President’s Mandate: A Potpourri of Agendas

Everything Baini Marama and his bunch of merry men do is done in the name of the President’s Mandate.

Illegal AG I-Arse Khaiyum’s model answer to every question asked of him about the actions of his illegal IG is that everything done “is consistent with the President’s Mandate”.

Many people would be asking themsleves now what the hell is the President’s Mandate anyway?

When did the President give it?

And what does it say?

According to FijiGovernmentOnline, the President’s Mandate is:-

(1) To continue to uphold the Constitution;

(2) Where necessary facilitate all legal protection and immunity, both criminal and civil, to the Commander, Officers and all members of the RFMF;

(3) Give effect to the actions of the RFMF including the respective suspensions, dismissals and temporary removal from office of civil servants, CEO’s, those appointed by the Judicial Services and Constitutional Services Commissions, the Judiciary and Government appointed Board members;

(4) Steady our economy through sustained economic growth and correct the economic mismanagement of the past 6 years;

(5) Lift up the living standards of the growing poor and underprivileged of our country;

(6) Restructure the NLTB to ensure more benefits flow to the ordinary indigenous Fijians;

(7) Eradicate systematic corruption by including the setting up of an anti-corruption unit through the Attorney General’s Office and set new standards of Governmental and institutional transparency;

(8) Improve our relations with our neighbors and the international community;

(9) Take our country to democratic elections after an advanced electoral office and systems are in place and the political and economic conditions are conducive to the holding of such elections;

(10) Immediately as practicable introduce a Code of Conduct and Freedom of Information provisions; and

(11) Give paramountcy to national security and the territorial integrity of Fiji.

If the actions and words of the military IG are anything to go by, the above 11 directives from the President and Commander-in-Chief of the FMF is the new Holy Bible for all soldiers and appointees (and would be appointees) to the IG.

Everything they do must be consistent with the President’s Mandate.

Lets review the Mandate then, shall we?

Clearly, the military are having some difficulty with Mandate No (1) because the Constitution does not say anything about carrying out a coup. In fact, the establishment and continued existence of a military IG is by its very nature, unconstitutional.

Mandate No (2) was obviously slipped in there by Baini Marama henchman Rupeni Nacuva. The Immunity Decree they promulgated for themsleves is unfortunately worthless given that the President has no legal power (Constitutional or otherwsie) to grant immunity from prosecution. I understand that is a power given to the DPP.

Mandate No (3) essentially gave Baini Marama, Epeli “gusu va ika” and Epeli “I want to be VP” the green light to put together a “Hate List” of every Fijian who has worked hard and achieved some success in their lives and replace them with unqualified bankrupts and opportunists (themselves included) whose only qualification was their membership in the NPAF or friednship to Baini. This is the work of the green-eyed monster (ie. envy) at its worst.

Maha Chodo clearly had a hand in drafting Mandate No (4). Recognise the words? You should, it came straight out of Chodo’s campaign speech. Shame. Shame.

Mandate No (5) has already been broken by the military IG. By reducing wages by 5 percent and retiring everyone over 55 years, they are effectively pushed thousands of people below the poverty line, or worse out of a job, thus increasing poverty in Fiji.

Mandate No (6) is something Epeli “gusu va ika” has had on his personal agenda for sometime now. He wants to get back at the incumbent Tui Cakau Rt Naiqama Lalabalavu for winning the hearts and minds of the people of Cakaudrove. HnC understands this has always been a source of huge embarrssment to Epeli….. Gooood Luck! As for the NLTB review, not suprisingly they put a bankrupt army officer in charge of the review so I guess they don’t mind the paradox of placing a fox in charge of the Hen House.

Mandate No (7) is the brainchild of Maha Chodo. The idea was sold to Baini sometime in 2003 around the time the contraversial Bills were being discussed. Unfortunately, we are almost 8 months into the coup and there has been NO EVIDENCE of the “widescale corruption” claimed by Baini Marama and Maha Chodo. Methinks these two Nuts may have made this whole thing up to grapb power. But then we all know that don’t we!

Mandate No (8) was thrown out the window around the same time Baini threw out NZ High Commissioner Michael Green. Everytime I hear Khaiyum talking about carrying out the President’s Mandate, I wished to God some sharp reporter would ask him about this particular mandate.

When interpreted by the warped minds in the FMF and the IG, Mandate No (9) gives the military IG the authority and the justification to remain in power until the cows come home. This was definitely one introduced by Mr Dictator himself - Voreqe “I want to be in power forever” Baini Marama.

As for Mandate No (10), methinks the military IG have not even started thinking about the “Code of Conduct” yet. Here again, the IG is having difficulty - because they are comprised of a bunch of lying, cheating, immoral, self-promoting idiots and they’re finding it difficult for them to make rules to govern their own behaivour. Exit - TI Fiji.

Mandate No (11) must be the brainchild of Pita “read between the lines” Driti. This was his source of legitimacy for the continued unlawful extensions to the Public Emergency Regulations which we were forced to suffer for the several months immediately following 5/12.

HnC believes it is important for people to know what this “Mandate” is all about because you hear it used on TV and in the newspapers everyday.

By reading the above, it hoped that you can figure out for yourselves whether this IG has been following the mandate or using it as an excuse to justify some of their more unpalatable decisions.

At the end of the day, you as a citizen of Fiji should know that, whatever their justifications, the IG know that the President’s Mandate is ALL ILLEGAL anyway.

As pointed out by Dr Brij Lal, they must remember that under the Westminister system which we subscribe to, the President has no “mandate” to give.

The Constitution says that the President can ONLY ACT ON THE ADVICE of an ELECTED Government.

Dr Lal said that “if for some reason, such as a coup or a civil disaster, the elected government cannot give advice, the Head of State assumes the power to do all he can to return the country to normalcy.”

He said the “mandate” that the interim administration is claiming is so wide ranging and so sweeping that it will take them years to accomplish and would effectively give an “entirely new meaning to the word ‘INTERIM’”.

On another note, HnC says the military and its puppet IG should take care and have more respect for the Turaga Na Tui Vuda.

By continuing to say that they do everything in accordance with the “Mandate” of His Excellency The President - which His Excellency gave on the bad advice of Baini’s legal people anyway - that are effectively blaming him for all our suffering.

This is unfortunate because we all know, the President didn’t write that Mandate.

The actions of Baini and Khaiyum are therefore shameless and disrespectful and Rupeni Nacewa should be very careful how he handles the situation.

At the end of the day, Nacewa is there to PROTECT the President not to expose him to constitutional illegalities, public resentment and ridicule.

When this all over, Rupeni Nacewa will have to explain his actions to the people of Vuda and what an explanation that will have to be.

On that day, if Nacewa is not careful, he will be breaking Baini’s cross country record (and not by choice)!

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