Page 8 - IB August 2021

Whispers Whispers

Rocky road to regional rebuilding getting new luxury vehicles on assuming to simply correct their details but not
How to reconcile Fiji’s new role as Pa- office. The new government believes it Nawaikula.
cific Islands Forum Chair and its position will save about US$950,000 by using the
on the University of the South Pacific? existing vehicles. In our language
There are no signs that the rift that has Waikato University academics have
seen the Forum’s Micronesian members Soldiers sent home launched a new online journal which
begin the process of withdrawing, is The Republic of Fiji Military Forces will publish academic papers in Pacific
healing. “I offer you my deepest apolo- (RFMF) has dismissed 18 personnel for Island languages. In Our Language:
gy,” Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainima- breaching quarantine protocols. This Journal of Pacific Research, will publish
rama told Palau, Nauru, Kiribati, Tuvalu follows reports that soldiers assigned translated papers on health, law, sci-
and Marshall Islands as he took over the to supervise quarantine facilities were ence and more for Pacific readers. It
Chair’s position this month. “We could holding grog parties and attempting to has a 23-member editorial board with
have handled it better,” he added. mix with some of the people in isola- members from Samoa, Tonga, Guam,
Fast-forward a couple of weeks, tion. However Minister for Defence and Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Niue
and speaking to parliament about the National Policing, Inia Seruiratu has and the USA. While ethics approval
USP saga, Fiji’s Attorney General Aiyaz asked the Health Ministry to correct the processes generally require academics
Sayed-Khaiyum took a swipe at Nauru. record regarding the initial breach that share their findings with any communi-
“On 23rd September 2020 (eleven led to the wide spread of the Delta vari- ties they work in, often these findings
months ago), the Fijian Government ant in Fiji. That breach was initially at- are presented in English, or in a very
raised concerns on the continuous lack tributed to a soldier, but Seruiratu said abbreviated form, and the communities
of adherence to the principles of good the incident needs further investigation. don’t know what is being written about
governance and put on notice that all them. The journal aims to redress this
grants will be stopped. The President of Deportation for Mishra? problem.
Nauru, who was then the Chancellor of India’s Central Bureau of Investiga-
USP proposed that he and some coun- tion (CBI) is moving to have businessman Pacific Games watch
try members will approach the Fijian Vinay Mishra extradited from Vanuatu. The Governor of the Central Bank
Government on this matter in order to It has submitted a report detailing the of Solomon Islands Luke Forau wants
resolve it. However, no action whatsoev- allegations and court orders against stricter management of the Solomon Is-
er was taken. We are still waiting. The Mishra, who is accused of coal and lands 2023 Pacific Games budget. Forau
Pacific way has not taken place, despite cattle smuggling. While the businessman is concerned the Games could cause
an announcement that Fiji’s decision remains in Vanuatu, where he managed huge pressure on the Government’s
to withhold grant funding has caused to obtain a passport, his parents—who budget. “With fiscal position continuing
severe cash flow problems at USP,” were directors in several of his compa- to deteriorate, and the economy con-
Sayed-Khaiyum told parliament. nies— have reportedly already left for tinuing to grow at a slower pace, this
For his part, Nauru’s President Lionel Grenada in the West Indies. could lead to more debt financing,” said
Aingimea says the extension of a new Forau. The Games have already faced
contract to USP Vice Chancellor Profes- Rabuka’s return imminent setbacks due to border closures related
sor Pal Ahluwalia, which will see him Former Fiji Opposition Leader and to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been
work from the university’s Samoa cam- Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka has moved from July to November 2023 as a
pus (after he was deported from Fiji), applied to register his new party, the result. China Civil Engineering Construc-
is “the beginnings of inculcating a new “People’s Alliance”. Registrar of Politi- tion Corporation is building seven of the
paradigm, a renewal, a renaissance for cal Parties, Mohammed Saneem said his Games-related projects.
our region.” office will now process the application.
Fiji’s position on USP seems out of Meanwhile Fiji Chief Justice, Kamal Breakfast protocols
step with the other nations who own the Kumar has ruled that vocal opposition It’s quite common to spot Pacific
University and sit on its Council. While it MP Niko Nawaikula is to be reinstated leaders and officials looking at their
has the power to withhold its significant as a Member of Parliament. Saneem phones during long Zoom sessions. But
grant—F$26.6 million or almost 71% of had struck Nawaikula off the voter’s was it really necessary for Australian
the total allocation to USP in 2019—it is roll when the MP revealed he had been Prime Minister Scott Morrison to eat his
doing so at the expense of the campaign registered under his commonly used breakfast during the opening ceremony
to rebuild regionalism, particularly name rather than that which appears of the virtual Forum leaders meeting on
amongst emerging and younger leaders. on his birth certificate. Justice Kumar Hiroshima Day?
said it was the duty of the Registrar to
Cars off the shopping list implement the law, not enact it, while Niueans have say on media
Samoa’s new cabinet has discontin- Nawaikula’s lawyers asked why Saneem A parliamentary committee looking
ued the ‘tradition’ of cabinet ministers had allowed thousands of other voters into the Broadcasting Corporation of

8 Islands Business, August 2021