Raw Fiji News

Fiji’s Reserve Bank Governor, Sada Reddy says some accounting firms are giving false information on the economy, which is deterring potential investors.

Fiji Live reports Mr Reddy as saying Fiji’s total projected deficit for 2009 stands at 2.5 percent and not five percent, as some are saying.

He says people should not rely on blogs or second hand information to get updates on Fiji’s economy but rather the Reserve Bank’s regular economic update .

Mr Reddy says the misinformation is deterring potential investors to Fiji, and cites the case of an Australian company that had wanted to invest in Fiji pulling out because of reports in the Australian media that Fiji is not in a position to pay its debts.

He stressed that Fiji has never defaulted on its debt payments and he urged local accounting firms to contact the Ministry of Finance to verify their figures or else, they would create misinformation on Fiji’s finance in the global markets.

News Content © Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand

The 2010 Budget announced today (27 Nov) by interim Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has no technical and financial allocation to help revive our declining sugar industry. Commodore Bainimarama, who is also in charge of the sugar portfolio, did not even mention the sugar industry while delivering his budget address as interim Finance Minister

“Sugar” or “Sugar Industry” was not mentioned once during the 40 minute speech, even when the military commander spoke about land reforms to be undertaken by his regime early next year. The cash strapped cane farmers, who have already lost $172 million in European Union grant since the December 2006 military coup, have been treated like beasts of burden by this regime. Instead, what is clear from Commodore Bainimarama’s address is that his regime has decided to place all its eggs in one basket – boosting the tourist industry. It seems the regime is under illusions that the tourism, which is no doubt the country’s largest foreign exchange earner, will single handedly cure Fiji’s economic ills.

The Fiji Cane Growers Association does not in any way begrudge the fact that the regime has placed emphasis on tourism. This industry deserves incentives and concessions. But at the same time, no government, administration or regime, democratically elected or not, can afford to blatantly ignore the sugar industry and the cane farming sector which directly or indirectly sustains the livelihood of 200,000 people of this country. The regime has decided that departing tourists from our major sea ports and Nadi airport can claim VAT refunds of purchases of over $500.  Similarly, duty on electronic items like cameras etc has been slashed. Duty on raw materials for pearl farming has been reduced from 32% to 3%.

Likewise export tax of 3% on unprocessed fish and timber has been removed. But no mention has been made of the 3% export tax paid by cane farmers on sugar exports. No subsidies or concessions have been announced on purchase of weedicides, pesticides and farm implements for cane farming. Commodore Bainimarama and his regime must stop paying lip-service to cane farmers and be bold enough to tell them the truth that after more than 100 years of sustaining the national economy, they are no longer worthy of even a mention in the regime’s future financial and economic plans.

This is the precise message portrayed by Voreqe Bainimarama and his regime in the wake of the 2010 National Budget address.

Bala Dass

General Secretary

Ph: 9919021 (m)

Our leading coup apologist, retired academic Crosbie Walsh, never misses an opportunity to rush to the defence of our incompetent and corrupt military dictatorship.

This time he has angrily pooh-poohed a report by respected Fiji Freedom Blogger, Coup Four And A Half, of a conflict of interest in the sale by Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and his family of their prime Berry Road property to the Tappoo Group.

In particular, the carping coup apologist strongly refuted the suggestion that a ‘deal” had been struck.

True to form, as Croz scornfully trashed Coup Four And A Half he conveniently ignored the central fact, which is that Tappoo is a leading player in tourist hotels and duty free stores and Aiyaz holds the port folios of tourism and finance. Now, do those two facts add up to a conflict of interest, or what?

We suggest Croz should lift his gaze from his navel and exercise his fine academic mind by analyzing some other, related facts.

For example, the fact that the 2010 budget, penned by Aiyaz, and handed down on Friday, provided a big boost for duty free retailing in the form of a new 12.5 percent rebate for tourists who purchase more than $US 260 worth of goods when visiting Fiji.

That’s just soooooo neat and tidy!

With the notable exception of apologist Croz, is there anyone out there who doesn’t think that Aiyaz was delivering on a deal?

Fiji Democracy Now

In Fiji last Friday interim Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, handed down the 2010 budget. Apart from the 30 minute speech by Commodore Bainimarama, no budget papers were released and therefore not much independent analysis has been able to take place.

But the Program Director of the Myer Foundation Melanesia Program at the Lowy Institute, Jenny Hayward-Jones, has looked at the initial statements of some of the major accouncy firms for some guidance. And the budget speech, recorded by Fiji Village, provides further insight.

Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speaker: Jenny Hayward-Jones, Program Director of the Myer Foundation Melanesia Program at the Lowy Institute; Commodore Frank Bainimarama, Fiji interim Prime Minister and Minister for Finance

HAYWARD-JONES: It is not highly unusual to have the budget released a day or two afterwards, that is to the general public, but it is unusual that people in Fiji have not received them. We heard Waden Narsey say the other day he could not even get them from the government printers which is highly unusual, but I expect they will be released today, yeah I am not quite sure for the reason for the delay.

