3 army only

July 28, 2012 | Filed under: Fiji News | Posted by: newsroom
By Maika Bolatiki

There are only three army officers working for Government.


And they are the Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF), Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama who is the Prime Minster, and two Personal Staff Officers (PSO) to the Commander RFMF, Major Penioni Naliva and Major Aseri Rokoura.

This revelation was made to the Fiji Sun by Prime Minister Commodore Bainimarama at Nubuyanitu Village in Navosa yesterday.

“Let me make it clear to the public that there are only three military officers now working in Government and that includes me as Commander and Prime Minister, and the two Personal Staff Officers to the Commander RFMF,” Prime Minister Commodore Bainimarama said.


He said all other officers had resigned from the RFMF and had become civilians and have joined the Territorial Force.

However, he reminded the public that these officers, even though they have resigned, they still carry with them their ranks.

“All these officers are now in the civil service payroll and their names had been totally removed from the RFMF payroll.”

The Prime Minister said political parties, some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Government critics had been misinforming the public about this issue.

He said his office had been ciriticised by critics about military officers in Government.

Some, he said, had said that the Government had been militarised.


“Let me assure all that we now have a civilian Government.”


The Prime Minister said he had to make this clarification because many politicians would be making this an issue during their election campaign.


He said the civil service was made up of many military officers who had joined the TF and this included the President, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau.

The Prime Minister said there had been a lot of discussions on the matter but now he sincerely hoped this would be put to rest as they had all resigned from the RFMF.

As of now, he says, this is a non-issue.