Sunday, August 5, 2007

Deserving the Best

Ni Sa Bula,

After watching this evening's Close up , where the regime's Education (sic) Minister was pitted against the President of the Fijian Teachers Association, one of the striking unions, the idea of this post was born.

The Interim Minister, kept on rattling on about his "contingency plan" except when he detoured to rant about how he was an ex-officer (yeah..like that is something to be boast about) and how he always did thing to ensure success. Mr. Koroi ( the FTA President) was, however, calm, collected and evidently more intelligent, a fact borne out by the intellectual answers that he had for questions put to him by the show's host, and the regimes "head teacher".

The interesting point of all this (at least for me) was when Mr. Koroi was "accused" by the Interim Minister of "sabotaging the nation's education system". Now, the answer Mr. Koroi gave was the reason this post is here.

Mr. Koroi stated that his actions are not unequivocal, that he is carrying out the mandate of his members, a mandate that (if memory serves correctly) 79% of his members gave him by secret ballot. This makes him answerable to his members, who have the luxury (yes..in Fiji it is now a luxury) of voting him out if they don't agree with his modus operandi.

Now you have a twit, who along with the other twits in power now, are, to my immense chagrin, running the show. WHO ARE THEY RESPONSIBLE TO? WHO ARE THEY ANSWERABLE TO? If one was to believe Taniela Tabu, and it doesn't require a stretch of the imagination to do so, this government is answerable to the shadowy "Military Council" that is purportedly running this country.

Now, folks.....is this the best Fiji has to offer? Is this the best we can get, to manage the affairs of this nation? Are these people the smartest, the ablest, the wisest we have?

Not by a long shot.

How does being an officer qualify one to become a diplomat? A Commissioner of Police? A Prime Minister? Why should we suffer this outrage....of having substandard personnel running the affairs of this nation?

The difference between Mr. Koroi and Mr. Sukanaivalu brought home a real truth to me...that despite all it's faults, under a democratic system, the cream really does rise to the top. Granted people sometimes get it wrong, but not always, and seldom more than one. The current regime is an glaring example of this. We see their ineptitude in dealing with the strikes, with the sliding economy, with the dwindling tourist numbers, with the flailing sugar industry...the list just goes on and on.....

The real insult in this is that someone, somewhere, had the gall to think that they know what is best for us. The people best suited to choose who our leaders are, are we, the voters of this nation. We know what's best for us...and we know what we deserve. We do not need failed politicians, wannabee ministers, and in-it-for-the-money con artists telling us what we need.

Somebody once said " You can fool all the people some of the time, and you can fool some people all of the time, but you can't fool all the people all of the time!"

The time for being fools is over. This time, we need a better government. We deserve a better government. We deserve a government where our choices is reflected in the composition of our MPs. We deserve a chance to really shine. We can. And we will.........it's just a matter of when.

The FTA leadership is doing what it is supposed to do. It is standing up, and fighting for it's members, and protecting their interetst.

This government was not elected by any of us. Whose interests are they protecting?

God Bless Fiji,
Mawdsomething AKA Fijianblack

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fijian Black congratulations, your article is so inspiring and encouraging. I was unable to watch the Close Up because i was out. I would have really loved to watch those two together in 1 room.

I find your articles to be very well reasoned out, it shows good character on your part.

God Bless and Continue to Stay Safe.

Anonymous said...

Super presentation of last nights show,it clearly shows that one was presenting the mandate of his members and the other one was proudly flexing his ego and in campaign mode.

Anonymous said...

Bula vinaka and welcome back, Fijian Black.

Thanks for this post.

I take my hat off to Tevita Koroi for being astute, discerning and assertive in the debate on Close Up on national TV last night. His responses showed intelligence, maturity and confidence that came through in the logical and succinct explanations in response to the questions he was asked.

Apart from the points you have mentioned, I particularly liked his dig at the “unelected” (Dis) Honourable Minister when he said that he had been mandated to take the actions he has by his members who elected him 3 times into that position…not that it found its mark in the Minister… I had the feeling, this went over his head a bit. And not that Tevita set out to arouse, provoke or incite emotion – rather, he was very objective and level headed and, in the process, very clearly showed up the (dis)honourable minister for what he is…. A silly, posturing nincompoop who wouldn’t know the real meaning of leadership and strategic planning, if it hit him in the teeth (those teeth!), who resorted to emotional appeals e.g. the children’s future, etc (which were not effective at all), and grandiose sounding terms/ background e.g. Operations Team/Military background (o cei beka qori?) when he had no reasonable counter - arguments and who is (despite the many protests to the contrary) so vengeful and vindictive that he gives “born-again Christians” a bad name.

His advisers (who did not hand him the FTA letter – yeah, right! And who forgot to tell him that school holidays is leave that teachers are entitled to- with pay!) should have advised him against appearing in a live public debate with the more articulate and eloquent Tevita. We have seen too many examples recently of unscripted, impromptu media utterances and responses not to learn from the danger of exposing the level (or lack) of knowledge of the issues at hand.

If this - getting the minister to appear in Close Up - was a strategy to win the hearts and minds of the public… IT FAILED MISERABLY, I’m sorry to say. What it showed was yet another incompetent, rambling joke of an IG minister trying to sound cleverer and more compassionate than he really is. It was such a pathetic no-contest, that at the end, even the interviewer was giving the (very obvious) answers to the minister’s questions . OILEI – And this is supposed to be the Minister for Education!

Anonymous said...

I was hoping someone would put this up for those who didn't get to watch it like me. Great article and thanks Fijian Black for this.
Although I did watch that TV1 interview where Sukanaivalu identified himself as the father of all the school children of Fiji...oilei thanks but no thanks!!! For somebody who has taught them that they can do anything with the use of a gun..I'd be happy if the children stick with their biological and Heavenly father.

Anonymous said...

Well said Fijian Black!

Anonymous said...

We all know Tevita Koroi supported the 2000 coup. I still remember the Blue Day, when FTA said they supported the interim regime then. FTA then accepted the 20% pay cut by Qarase. So why the cry now? Smell something? Yes, racism.