COUTTS: Have we been able to find out much about it then?

HAYWARD-JONES: Well, some local accounting firms have done some analysis, so presumably someone has papers, I just assume they have not been released to the general public and they are certainly not on the internet and available for everyone to see. So yeah, certainly there is some analysis are there are some figures around.

COUTTS: Alright, we might just have a listen to what Commodore Bainimarama had to say, a little bit about it anyway. Here we go.

BAINIMARAMA: In the 2010 budget, the government has opted again for a prudent fiscal position and is continuing to build on the good results achieved in the 2009 year.

COUTTS: So are we saying there is a balanced budget and that Commodore Bainimarama has got figures that no-one else has because no one else has seen that the budget is anywhere near healthy at this stage?

HAYWARD-JONES: Well, he has not actually claimed to have a balanced budget. He has claimed to have a good budget. There is cettainly a deficit and problems which the government has admitted to, but it certainly some of the figures look more optimistic than the IMF and others have been quoting in recent months.

COUTTS: So normally we would say things like who are the winners and who are the losers, but do we know?

HAYWARD-JONES: Well, I think it seems to be a pro-poor budget, that is probably the best thing I can say about it. There is a few stimulus elements in there for local businesses and for tourism, so the winners I would say are the tourism industry and local businesses certainly and those suffering from poverty. I mean it’s good to see that the Fiji Government has recognised increases in poverty in Fiji and devoted extra assistance to families, to care and protection and to a food voucher program and also to a free-bus fare system.

COUTTS: And Commodore Bainimarama had a bit to say on poverty himself.

BAINIMAMARA: Ladies and gentlemen, the government from 2010 shall give food vouchers to the value of $30 a month to those on the current Family Assistance Program. This will translate into an annual allocation of 7.44 million. This targeted decision will mean that identified individuals and families will be able to access essential and healthy food items on a monthly basis. It will mean that the private sector will be able to participate in this initiative. It also signals that government will henceforth move to targeted assistance.

COUTTS: Does the Fiji Government have the way with all to carry that out?

HAYWARD-JONES: Well, not if you look at the figures coming out of Fiji over the last few months. Certainly government revenues have not been increasing, but the devaluation earlier this year has seen foreign reserves recover and some debt has been paid off so I yes they do have some room to move in the budget to extend this assistance and there have been a number of cuts to budgets in many public sector agencies in public sector reform is ongoing, so the money presumably will come from those continuing cuts to public sector expenditure in other areas.

COUTTS: Such as?

HAYWARD-JONES: Such as health, actually has been cut, primary industries has been cut by over 20 per cent, a number of smaller departments, even the military has been cut slightly. So there are some savings to be had, but my concern with the public sector reform is that the lowering of the retirement age to 55 has seen many more people retire and become more dependent on the Fiji National Provident Fund which in itself is in trouble this year.

COUTTS: So you have mentioned health care. Can a country such as Fiji afford to cut health spending?

HAYWARD-JONES: Well, I think it sends a particular negative signal when they have increased police spending and have created 470 more police posts in the same budget which is the allocation to health, while health indicators appear to be declining in Fiji. So no, I don’t think Fiji can afford to send a signal like that.

COUTTS: We’re going to go onto a business now, but again this is what Commodore Bainimarama had to say about it in the budget speech.

BAINIMARAMA: This would mean that 1,000 families can benefit from this scheme, based on an average cost of $100,000 for a basic house. This grant scheme has the potential to generate a 100 million dollars into the economy.

COUTTS: So where again we talked about before, will they get this kind of money? I mean are they looking to stronger ties with China and aid donors to help them in that area?

HAYWARD-JONES: Well, I don’t think Chinese aid so far has delivered that kind of money and we have seen Chinese aid go into dams, into road building. But I don’t think it’s given them the flexibility to spend on a scheme like this, but presumably if they were to allocate the housing assistance scheme to builders who were perhaps subsidised by Chinese loans that is a possibility. It is similar in a way to Australia’s own first homeowners grant and it really does surprise me that Fiji thinks it has the money to do this.

COUTTS: And he has also commented on price control?

BAINIMARAMA: Let me make it abundantly clear in removing price control, government will not tolerate any curtailing, collusion or anti-competitive behaviour. The recent cabinet approval to match PIB and certain sections of the Department of Fair Trading, will not only result in efficiency, but it will ensure that controls over anti-competitive behaviour shall be curtailed through one agency armed with modern day laws. Liberalistation of the economy must benefit all levels of society.

COUTTS: Commodore Frank Bainimarama in his budget speech.

Jenny Hayward-Jones, from the Lowy Institute, do you agree with those sentiments?

