Parmesh Chand downplays civil service "reforms"

The illegal and treasonous Permanent Secretary for the Public Service Commission (PSC), Pamesh Chand takes to the military regime's publicly funded propaganda airwaves, in Bainimarama's absence, to conveniently downplay their first round of redundancies.

In a semantic performance that only they as military regime foot-soldiers excel in, Chand states that the reforms is not solely about only redundancies or "right-sizing" but that serving the the taxpayers better is the ultimate objective. Rrrright. His past promises on the sugar front speak directly to the trustworthiness (or lack thereof), of his abilities.

Note to superannuation fund owners: If we really want to understand why there is so much pressure on our pension funds, we might want to start looking back to 2009 when the illegal and treasonous military regime implemented the forced retirement of over-55ers from the civil service (also implemented under Parmesh Chand's & Aisake Taito's watch). The military regime in commending the savings to government expenditure through this "right-sizing", may not have considered how these forced exits would naturally influence an unplanned for hemorrhaging of our pension funds as we highlighted earlier.

With this next round of civil service culls, we should expect more pressure on our pension fund.

Misconception over civil service reforms
Monday, July 04, 2011

The Public Service Commission has emphasized that the civil service reforms does not mean laying-off civil servants.

PSC Permanent Secretary, Pramesh Chand told FBC News that a lot of people have a misconception of the civil service reforms which is currently underway.

He says while rightsizing is part of the reforms it is not the primary objective.

“The civil service reforms are progressing very well – it is important to however point out that reforms are not all about downsizing or to some extent to laying-off people – it is however to deal with rightsizing but in many ways reforms are about seeing how best the public’s expectations for better services can be provided”

Chand says the priority of the reform which is progressing effectively is to produce the best services for the people.

Report by: Dev Sachindra

Civil Service redundancies commence

As we foresaw in March, while the illegal and treasonous Bainimarama lives it up with his family to watch netball in Singapore, almost 100 cleaning staff at the CWM hospital have been left in the lurch and will be without jobs. 

It appears that this is the beginning of a wider redundancy sweep within the civil service.

97 cleaning staff at CWM made redundant
Publish date/time: 02/07/2011 [10:28]

Ninety-seven cleaning service staff of the CWM hospital have been made redundant.

This has been confirmed by the Ministry of Health Spokesperson, Peni Namotu who said a new Health Housekeeping Services Co-operative has come on board to provide cleaning services at the CWM.

Namotu said while some employers have joined the new housekeeping company, all 97 staff have been given redundancy packages as part of the outsourcing.

A memorandum of agreement was signed between Ministry of Health and the cleaning services company last week.

Story by: Praneeta Deo

Now we know why Major Ned Taito was wrongly put there.

It would not be surprising at all if this new cleaning service company is found to have links to the military regime's security firm Homelink which already has "secured" contracts with Fiji Water, the State Pharmacy, (possibly) the airports, and even the FNPF.

If that's not enough, while Bainimarama enjoys his family reunion on taxpayers funds, he also leaves behind the issue of the massive amount owing to Qantas; an open-ended stand-off with irate pensioners on proposed reforms to the monopolistic superannuation fund FNPF; the continuous f*ck-ups drama's within the sugar industry and now a spat within the telecommunications sector.

On the recent telecommunications row, the Commerce Commission chair, the illegal and treasonous Dr Mahendra Reddy, calls out FINTEL as being naughty. What he conveniently fails to mention is that both Telecom Fiji and FINTEL are owned by the people of Fiji -- and that this is just the tip of the iceberg with the illegal and treasonous military regimes growing inability to manage the servicing of their equally growing debts.

Ratu Tevita Mara: July 1st 2011 in Fiji – The Haves and Have Nots

July 1^st 2011 sums up exactly what is wrong with the military dictatorship running Fiji.

July 1^st was the day announced 6 weeks ago that would see pensions slashed from 25% to 9%. 

Instead July 1^st passed without any announcement from FNPF or the dictator about what was happening with Pensions.

The Pensioners of Fiji have been left in the dark about how much of their hard earned money they will be given in July. They cannot budget; they do not know whether they can buy fresh fish or tinned tuna. They do not know whether they can eat or whether they starve; they do not know whether they will get 25% or 9%.

In contrast, on July 1^st the dictator Bainimarama flew from Nadi airport on Korean Air on his way to Singapore. He of course was flying first class with all of his family. For him the choice was not whether he could afford to put meat on the table this Sunday but which Champagne he should have before takeoff and whether to sip a different vintage with his appetizer.

Taking such a trip now demonstrates Bainimarama has no respect for the people of Fiji. He claims to be Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, but instead of worrying about the poor pensioners and informing them of his plans, he jets off on another expensive jaunt. He could not care less about the people of Fiji so long as they fund his jet set life style.

This trip is conservatively estimated to cost over $40,000. That does not include the security guards he feels obliged to take with him.

