GETTING OUT OF THE HOLE!

"AS each day passes, we wonder if it is at all possible to maintain some semblance of good and rational judgment on how the nation is governed.

As each week passes, we wonder if it will be at all possible to return this nation to parliamentary democracy.

As another month passes, we wonder if indeed this military-style clean-up campaign will ever end.

We watch as friends and relatives of those in power take up important positions in the civil service and public institutions.

The latest is that of the son of an interim Cabinet minister appearing from nowhere and given the chairmanship of an organisation which the State holds majority shares in.

We see how FICAC officers try to force confidential information on particular persons from statute-guided institutions such as the Fiji Development Bank, Fijian Holdings and Fiji Inland Revenue and Customs Authority.

The morale of workers in these institutions and that of civil servants is dented. In the face of the initial statement by military commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama that no one in the military was going to benefit from the coup, we see senior military officers being posted to high-level posts in the civil service.

It seems that rules are changed as situations and circumstances change.
The appointments to such high positions are becoming almost predictable now with the sympathisers of the events of 5/12 getting the nod ahead of others.

No, that's not nepotism or corruption, we are told. They are all best-man-for-the-job appointments.

The message coming out of the fourth floor of Government Buildings points to an election to be held only when the President's mandate has been successfully fulfilled.

Forget about honouring the roadmaps and agreements with the European Union or the Pacific Island nations' forum.

It looks like we do not really need the EU's multi-million dollar financial package any longer because there is always the soft loan from China we can fall back on.

Our children watch helplessly as their parents and family members are laid off work or have their pay cut because of the deteriorating economic situation.

We watch as some of the freedoms guaranteed in the supreme law of the land, such as freedom of movement and speech, are curtailed without any proper explanation or legal reasoning.

We wonder if and when we will ever get out of this deepening hole we are digging for ourselves.
And sadly, there are very few positive things we can be pleased and talk about these days. "
fijitimes online editorial 18th July.

In his reply in todays Letters to the Editor,the Permanent Secretary for the Illegal Interim PM's offficeParmesh Chand replies to the Editorial:

Your editorial (FT 18/7) is pessimistic and an unnecessarily alarmist overview of Fiji's situation.
The tone and content are deliberately pitched to paint a bleak and negative assessment of our situation and which can only lead to mislead and misinform the people.

The situation is not all gloom and doom as you appear to surmise.

Indeed, the interim government has a clear mandate from the President to take the country forward socially, economically and governance wise. Over the past six months, the interim

Government has been committed and focused on achieving elements of this mandate, including stabilising the national economy, fighting widespread corruption, developing programs to uplift the living standards of the poor and disadvantaged, upholding the Constitution and preparing for a return to parliamentary governance through democratic elections.

Other objectives are to restructure the Native Land Trust Board to ensure more benefits to the landowners, improve foreign relations and give paramountcy to national security and the territorial integrity of Fiji.

And the report card for the past six months has been enlightening in terms of the work and tasks achieved by the interim Government in fulfiling the President's mandate.

These achievements include:

Revising the 2007 Budget and thereby securing financial and economic stability;

removing 2.5 per cent VAT;

promulgation of anti-corruption legislation;

inclusiveness: discrimination being removed at all levels;

reviving the sugar industry to ensure its long term viability;

reorganisation of State owned entities and civil service reforms; and

the promulgation of 30 decrees.

The interim Government is committed to a roadmap for returning Fiji to parliamentary democracy. This roadmap requires that a national census is convened in September this year and consequential actions to follow include the determination of new electoral boundaries, establishing voter registration systems, conducting national voter education and awareness programs and the agreement in principle for the convening of a general election by March 2009 at the earliest.

From this brief elaboration, you will no doubt agree that the interim Government has achieved a number of positive and beneficial milestones in a short period of time.

It will remain committed and focused to fully implementing the mandate of the President, thus ensuring the orderly return to elected parliamentary governance and providing a sustainable basis for our future development as a nation.

Your editorial alludes to the appointment of Manasa Baravilala, the son of an interim Government minister, as you put it as chairman of Air Terminal Services Limited.

In fact, Mr Baravilala well merits his appointment having had extensive experience in the airline and travel industry.

He possesses graduate and post-graduate qualifications in Business Management and Business Administration from the University of California, in Los Angeles, and a post-graduate diploma in senior airline management from the International Aviation Management Institute in Montreal, Canada.

Mr Baravilala's previous work experience includes stints as deputy CEO and director of marketing with Air Fiji Limited, regional director for the Americas with the Fiji Visitors Bureau and manager, passenger sales USA with Air Pacific Limited.

Mr Baravilala is therefore well positioned to take on the appointment of ATS chairman and should not be penalised by virtue of his parentage as your editorial suggests.

In summary, your editorial unfairly penalises the interim Government with a selection of subjective and mostly negative reports without a recourse to balance and accuracy.

As we can all see from this weak argument, Parmesh Chand thinly veiled attempts to validate the actions of this ILLEGAL INTERIM REGIME will always be seen as an APPLE POLISHING excercise.

All the lovely excuses in the world will not sway us from our stance.
NEPOTISM, CORRUPTION & LIES of the highest order is rampant in the ILLEGAL INTERIM REGIME!

There are other CAPABLE & MORE QUALIFIED people who could have been chosen to take the CEO of ATS! Why Manasa Baravilala? The lame excuses does not cut with the general ANTI COUP public neither we of the ANTI COUP BLOGGERS ASSOCIATION. This appointment is cruddy, lame, wrong and down right discombobulating (TILOU BUBU)!

The appointment of military officers to senior government positions when the Illegal Interim PM expressly siad that the military would not be appointing anyone to those government posts.....explain that Mr. Chand!

The lies , lies, and more lies is just throwing this nation into (again TILOU BUBU) discombobulation! Yes, we are fast free falling into the pit.......and we must move and think faster to get ourselves out of it!

Thank you Fiji Times for that eloquent piece. Those are our sentiments exactly. The censorship of the daily papers seem to have lifted and I do notice that people have voiced openly their deep concern in the papers through the Letters to the Editor and through the Your Say column on
FijiTimes online. This is a welcome move towards FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Do I espy a glimmer of hope out there?

.......hmmmmm VEEEEERRRRRRRY INTERRRESSSSTINGGG WATSON, VEEEERRRRYYYYY INTERRRREEEESSSSTTTTING!