HAYWARD-JONES: Well, I think certainly Fiji has to stimulate the economy in some way and the interim government has the right idea in that, but the way it has gone about it is a little bit strange. There are a lot of inconsistencies in the budget. It seems to be a pro-business budget. When you have a look at it, there is a reduction of one per cent in corporate tax of 28 per cent, there are incentives to induce more companies to list on the Fiji Stock Exchange, there is a repealing of the branch profit remittance tax, all these things are positive, but in the same breath, he is also amended the non-resident dividend withholding tax and also the non-resident miscellaneous withholding tax which is going to be an impediment to foreign investment and may even drive some foreign-owned businesses out of Fiji in an already challenging environment for foreign investment.

COUTTS: Well omissions, the ailing sugar industry barely got a mention. Does that mean that they are just letting it go and are not going to throw good money after bad there?

HAYWARD-JONES: Well, I think they are still dependent on possibly the EU coming through which I think is a little bit of a dream, but Commodore Bainimarama’s visit to Brussels a couple of weeks ago just shows how much he is holding onto that possibility. It is strange that sugar was not mentioned at all. Sugar used to be a main stay of the Fiji economy and is still a very important export and the fact that it was not mentioned at all in his speech is rather odd. He did mention that the Fiji Sugar Corporation would be reviewed, which is important and that is something that has been needed for sometime. But despite the emphasis on promoting agriculture, we are still seeing underdevelopment in agriculture and the reduction in the allocation to the Department of Primary Industries is odd while you are trying to promote agriculture. So it is yet to be seen how he is going to achieve that.

COUTTS: And corruption also got a mention.

BAINIMARAMA: The Office of Accountability and Transparency – OAT, saw administer the soon to be introduced code of conduct and freedom of information decrees and any other appropriate new laws. We have and we will continue to modernise our laws which inter alia makes us compliant with international conventions and standards. The implementations of these laws will require a specific resource which has been catered for in the 2010 budget, including increased allocation for the judiciary.

COUTTS: Well a lot has been spoken about corruption in the presidential decrees have been introduced and the Commonwealth, even CHOGM was saying that the military regime needs to restore civil democracy without delay, to ensure the protection of human rights and or all other areas of the society there. Corruption laws, how much is this affecting business and therefore impacting on the budget?

HAYWARD-JONES: Well, it is one thing to have corruption laws, anti-corruption laws, but when you don’t have free speech, you don’t have any means of public accountability, it is very difficult to see whether these anti-corruption laws are working and who exactly they are targeting and you still have not seen any successful cases of corruption brought before the courts. We’re now seeing a judiciary that is severely comprised, so it’s quite difficult to see how they will work. But it is important and Bainimarama came to power promising to get rid of corruption in Fiji, so he has got to make an effort and may be this is a move towards that. Let’s just hope that he can implement it.

COUTTS: Well, they have been in power now, the interim government for some years now. Are some sections of the business community saying oh well, it’s such a long time now, let’s just get down to business and just get on with it. Is there any evidence of that yet?

HAYWARD-JONES: Well, I think that’s probably true of the majority of people in Fiji Geraldine and certainly of local businesses and to a degree foreign-owned businesses. They have to get on with business in Fiji. They have got to make a profit to survive somehow and there is no sign of this government going anywhere so I think they have decided they have to get used to it and they are doing what they can to lobby the government for special arrangements for them, as I think we have seen in this budget, with some special arrangements for local businesses, we have certainly seen those lobby groups listened to and we’ve seen local businesses have a reduced corporate tax of 20 per cent, so there seems to be certainly a lobby group of local businesses who are succeeding with the interim government. Foreign investors not doing so well, perhaps they are not speaking so loudly.

COUTTS: So why do you think going back to a point you made earlier, and what message do you think it is sending that the military budgets allocation is down on the last one?

HAYWARD-JONES: Well, the explanation is that the allocations for I think a couple of the foreign missions and one is the Sinai and I think the other one might have been Iraq have been reduced and so presumably they are not sending as many soldiers, so it may not be a big signal, but I think the IMF on their visit there to Fiji last week encouraged the government to think about balancing out their spending. So it perhaps was a response to the IMF to say that well, we are not going to spend as much on the military as on other more important state services. But the increase in police does still show that security sector, expenditure is very important for this government.

COUTTS: And lastly, there was mention of land tenure which is also an important issue. This is what Commodore Bainimarama had to say.

BAINIMARAMA: In the area of reforms, the government has put together a task force that has already commenced the facilitation of the utilisation of other land for productive use. The negotiations with key stakeholders have commenced. We plan to have the first lots of land available on new and attractive terms and conditions for both leasers and leasees by the end of the first quarter of 2010. The budget has allocated 15 million dollars for the commencement of this reform agenda. It should be noted that the multilateral agencies also believe that land tenure reform is critical to achieving and strengthening the foundations of economic growth and prosperity.

COUTTS: And we are just about out of time, Jenny Hayward-Jones. But a brief comment on that?

HAYWARD-JONES: Well land reform is certainly crucial and it is something that the international financial institutions and development partners have been encouraging in Fiji for sometime and it is also something that Bainimarama claimed he would do when he came to power. So I think again the implementation is important here. We have heard a lot about land reform, but the actual implementation of what he says he is going to do will be vital and I think this is where he may strike a little bit of resistance from ethnic Fijian landholders who may not agree with his plans.

