Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Sackings at Suva Council may not be over

More sackings are expected at the Suva City Council after that of administrator Vijendra Prakash last week.

Coupfourpointifve has been told the Permanent Secretary for Local Government and Prakash's cousin, Ram Chandar, is in line to lose his job.

Chandar had vigorously defended Prakash in local media before his sacking.

On Monday he falsely credited the refurbishment of the library in the capital city and the Suva municipal market to Prakash saying it happened under his leadership. He was briefly highlighting a report compiled after a review of the performance of the Administrators.

Sources say Chandar, who had strongly recommnded the appointment of Suva City Council's Human Resources Manager Joe Hewson despite his fraudulent activities, misled people on national television by giving credit to Prakash for the two projects because both were the initiatives of the Council dissolved by the interim regime.

Meanwhile the Town Clerk of Nasinu and a stuanch Fiji Labour Party supporter, Satish Kumar, has been suspended by the town's Administrator Meli Bogilega.

Sources say this may not be the end of the matter with both Kumar and Bogileka's necks possibly on the chopping block.

Bogileka was recently charged with driving under the influence of excessive alcohol but sources say he is likely to be investigated for nepotism like Vijendra Prakash.

posted by Pacific in the Media at 9:59 AM 3 Comments Links to this post

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

FSC releases Annual Report

The Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) has released its Annual Report.

The report shows FSC made a after tax loss of $36.8 million compared to over $19 million for the previous year.

Page 72 of the report titled "10 year statistical review" highlights financial, production and field statistics from 2000-2009.

In 2000, FSC recorded a after tax loss of $3.3 million but in 2009 it has skyrocketed to $36.8 million. The total sugarcane crushed by FSC reduced from 3.95 million tonnes in 2000 to 2.32 million tonnes last year.

Suar production was 377,000 tonnes in 2000 but fell drastically to 208,000 tonnes last year - a reduction of 169,000 tonnes.

In 2006, before Frank Bainimarama's military coup, FSC crushed 3.2 million tonnes of cane producing 310,000 tonnes of sugar.

It plummetted from 3.2 million tonnes to 2.48 million tonnes in 2007 after Bainimarama's interim regime came into power.

In 2007 cane production declined by a massive 720,000 from 2006.

Sugar production by FSC declined by 73,000 tonnes in 2007 from 2006.

Read full FSC Annual Report - http://www.mediafire.com/?xwmymjjndyn

posted by Pacific in the Media at 10:09 PM 2 Comments Links to this post

New agency to assist elderly

The interim government has endorsed the appointment of an agency to assist senior citizens in Fiji.

In a statement, the interim government said the agency will set up an Inter-Agency Working Committee on Senior Citizens comprising of both government and non-government organizations to coordinate, implement and monitor policy initiatives of Government in the area of Senior Citizens.

The interim minister for women Dr Jiko Luveni said that world-wide consciousness and commitment towards the welfare of the elderly is rapidly growing, and population aging is becoming an important item on the national agenda of many countries.

“In Fiji, while the proportion of the population of 60 years and older in Fiji, represents a smaller number compared to many developing countries, nonetheless, Fiji’s elderly population has increased over the past two decades with a further increase expected in the next 50 years.

“The UN projections for Fiji indicate that in 2025 the elderly would account for 13 per cent of the total population, and by 2050 about one in every four persons would be 60 years or older and about four per cent of the Fiji population would be 80 years or older.”

She said that this will ensure that senior citizens are given the widest possible opportunities to integrate into society and also ensure that the traditional respect and care for the elderly does not erode as a result of lack of public and government support.

posted by Pacific in the Media at 9:11 PM 14 Comments Links to this post

New wages council for media

The Fiji interim government has approved that the interim Minister for Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Filipe Bole establish a new Wages Council to regulate the terms and conditions of workers in the Media and Communication Industry.

It said in a statement that the decision was based on a submission by Bole.

Bole said that following a nationwide survey recently conducted by the Labour Ministry, it had been established that while majority of the workers are engaged on a five to six-days work per week and accumulate between 40 to 45 normal working hours, workers in the journalist and reporters cadre normally work for longer hours and do not receive fair wages compensation compared to workers in industries covered by the existing Wages Regulation Orders, such as workers in the Printing Trades.

