainimarama should be accorded his constitutional right like any citizen to question transparency within the Government.
Secondly he is exercising his right to freedom of speech. This should be viewed positively by all concerned as it is a sign of a healthy government.
Mr Vosanibola should not be so arrogant to insult the intelligence of the people of Fiji by assuming they cannot see the injustice in the judicial system.
It seems to me that Mr Vosanibola is playing politics under the cover of his official banner to gain the people's confidence.
Let's not kid ourselves and let every free-thinking person enjoy the right to express himself as he sees fit.
Only goodness will come out of open discussion so the people can be better informed and served by the people they appointed to serve them.
Let freedom reign and let God bless our beloved Fiji.
Sesenieli Vasserman
Brisbane
Australia
Stop protectionism.
IN Christendom, restorative justice is an integral attribute of God's character and at the same time it is the most profound illustration of the inability of God, the Creator to save His Son by altering or amending the demands of His perfect and holy law.
Although Adam and Eve were forgiven, the restorative process demanded that humankind must live and suffer the consequences for the wrong choice made in the Garden of Eden.
In the wilderness after Baptism Satan offered Christ the option or "shortcut" to worship him rather than suffer the agony and cruel death on the cross.
A gospel song says "God could have sent ten thousand angels but He (Christ) died alone" for natural justice to take its course in the process of restoring the fallen human race to God's ideal.
While the Tolerance, Reconciliation and Unity Bill may be admirable in some respects, it has very little relationship with the genuine biblical restorative justice concept.
In as far as larger and well established democracies are concerned, the Bill is nothing short of a recipe for national economic and cultural disaster, yet we continue to argue our guts out in daring audacity.
The Bill is hardly restorative in the truest sense of the word and it is undemocratic.
It is doubly hard in a society where the indigenous population is pulled between paying allegiance to traditional obligations but at the same time expecting to reap the benefits of modernity.
The Fijian anthropologist, the late Dr Rusiate Nayacakalou, in his book, referring to that state of frustration exclaimed, "What a monstrous nonsense!"
I'd like to think that the Bill is the natural outcome of a long history of Colonial Indigenous Protectionism policy and the hand out "dependence mentality" encouraged by successive governments.
We need to expose indigenous population to the reality show as the FMF Flying Fijians encountered last Friday, when they were slaughtered by All Blacks 91-0.
Although we live on an island, we cannot live in isolation from international demands any longer.
It is only a matter of time before the typhoon of globalisation causes havoc in our economy if our population is unprepared for it.
We need to prepare our people for the "reality show" of a globalised economy and not finding excuses to shield or protect our population from political and economic realities.
Peni Dakua
Suva
Telecom Rental charges
IT is with great dismay that one sees the expenses a country faces in this new age of Information Tech-nology where IT is relatively cheap. This notion does not seem to ring true for Fiji. Why?
Is it because of the monopolistic contract the Rabuka Government signed with Vodafone Fiji Ltd, or the poor and inadequate services provided by Telecom Fiji and Vodafone Fiji in its effort to provide Internet and mobile telephone services respectively. Some say that broadband or 3G bands are long overdue in Fiji — for a small country of 800,000 (give or take a couple of thousands) this certainly rings true.
There is a need in rural areas for IT technology so as to improve standards of living through educational material available on the net; or producers (farmers) contacting their markets through mobile technology. If such services were available, governments could rest assured that their rural staff members were just fingertips away.
What we really need is competition in the IT industry, more companies should be given licenses and laws amended to make way for such development.
This creates a market of competition which results in cheaper prices and wider variety of services to choose from.
When we talk about rural areas many tend to forget that a third of the population of Fiji are rural dwellers. Therefore, to deny them the opportunity to improve their standard of living through cheaper means would be denying the development of a country's human resources.
Questions arose as to the legality of the monopolistic contracts signed. NLTB majority share IT company wanted a piece of the pie promising 3G band.
This created hope in the rural areas. What has become of this hope? Are we the people less important than monetary profit?
Will the government-of-the-day, Telecom Fiji and Vodafone Fiji deny a third of the populace opportunities to improve by not providing a 3G broadband network that would see the children in the Lau Group, Colo of Viti Levu, Cakau-drove, Bua and Macuata broadening their horizons; or producers getting better prices for their produce?
If so, the Government is creating a domino effect as this issue affects taxpayers paying more for government's Telecom bills. Does this mean more taxes or a greater budget deficit?
Our kids need an opportunity to grow and grasp whatever knowledge that is freely out there and agricultural sectors to grow, improving our standard of living. This government went in championing ''indigenous development'.
Well, three quarters of the rural population is indigenous and where is this development? Was this another political ruse? Let me tell you that you just shot yourself in the foot.
Tevita Waqaliva
Sigatoka.
Vinaka Te-Waqa!
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