- Radio Australia

Fiji has not ruled out moving for the suspension of a key trade deal if signatories to it do not respond in good faith to its stated intention to suspend Part 2 of the Agreement.

As a suspended member of the Pacific Islands Forum fiji cannot participate in any Forum-related meetings or negotiations, including the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations, or PACER.

Fiji Live reports state solicitor Luke Daunivalu, as saying the Government has taken steps to protect Fiji’s interest in light of continuing discussions and negotiations – minus Fiji – by parties to PACER and its successor PACER-Plus.

It had tried unsuccessfully to invoke Article15 of the PACER treaty, which dealt with dispute resolution and required the response “in good faith” of PACER parties.

He says last week a letter was sent to all the PACER parties setting out clear steps of what Fiji expects from the other parties.

Mr Daunivalu says in the event where there is no response by the 21st of December, the likelihood of taking actual suspension steps of PACER will be considered.

News Content © Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand

The 2010 Fijian budget is made up of illusionary numbers and is not based real numbers. Mr. Bainimarama has been ill-informed wherein he failed in his duty as a leader to foresee greater inflation, lower employment, grossly abuse of public funds, and more hardship to poor people.
Although the fiscal duty on a number of basic food items such as rice, edible oil and tin fish has been reduced, contrary to this, these items are not covered by price control which means poor people will be charged more for these basic goods.
The government is relying heavily on tourism and has predicted visitor arrivals to increase to 6 million. The government has failed to give concession on departure tax. The current global financial crisis is having significant impact on major airlines and most of them are advertising very cheap domestic fares in overseas countries. This creates greater competition between domestic and international travel. Had government given concession on departure tax, it would have made air fares to Fiji very competitive. The 6 million tourism number is also illusionary, and very difficult to achieve.
On the issue of to convert up to 80per cent of all arable land area into productive use is all just talk. The military government had more than enough time in their to issue directive to NLTB to renew all expiry lease. Now that majority farmers have been displaced from their farm, it would be very difficult to convince them to return to farming considering they had to dismantle existing houses and overgrown weeds. Further, the continual inefficiencies in FSC, and abolishing of SCGC is another drawback to attack farmers in sugar cane farming.
Looking at the above, there is no way that the government could achieve to reduce unemployment rate to less than 3per cent.
To make matter worse, government is introducing $10,000 housing assistance grant to those families or individuals who want to construct their first house and who meet the commercial bank loan serviceability requirements, can substantially contribute towards the 20 per cent deposit requirement but do not have enough funds to meet the total deposit requirements. This would result in higher house prices and will deprive potential house owners from owing home. Also, in absence of structured policing system and lack of qualified personnel together inefficient system will expose abuse of fund.
In summary, the 2010 budget is one that will bring Fiji more into hardship. The poor will get poorer and riches will get richer.

69ab

Still trading with “business as usual”, an idyllic Fijian holiday resort that went into receivership just as the global recession hit has been put up for sale as a going concern.

Amunuca Island Resort and Spa, which is on Tokoriki Island in the Mamanuca Islands off the Nadi coast, consists of a 3-star resort with 86 existing accommodation rooms and a wide range of leisure activities.

“There is also plenty of potential for future expansion plus the opportunity to progress a 25-lot residential subdivision on adjoining land,” says Mike Bayley, managing director for Bayleys and lead sales consultant for the project.

The property is being marketed in New Zealand and internationally by Bayleys, under instructions from the receivers KordaMentha, with tenders closing on December 3.

Amunuca Island Resort and Spa opened in March 2007 and has accommodation for up to 278 guests, with 12 additional honeymoon suites under construction.

Room configurations are varied to suit guest needs, and include beachside executive honeymoon bures that feature four-poster beds and bubble baths for two.

“To date, eight bures have been completed with a further 12 bures commissioned,” Mike Bayley says.

Other accommodation units consist of beachfront studios, one-bedroom suites, rainforest and garden deluxe bures, and rainforest family bures catering for families and group travellers.

“Amunuca Island Resort and Spa has been designed to resemble a traditional Fijian village and constructed to blend in with the surrounding sea and forest environment,” Bayley says.

Exterior walls of the accommodation buildings are covered in traditional Fijian woven bamboo while the main buildings, incorporating the administration/reception, restaurant/bar and lounge areas, resemble open traditional Fijian pavilions.

The roofs of all buildings are clad in steel and covered in traditional Fijian thatching, while internal finishing treatments comprise a mixture of contemporary and Polynesian decor.

“Guest facilities at the Amunuca resort include beachside restaurants, bars, lounges, swimming pools including one with a waterslide and swim-up bar,” Bayley says.

- NZ Herald

Fiji’s economy is on the skids.

FNPF is on the verge of collapse and people’s savings are about to be lost forever.

Khaiyum and his fellow coup plotters have destroyed the nation.

The once proud and distinguished Fiji Military has lost all credibilty – if the UN does not cease to use these human rights abusers immediately its own shaky credibility will decline even further.