“This situation is further aggravated by the fact that most of these workers in the media/communication industry are not unionized to protect them from working under duress.

“As a result, the industry has been thriving for a very long time while reporters and journalists are forced to be content with meagre wages.”

Bole said that since no adequate machinery currently exists for the effective remuneration of workers in the Media and Communication Industry, the Employment Relations Advisory Board (ERAB) met and all stakeholders unanimously agreed that a Wages Council be established to regulate the terms and conditions of employment for the Media and Communication Industry - Fiji Govt Online

posted by Pacific in the Media at 9:04 PM 10 Comments Links to this post

Monday, October 5, 2009

Workers rep missing from FNPF Board

The Fiji National Provident Fund is missing two worker representatives on its Board, almost four months after Fiji Trade Union Congress President Daniel Urai and General Secretary Felix Anthony were sacked.

Under the FNPF Act, the Board should comprise 6 members - two from the government, two representing employers and two representing employees.

At the moment, the FNPF Board is made up of the permanent secretary for Labour Taito Waqa, the new chairman and finance permanent secretary John Prasad, employer representatives Joe Rodan and Ajith Kodakoda - a Sri Lankan national.

posted by Pacific in the Media at 10:30 PM 7 Comments Links to this post

Telecom HR Manager's contract not renewed

Telecom Fiji Limited's Human Resources Manager Imo Sagoa's contract has not been renewed.

A statement issued by Telecom said Sagoa, Sharon Smith Johns and Ian Lyons contracts were not renewed as part of cost cutting measures by the company.

Sagoa recently spearheaded Telecom's decision to make redundant 177 employees as part of its cost cutting exercise.

Sharon Smith Johns was the general manager of internet provider Connect - a subsidiary of TFL while Lyons was general manager Retail Marketing.

posted by Pacific in the Media at 10:10 PM 2 Comments Links to this post

Sunday, October 4, 2009

EU won't impose trade sanctions on Fiji

The European Union's Director for Development and Relations with the Pacific Roger Moore says the EU will not consider a trade sanction on Fiji because in his experience it doesn't work.

Roger Moore was interviewed on Television NZ's Q n A programme this morning.

He told the show's host, Paul Holmes he has just returned from Fiji where he met with interim government reps and political party leaders.

Moore says he was supposed to meet with Frank Bainimarama as well last Wednesday but couldn't because of the chaos after the tsunami which struck Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga.

Moore said he told the interim government reps that they needed to set in place an internal political dialogue in order to discuss reforms that Bainimarama was determined to push through.

"Because the strange thing is I have talked myself to political leaders in Fiji and all of them agree strangely enough on the substance of the reforms which are necessary in that country."

"The problem everybody has is just the way the prime minister is going about it."

He said nobody wanted to support Bainimarama's reforms, but wanted to support Fiji's reforms.

"It's the reforms wanted by the people of Fiji that we're ready to support, there's a coincidence between the two."

In response to Paul Holmes question of the European Union extending it's sanctions on Fiji while it continues to buy sugar from Fiji, Moore said the EU did not have any quarrel with Fiji.

"We have a contractual position for providing aid and the aid goes to the government is in breach of an agreement that we have with them so we can't deliver that aid."

Paul Holmes asked Moore if the EU should consider stopping European countries from buying sugar from Fiji, especially since the price of sugar is the highest at the moment but Moore disagreed.

"I've never seen trade sanctions deliver a satisfactory result."

Moore said the EU withholding aid to Fiji was not a sanction but a non delivery of a gift which Fiji breached by not having respect for human rights and democracy.

posted by Pacific in the Media at 9:55 AM 18 Comments Links to this post

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Telecom terminates Johns and Lyons

Connect Fiji Limited boss Sharon Smith Johns has been terminated by Telecom Fiji Ltd.

Connect, an internet provider, is a subsidiary of Telecom Fiji Ltd (TFL).

Coupfourpointfive has been told that along with Johns, TFL's General Manager Marketing Ian Lyons has also been terminated.

According to sources, both positions are to be filled by locals as Johns and Lyons are expatriates.

