Fiji Board Exiles blog site has an interesting exchange on 2007 Name and Shame list. Some of the members are dying (old Dr Senilagakali, Inosi Tawakedrau, Josateki Nawalowalo, Rodney Acraman). Then there’s those who were appointed and then sacked by the regime or fell out of favour – a long list. Dr Mohammed Shamshudean Sahu Khan; Mahendra Pal Chaudhry; Shaista Shameem; Lt. Col. Tevita ‘Ului’ Mara; Colonel Pita Driti; Epeli Ganilau; Manu Korovulavula; Mahendra Motibhai Patel; Jokapeci Koroi; Posed Bune; Felix Anthony; Daniel Urai Manufolau; Bernadette Rounds-Ganilau; Rajendra Chaudhry; Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi; ]one Navakamocea; Tevita Vuibau; Jainend Kumar; Netani Sukanaivalu.  Have we missed any? Who will be next?

Fiji freedom blog site Fiji Today has flagged the idea that the military regime has plans to allow expatriate citizens and passport holders to vote overseas in Fiji elections. Some in the regime understand well that one of the few reliable areas of support that the regime can count on is the expatriate, largely Indo-Fijian population who were victims of previous coups. This raises many questions about what should be the residential qualifications for voting and in what electorates would such votes should be counted. Add to this the fact that the regime has introduced dual citizenship and started selling citizenship to former citizens and you have a recipe for dredging up feelings from earlier coups.

We at FDN believe that veteran blogger, Navosavakadua, posting on Fiji Today’s Blog, may have put his finger on it when he suggests that the dictator, Voreqe Bainimarama, is losing control of the constitutional consultation process. This is because it is Professor Yash Ghai, not Bainimarama, who is spelling out the timeframe for the consultation process and, presumably, of the eventual election. As Navosavakadua writes: “Yash Ghai has made it clear he will listen to all points of view and he may well recommend things Bainimarama doesn’t want to hear. He’s told the regime to get rid of all the constraints on freedom of speech. Despite being close to Khaiyum, Yash Ghai is no stooge.” Yes folks, that’s the truth. So, have Frank and Aiyaz found themselves riding a tiger that they can only dismount by publicly abandoning their pretence of working towards the staging of free and fair elections in 2014?

We at FDN always value the wise words of veteran blogger, `Keep The Faith” and his thoughts on Prof Yash Ghai’s latest announcement are no exception: ‘Exhibit No 5: “He reiterated his own view that it is time for a review of laws which might be restrictive”. And here we get to the heart of the matter. In Ghai’s ‘own view’ it is time to compel We The People into committing treason and spitting in the face of the Court of Appeal ruling of 2009. People of Fiji, before you are led down the garden path by the nose, at the whim of those grappling with the ‘how to’s’ of a quick getaway from the gallows, make a fully informed decision of the options before you. The most compelling evidence you have before you is the fruit of treason cascading from 05 December 2006 (mindful also of the residual fruits of treason from 2000 and 1987) vis-a-vis the flat-lined economy which in very real terms translates to whether you can have a roof over your head, three square meals a day, pay your bills and have some leftover to spare.”