As for bottom feeders like Mind Pearl and Streamcom – where is the ethics in supporting a regime that tortures and murders its own people? Companies like these are parasites!!

nopryde

We can confirm that Aiyaz Khaiyum is the author of the 2010 budget ready to be read out by Fiji’s tyrant Frank Bainimarama.

Insiders at the Ministry of Finance say that Aiyaz Khaiyum and his pup, John Prasad have been working late into the night at Aiyaz’s office putting together what is to become the “business-friendly” budget of 2010.

Aiyaz was tasked by Frank to compile the budget in his absence when he was galavanting in Brussels then to Rome.

Observers say the budget is a waste of time since nothing about the authors or the regime should be taken seriously.

Reporter

A receivership report on the Fiji Beach Resort & Spa says 241 investors are owed $1.5 million.

It also shows a Fiji state authority owes the investors and two businesses in receivership $1.5 million.

A group of 141 New Zealanders, 52 Australians, 16 Americans, 30 people living in Fiji, one from Dubai and one from Canada poured millions into the resort developed by Neville Mahon of Greenlane in Auckland.

The Fiji Beach Resort & Spa, managed by Hilton, continues to operate 274 rooms but investors are owed a year’s payments after a series of problems.

KordaMentha’s Grant Graham and Brendon Gibson say a preliminarily calculation showed investors were owed FJ$2.1 million ($1.5 million).

“With no sums available the receivers are not in a position to make catch-up payments in relation to the pre-receivership period. The serious matter of outstanding villa-owner revenue is acknowledged and recognised,” they wrote.

Daily room rates at the Denarau resort were also sinking from FJ$350 a while ago to FJ$206 “due to political instability, negative press, the January floods and increased villa owner usage”, the receivers said.

Villa owners also want to establish a new management structure and are worried the Hilton is not trading to maximise their returns.

On September 8, the receivers were appointed to the resort’s developer and manager Denarau International and Denarau Investments.

On the brighter side of the ledger, the receivers say the Fiji Islands Revenue and Customs Authority owes FJ$2.1 million ($1.5 million). The state authority owes the two Denarau companies about FJ$2 million and the investors FJ$175,136.

The receivers met the authority last month and plan to get the money back.

“Recovery of these sums is of prime importance to the receivership and naturally to those villa owners owed sums of money,” they said.

Stage two of the resort could also be finished. That involves villa blocks 62-68, a new bistro and pool, finishing infrastructure and services, Hilton’s requirements for back-of-house extensions and equipment and other costs.

“Our preliminary view is that the works will be completed during the receivership,” the receivers said.

Hilton had indicated problems paying villa owners, primarily because of falling average room rates last year. Payments to trade creditors were delayed and payments to Hilton for management fees were not settled in full.

The outlook is no brighter because Fiji now enters its low tourist season.

Investors will get another update on November 30 and that will deal with the receivership, capital works and timetables and the chance of their getting returns next year.

ISLAND WOES
* Fiji Beach Resort & Spa is managed by Hilton.
* Kiwis poured millions into villas but have gone without payments for a year.
* Receivers entered the resort on September 8.
* They issued a 10-page update on the situation.
* The next report is due out on November 30.

By Anne Gibson | Email Anne

Citizens of democratic countries should think twice before doing anything which helps the coup-installed interim government of Fiji. That’s according to Nick Naidu, from the Coalition for Democracy in Fiji, who is based in New Zealand. He says news that a New Zealand company called Streamcom wrote a report on the broadcasting spectrum in Fiji which led the interim government to to revoke all of the country’s broadcasting licenses is deeply disappointing.
Mr Naidu says while there could be a completely innocent explanation for the move, he’s suspicious about the interim government’s motives.

Presenter: Bruce Hill
Speaker: Simon Jackson, head of Streamcon; Nick Naidu, New Zealand-based Coalition for Democracy in Fiji

NAIDU: It sort of tend towards the sinister argument for the reason that the timing is quite interesting, it’s a time when shortly after the media has been censored and it appears that the censorship hasn’t worked as well as the regime most probably wanted it. So could this be a way to further control or muzzle those organisations or media outlets that were not playing ball with the regime.

HILL: The report that these moves were actually based on was conducted by a New Zealand company based in Auckland, Streamcom. Do you have any concerns about companies from outside Fiji being involved in this kind of thing which results in such a political decision?

NAIDU: It’s very sad that while the people of Fiji the average person is suffering, and poverty is getting out of control, unemployment at its highest level, the economy is suffering. While all that is going on we have New Zealand and Australia as governments are standing up and imposing sanctions but at the same time a lot in the private and education sector, professional areas have decided to go and support this illegal regime with no concern ethically for what they’re doing and the harm that they’re doing to Fiji as a nation and its people by indirectly giving the regime a stamp of approval.

HILL: It’s not just one company doing this; they’re a number of companies and individuals that are actually helping out the Fiji government from countries like Australia and New Zealand aren’t there?