Sources say that five days ago Sharon Johns went to Queen Elizabeth Barracks to meet with senior military officers to get her termination rescinded.

When Frank Bainimarama's return to the country from New York last week, TFL management visited and briefed him on the reason to remove expatriates and appoint locals.

Johns has been an active supporter of Frank Bainimarama's interim government since the December 2006 coup.

She was also appointed Chairman of Fiji Audio Visual Commission.

posted by Pacific in the Media at 1:36 PM 13 Comments Links to this post

Thursday, October 1, 2009

SCC Administrator given the boot

Coupfourpointfive can confirm that the Administrator of Suva City Council, Vijendra Prakash, has been terminated from his position by the recently appointed interim minister for Local Government, Colonel Samuela Saumatua.

SCC's Director Human Resources, Joe Turagasau Hewson, is also to be sacked. Hewson was hired at the insistence of Prakash in June despite his full knowledge that Hewson faced fraud charges.

Hewson was yesterday convicted of fraudulently converting more than $24,000 earmarked as a grant to a Northern Division School, for his personal use as Divisional Education Officer Northern in 2001.

He was given a suspended jail sentence by the Labasa Magistrates Court.

In May, Coupfourpointfive published reports of nepotism and cronysim being promoted by Prakash at SCC. In June, we showed documented evidence of Prakash recommending the appointment of Hewson based on a character reference from Permanent Secretary for Local Government, Ram Chandar.

Chandar and Prakash are cousins.

Before being appointed Administrator of Suva City and Lami Town Councils in January, following the dissolution of the Councils, Prakash was a Head of Department at the Fiji College of Advanced Education - a tertiatary institution.


Sources have confirmed that a SCC meeting scheduled at the Council at 3pm yesterday to be chaired by Prakash, had to be cancelled.

Prakash is the general secretary of Sanatan Dharam Pratinidhi Sabha of Fiji, the largest Hindu religious organisation in the country.

The organisation actively supported the coup of December 2006 and apart from Prakash, its President Dewan Maharaj was a member of National Council for Building a Better Fiji, the group that drew up the Peoples Charter.

posted by Pacific in the Media at 1:05 PM 7 Comments Links to this post

Fiji TV operations uninterrupted

Contrary to a report on Raw Fiji News, the premises of Fiji Television have not been raided by either the military or police in the past two days.

It was reported that soldiers had raided the premises to confiscate a documentleaked to Fiji TV on Tuesday.

Our sources have confirmed that no such raid ever took place. Operations at Fiji TV have been normal the last few days.

posted by Pacific in the Media at 1:02 PM 4 Comments Links to this post

Bainimarama points fingers at power brokers

In his address to the 64th General Assembly of the United Nations last weekend, coup leader and military dictator Frank Bainimarama claimed that during Fiji's post colonial period (ie since 1970), the old elite attached to previous government destablized the new government to replace the old government.

Bainmarama claimed the old elite benefited financially from the previous establishment government that had lost.

Coupfourpointfive has been told that Bainimarama has pointed the finger at parties who lost power or elections for fully backing military coups.

We have been told that those who support Bainimarama should accept that according to the dictator:

a) Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara and his Alliance Party, which ruled Fiji for 17 years until 1987, destabilized Dr Timoci Bavadra's NFP/FLP Coalition Government in May 1987 after losing the general elections tha year.
b) Sitiveni Rabuka and his successor as SVT leader Ratu Inoke Kubuabola Iwho is part of the current regime), backed George Speight's coup. It also means Bainimarama supported the coup when he abrogated the Constitution and failed to return Mahendra Chaudhry and Labour Party to power after his government as toppled by George Speight.
c) In December 2006, Mahendra Chaudhry who had lost the elections to Laisenia Qarase and SDL, as well as Ratu Epeli Ganilau - who were backed by the military, destabilized Qarase's government by using Bainimarama to carry out the coup.

Sources say this interpretation is logical and factual, based on Bainimarama's claims to the UN. They say it is for those linked to the leaders implicated by Bainimarama to challewnge the validity of his statement.

posted by Pacific in the Media at 12:54 AM 8 Comments Links to this post