The questions I and the pensioners of Fiji want answered is how can a man who claims to be only earning the Commander’s salary of the RFMF ($96,276) can afford to spend nearly half on a holiday.

We already know the answer. He can afford it because he and his puppet master, Khaiyum, are both earning more than $700,000 a year in salaries secretly paid to them by Khaiyum’s Aunty, Nur Bano Ali.

This little snapshot of a day in the life of Fiji highlights exactly what is wrong in being ruled by a dictator. The contrast is clear between the rich and the poor, the oppressor and the Oppressed. Bainimarama should remember Fiji belongs to all of us and not just to two people.

It is time for a change. We will have democracy, we will have a new government and we will have them soon.

Thumbs up for Democracy

2^nd July

Ratu Tevita Mara

FNPF Board Chair sends his CEO out to the firing squad

Despite public pressure - those truly public and those pretending to be so - the superannuation fund, FNPF Board sends their CEO, Aisake Taito, to be the token face of the body that faces up to the firing squad.

Aisake Taito has stated what we already knew. That the illegal and treasonous reforms to the FNPF would go ahead. And he even irrationally tries to appease irate superannuation fund owners by sweetening the deal.

While Taito tussles with the public on this front, the FNPF Board Chair, Sri Lankan Ajith Kodagoda, is having his own behind the scenes electronic tussles with some annoyed members.

Even while that drama unfolds, Bainimarama's illegal and treasonous military regime is now forced to face up to a huge IOU totalling $FJD70 mill to Qantas airlines.

Qantas, Fiji deadlock over buyout of Air Pacific stake
Ross Kelly
From: Dow Jones Newswires
July 01, 2011 10:27AM

AUSTRALIA'S Qantas Airways is struggling to persuade the government of the tropical South Pacific islands of Fiji to pay $FJD70 million ($37.1m) to buy out its stake of national carrier Air Pacific.

According to a copy of the proposal from Qantas sent to the Fijian government last year and seen by Dow Jones Newswires, the Australian airline recommends that Fiji may cancel new aircraft orders; sell and lease back aircraft; refinance a plane hangar; and sell the Sofitel Hotel on Fiji's Denarau Island to fund the acquisition of the 46.3 per cent of Air Pacific owned by Qantas. Fiji's government is the largest shareholder in Air Pacific with a 51 per cent stake.

Alan Joyce, chief executive of Qantas, said in a recent interview: "We're still talking to the Fijian government about the future shareholding.

"Those dialogues will continue but there's nothing more we have to say on that at the moment." Mr Joyce declined to comment on the terms of the offer.

But more than one year since the sale was first raised with the government of Fiji, Qantas is no closer to securing a deal.

The offer comes as Australia's biggest airline rejigs its loss-making international flights business to focus on more profitable routes and amid strained diplomatic relations between Fiji's unelected military government and Australia.

Air Pacific once dominated the lucrative traffic into Fiji, a remote archipelago known for its palm-shaded sandy beaches that attract throngs of tourists. But the airline has struggled to compete since the arrival in 2009 of Virgin Australia and Qantas' low-cost offshoot, Jetstar.

Fiji is only prepared to pay a fraction of what Qantas is demanding for the stake and is concerned about the code-share element of the deal, people familiar with the negotiations told Dow Jones Newswires. One person said that Fiji wanted to pay Qantas about $FJD1 per share for the Air Pacific stake, compared with about $FJD5.50 Qantas is asking for.

As part of its written proposal, Qantas said it would continue to sell space on Air Pacific-operated services to Australia, New Zealand and the US, and jointly develop a code-share mechanism that remunerates each party for placing traffic on each other's planes.

Qantas also offered to step down from Air Pacific's board and said it would be "pleased to provide" two Qantas executives, Simon Hickey and Paul Edwards, as "advisers" to Air Pacific.

Fiji's Attorney-General and Minister for Tourism, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, told Dow Jones Newswires that Qantas has offered to sell the Fiji government its shares. He said that Qantas informed the government earlier this year that "their offer to sell in excess of $FJD$70 million has not changed".
Air Pacific posted net loss of $FJD65.3m in the year to March 2010, and blamed fare-slashing from Jetstar and Virgin, but revenue was also pressured by the global financial crisis, flooding in Fiji and losses on fuel hedging.

Air Pacific chairman Nalin Patel didn't return calls and deputy chairman Aslam Khan referred inquiries back to the Attorney-General.

Diplomatic relations between Australia and Fiji hit a low point late in 2009 when both countries expelled each other's diplomats.

Bottled-drink company Fiji Water in November closed its operations on the island, citing a huge tax increase.

News Corporation, which owns The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, in September sold its Fiji Times newspaper to a domestic owner after the government insisted that its media companies be owned by Fijian businesses.

Fiji's Prime Minister, Commodore Josaia Voreque Bainimarama, came to power in a 2006 coup.