NAIDU: Of course I mean that’s always been the case but I think this time around there should have been some people who should have actually stood on principle and not gone and supported it. We have many people in the current regime, very close advisors, people who work in the civil service and the judiciary, the Chief Justice is an example, the Director of Public Prosecutions, all have taken oath under an illegal regime that has abrogated the constitution and compromised the judiciary, they’ve all been happy to serve and are continuing to serve what basically amounts to a government that’s working against the people of Fiji.

HILL: But Simon Jackson, head of the company which wrote the report on the use of Fiji’s broadcast frequency spectrum says such criticisms are wide of the mark. He says Fiji’s interim government is simply trying to clean up the allocation of frequencies after years of neglect, and there were no political motivations involved.

JACKSON: I agree that there should be an ethical basis to the work you do for anyone, whether it’s a government or another company. And the fact is we would not have undertaken this work if we believed that there was any ill intent. In actual fact what we believe is happening is that the Fijian government currently is trying to address years of neglect and mismanagement and actually corruption, we’ve found evidence of that in the way that the radio spectrum has been managed in Fiji. So we a tender to do some work to actually come up with a strategy for reorganising their broadcast band and I think you can see from the reaction of people like CSL, who have over 60 per cent of the market in Fiji radio, commercial radio, and people like My Television; these are the ones who if the government actually had some nefarious intent, these are the ones who would be concerned. And they’re not saying that, what they’re saying is look, this is good, there’s been a problem here that needs to be sorted out. Also the fact that the Fijian government is involving the ITU, which is the International Telecommunications Union, they’re actually an arm of the UN. So it’s not like this is something where somebody has decided let’s find a cunning way to take frequencies away from people, because to be honest if indeed they were acting as an evil dictatorship they could do that without having to go to this extreme couldn’t they? They’re doing a lot of work and doing it in the right way for somebody who’s trying to do something underhand.

HILL: How did your company feel about doing business with the Fiji regime? Are their countries and regimes that you wouldn’t do business with and where does Fiji fall in that sort of spectrum as far as you’re concerned?

JACKSON: Yes absolutely, we did some research first, I mean one of the first things we did on our own bat is that we did a visit to the site to actually Fiji and we took some time to talk to people in the Fijian community here in New Zealand, and look honestly it was very confusing. I found conversations that we were having with people on the street and people in New Zealand, like the first time that we approached somebody, we said oh look isn’t it terrible what’s going on in Fiji? And this guy who was an ethnic Fijian came and said no, it was great, and that kind of really confused us. But we have found more people supporting the changes if you like, plenty of people who may not support the regime, actually may not support the people doing the reforms, but it’s really hard to find somebody who doesn’t actually agree with the intent.

HILL: But Nick Naidu thinks there’s a wider principle at stake. He says citizens of democracy should be careful they don’t do things which might prop up a regime based on principles they themselves wouldn’t like to live under.

NAIDU: Well I think one, the professional organisations that these individuals or companies belong to should speak out. The governments concerned should support their sanctions by also making it clear to the private sector what their views are in terms of doing business as usual with Fiji. And I think it’s a sad reflection on society as a whole in New Zealand and Australia where people that are supporting regimes around the world, doing business with them like normal are living normal lives and enjoying democracy in these countries, while they’re going out there supporting dictatorships in other countries. It’s a really sad indictment on the democracy that we live in.

HILL: You think the people in Australia and New Zealand take their democracy a bit for granted perhaps?

NAIDU: Of course they take it for granted but at the same time they should be aware of the fact that their actions or the actions of their people are also in a way hypocritical because you want democracy to prevail across the world and when you are propping up illegal regimes by giving them financial assistance or indirect technical assistance, then you’re actually working against your basic principles and ethics. And that’s where the question lies, do people actually have ethics and as countries, as nations, as people, as organisations in this such as the Law Society in Australia and New Zealand, they should reprimand those members for taking part and propping up illegal regimes like in Fiji.

HILL: But that characterisation that Fiji’s coup installed interim government is disputed by Simon Jackson from Streamcom. He says corruption is no longer part of doing business in Fiji and that’s a positive development.

JACKSON: When we were doing this work we had people coming to us and saying what did it cost you? People who had been doing business in Fiji for a long time, and we were saying what do you mean? And they said well how much did you have to pay to get the contract? And it appears that the normal operating procedure in Fiji has been that if you pay good money for a contract it would be rude to expect you to actually do the work. So we think, we didn’t really notice any of that at all, but people we talked to they were sort of disbelieving that that’s actually the way that things are happening at the moment.

HILL: On the other hand is that the sort of system that you yourself would feel happy living under, that system they have in Fiji at the moment?

JACKSON: Yeah well no probably not, I have to say I mean the issues of censorship to be honest I think are quite sort of overstated. We have in the course of doing this project spent some time on the ground. The stories about, we never saw a soldier, we never saw any evidence of the kind of behaviour which is described as being sort of everyday activity in Fiji. The one thing I came away from from actually meeting people in government there was that these people are not politicians, they make, they seem to have almost no media nous, they call a spade a spade. But what their intentions are seem to be really I guess noble.

