Issue No: 668; 10 April 2001

Speaking at the launch of the ESCAP's Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2001 report, USP's Vice-Chancellor, Savenaca Siwatibau, who headed the ESCAP before joining USP, stated that Fiji is headed to a major disaster if the leaders do not put in place "sound social, economic and political policies".

Siwatibau is quoted by the media as saying that the batch of leaders Fiji has do not display the qualities to address our problems.

Problems include a lack of investor confidence, uncertainty over aid donations, lack of capital development, and continuing economic, social and political problems.

Siwatibau also stated that Fiji lacked the "qualities of good governance". He said: "The standard of our civil service and the calibre of our leaders just prove that Fiji is far form running under the principles of good governance".

He blamed bad governance for the current state of affairs and the deterioration in the quality of services provided by the public sector. He said: "I think some of these leaders are aiding and abetting it because I haven't heard any one leader since independence in Fiji telling us that we need to work harder".

Meanwhile, former Attorney General Sir Vijay R Singh has today slated the view that only ethnic Fijians can rule Fiji.

Writing in his column in today's Fiji Times, Sir Vijay stated that the government, as the largest enterprise in the nation, requires good managers and administrators. He posed the question: "Why is it that when it comes to preserving our liberty or life, each of us prefers the best lawyer or doctor or surgeon we can afford, regardless of his or her race, and yet, strangely, when it comes to the life and health of the State and welfare of all, some should prescribe an ethnocentric formulation as the magic cure?" He also stated: "The historical record militates against the current conventional wisdom that for an ethnic group to progress in a multicultural society, it must dominate the government and its policies".

Sir Vijay was a part of the government led by Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. Fiji has been ruled by ethnic Fijian leaders for all but one of its 30 year post-independent history. The Chaudhry Government had brought in major policy changes which laid the foundation to good governance and transparency. It had tabled a bill on Code of Conduct for politicians and civil servants. It had also tabled a bill on freedom of information. And it had put in place policy measures which would have seen an end to corruption and tax evasion.