Why won’t Aiyaz publish his new decree?

Our dictatorial regime’s ever-worsening record of failing to deliver vital and fundamental essential services such as water and electricity is no secret.

Rather it’s a sad reality, which an increasing number of Fiji people have to endure every day.

Yet the tin-pot dictator has always exhibited an admirable degree of military precision and punctuality when it comes to trumpeting his dictatorship’s various decisions and Decrees.

For example, take the regime’s Decree* to re-install Josefa Iliolo to the presidency on 10 April 2009 following the ruling a bare 24 hours earlier by the High Court of Appeal that the interim regime was illegal.

The Decree is an elaborate and well drafted legal document.

So much so, one could be forgiven for believing it was drafted, printed and ready to roll days before the Court of Appeal handed down its ruling.

Well, folks, it was! FDN has been told by the most impeccable of sources that the crooked lawyer, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, was busy drafting that Decree well in advance of the anticipated Appeal Court ruling.

Now this poses a very interesting question:

When will we all be able to see the fine print of his latest piece of drafting, the controversial Regulation of National Spectrum Decree?

We at FDN think it will be no time soon, no matter where you look. For example, the official government website, with all its military regime bells and whistles, won’t tell you anything.

Last time we looked the most recent Decree listed was The Fiji National University Decree 2009, posted on 3 November 2009.

And, as you would expect from a carping coup apologist like Crosbie Walsh, the “Decree” link implanted on his website is a deliberate furphy, which leads you nowhere.

The detail of the Regulation of National Spectrum Decree is being deliberately withheld to avoid close scrutiny, despite it having been made “law” something like two weeks ago.

Why? Because the sordid details, right down to the jail penalties for broadcasters who object to the Decree, gives the game away and Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum knows this all too well.

A trained lawyer with a decidedly voluble streak, Aiyaz is able to rattle off all manner of things, except the truth.

For some reason the truth makes him go curiously silent.

Fiji Democracy Now

* http://www.paclii.org/fj/promu/promu_dec/eaofd2009316/

Q : What’s the purpose of paying military officers their ration allowance?

A : To keep them happy so they don’t turn their guns on Frank, Aiyaz, John Prasad and Aziz Mohammed.

Q : Are Frank, Aiyaz, John and Aziz afraid of a looming counter-coup to their 2006 coup?

A : If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be paying out ration allowance to the military officers only.

Q : Who’se grand idea was it to pay this ration allowance?

A : Acting illegal Minister Finance Aiyaz Khaiyum, illegal Permanent Secretary Finance John Prasad and Chief of Staff Aziz Mohammed.

Q : Will their plan work?

A : Only for now. The military officers don’t mind any extra pay but we don’t think it’s enough to buy their loyalty which is still very much with the indigenous Fijian people and their tradition.

Q : How about the hard working nurses, doctors, police officers, teachers etc. Why deny them from getting some money too?

A : They’re not important to Aiyaz, John and Aziz because they don’t carry guns.

The visiting IMF Mission team’s recommendation to reduce FNPF’s annuity benefits is unfortunate and appears to have been made without a full understanding of all relevant facts.

In its concluding statement, the team recommends that the Fund be made actuarially sound by reducing what it describes as … “the generous rate of conversion of FNPF benefits to annuities”.

To call the current rate of annuity ‘generous’ shows the Mission team’s lack of appreciation of what these so-called “generous” annuities convert into in real terms and whether it is sufficient to support a reasonable living standard for an ordinary worker who has contributed to the fund throughout his/her working life.

The current rate of annuity is 15% of the member’s balance in the Fund on the date of his/her retirement. This is by no means ‘generous’ bearing in mind the very low wage rates paid to about 80% of Fiji’s workforce.

Moreover, almost every member in the lower income group is constrained to make partial withdrawal from the Fund during his/her working life to pay for children’s education, for deposit on housing loans or for medical expenses thus substantially reducing individual account balances.

It should be recalled that the rate of annuity has been gradually reduced over the years from 25% to 15%. Any further reduction will result in severe hardship to those members of the Fund who retire on lower wage rates.

There is no argument against the fact that the Fund must remain actuarially sound. But that must not be ensured at the cost of depriving some 80% of the retirees of a reasonable annuity to provide for basic needs in their twilight years.

What then is the alternative? FLP believes that the rate of current contribution of 8% needs to be reviewed upwards to provide sustainability to the Fund. Indeed, the rate of contribution needs to be generally increased to 12%. The FLP had begun to address this issue when it increased the contribution rate from 7% to 8% during its tenure in government in 1999.

A contribution rate of 12% each (employee/employer) would result in a much more enhanced rate of national savings. The funds thus generated could play an important role in national development, both in the public and private sectors, while ensuring the Fund’s sustainability and a decent pension (annuity) at retirement to those on lower incomes.

One wonders how much in annuity benefits will members of the IMF team collect on retirement considering their hefty salaries, perks etc?

As a final comment, it is strange that the IMF Mission should make no mention of the fact that FNPF’s investments of over $500 million in real estate, resort development and in shares in poorly performing companies is a major cause of its current financial predicament.

Why then penalise the retirees??

The interim government is definitely ill-advised on its decision to remove price controls from 146 basic consumer items.

“It is a shocking and irresponsible move which will hit directly at the stomachs of the poor at a time of galloping inflation,” said Labour Leader Mahendra Chaudhry.

A recent survey of basic food and consumer items by the Consumer Council has shown that prices have generally doubled, in some cases they have shot up by as much as 200% since the devaluation of the dollar in April.

A move by the Prices and Incomes Board to bring an additional 24 items under price control was rejected by the interim government. And yesterday it made the shocking announcement that controls will be removed from an additional 146 items that were already under price control.

This will leave the consumers, low income workers and the poor in particular, totally at the mercy of unscrupulous merchants and profiteers.

Commerce Minister Aiyaz Khaiyyum tried to justify this anti-people policy with the claim that “government is pushing ahead with developing an economy that is investor and business friendly”.

“Doesn’t government have an equal responsibility to protect the people at large and ensure that ordinary consumers are not ripped off by unscrupulous merchants and retailers?” Mr Chaudhry asked.

Even in free market economies the State imposes controls on basic food and household items despite these countries having strong consumer protection agencies.

Mr Khaiyyum’s argument that price controls distort the market is equally flawed. The items in question or the raw materials used in their manufacture are largely imported and have little impact on local market conditions.

Market distortions and upheavals only take place in the absence of effective regulatory controls. Free market serves only the rich and the powerful and they tend to get their way at the expense of the poor.

Prices of all goods including food items have shot up astronomically, and often unjustifiably, in recent months particularly after the 20% devaluation of the Fiji dollar in April inflicting untold hardship on families in the middle and low income brackets, not to mention the very poor.

This is shocking. One expects any responsible government to act in such extreme situations to protect at least the poor and not leave them open to commercial exploitation.

A New Zealand company has defended a report that prompted Fiji’s interim military government to cancel all existing broadcast licences in the country indefinitely

The company, Streamcom, compiled a report on the broadcasting spectrum in Fiji and found it was disorganised and needed a clean-up of frequencies.

All television and radio stations in Fiji then had their broadcast licences revoked by Fiji Communications Minister Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum (pictured).

He says there is nothing sinister about the move.

But it drew criticism from Australia’s foreign minister Stephen Smith, who believes it is another attempt by Fiji to silence its critics.

Expressed

Similar views were expressed by New Zealand’s foreign minister.

But the head of Streamcom, Simon Jackson, says he feels Fiji’s interim government has done the right thing

He said: “In fact, what we think is happening is that the Fijian government is currently trying to address years of neglect and mismanagement and actually corruption.

“And we found evidence of that and the way that radio spectrum had been managed

One of Fiji’s largest commercial broadcasters says the interim government’s decision to revoke all of the country’s broadcasting licences does not threaten freedom of expression.

Communications Fiji, which claims 60 per cent of the radio market, says it is unconcerned as the airwaves are due for a shake-up.

Television and radio stations in Fiji were given temporary licenses on Saturday.

- Radio Australia

Fiji’s coupster Frank Bainimarama, like his key adviser, Aiyaz Khaiyum, are so caught up in their own deceit that telling lies has become a norm to them.

They quickly make up things to justify their existence and spurt out lies after lies in their hope to keep the Fijian people at bay.

They’re master deceivers and will twist words, situations and events into something they concoct  as a temporary “feel good” to their otherwise tormented souls.

The IMF group visit to Fiji is another great example.

The trip to Fiji by the IMF gang is nothing out of the ordinary. They do it all the time to assess the economic, financial and social status of various countries and is a mandatory visit.

But for demented Frank, their visit was something he could use to his benefit,so out comes his lying tongue spitting out his bull that the IMF are in Fiji in relation to  funding of his illegal reforms thought up by his side-kick Aiyaz.

Alas, the IMF have spoken in Fiji.

They say “they did not receive a formal request for the funding of the planned reforms.”

So whose lying?

We doubt IMF is lying!

So Frank and Aiyaz, IMF caught you with your pants down again fellas….shame!

The International Monetary Fund has urged the interim government in Fiji to stop borrowing.

Fiji Village reports the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Chief Ray Brooks says the government must reduce its reliance on the Fiji National Provident Fund as a source of finance.

He says reforms are also needed within the provident fund

After a two week visit to Fiji, Mr Brooks said the government must shrink its expenditure, and said one way to do this was to reduce spending salaries and wages.

The Reserve Bank of Fiji has said the government’s outstanding debt totalled 1.5 billion US dollars at the end of June, or 51.3 percent of gross domestic product.

The IMF has also revealed it did not receive a formal request for the funding of the planned reforms.

The interim Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, had said the IMF and World Bank were coming to Fiji regarding the funding of the government’s reforms, and to check the state of the economy.

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