NASAIBITU VILLAGERS
DUPED IN STUDENT SCAM
Nasaibitu villagers from Wainibuka, Tailevu, were yesterday still wondering how they were caught up in an alleged scam. Police are looking for a woman who is believed to be behind the alleged scam.
The villagers were falsely informed that Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama would distribute education grants at Albert Park, in Suva, on Tuesday this week (January 16). A woman from the village was supposedly going to receive a scholarship grant to study in the United Kingdom.
Nasaibitu Village elder Waisea Turagalailai, 64, said when they arrived at Parliament, they asked the security guard about the so called event. The guard said he knew nothing about it.
Mr Bainimarama said he did not know the full story, but he suspected it could be someone in the Opposition who wanted to discredit him and the FijiFirst Government.
“We don’t really understand everything, there were a good number of us, some from here and some from Nasautoka,” Mr Turagalailai said. “We were told the PM wanted them (Nasautoka villagers) there to come and perform a meke at the event.”
He said they were excited to be witnesses of the event and see her take her scholarship.
He said the woman was to study law, lands, minerals at an English university. But the PM did not come, he claimed.
Later in the afternoon, they were allegedly told a vehicle from the Republic of the Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) was to pick them and take them to the Queen Elizabeth Barracks in Nabua to spend the night. But the RFMF has denied any knowledge of it.
After a long day that started at 11am the villagers finally called it a day. At 9pm, they called the three carriers that brought them to Suva and took them back to the village.
He added the family of the woman had apologised to the villagers and they had accepted it.
Parents of Mary Vilimoni and Ema Muriduadua yesterday spoke on how the family had to go through the process of running around for their daughter, Mary’s scholarship.
“It wasn’t a scam, we checked everything, the student helper kept calling, and we told her (Mary) to follow the proper channel,” they said.
Nasaibitu villagers in Wainibuka, Tailevu, had first-hand experience about the impact of fake news this week. Acting on fake information given to them, they came to Albert Park in Suva to attend a supposed ceremony where the Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama, was to dish out grants.
Three carrier-loads of villagers, costing $1200, arrived in the capital and discovered hours later that they have been duped.
No ceremony was supposed to be held and no grants were supposed to be issued.
Whoever was responsible for this fake news must be held to account because this a serious issue.
The motive behind it is not known. At the moment it can only be speculated until the Police have completed their investigations.
With the campaign being escalated in the run-up to the general election, we hope it was not politically motivated. Because if it was, then it is gutter-level politics designed to discredit Mr Bainimarama.
At the moment there is fake news doing the rounds, particularly on social media. Some are not necessarily about politics, but nevertheless their impact on the lives of people affected can be disastrous.
In the case of Nasaibitu villagers, they wasted a whole day waiting for the PM to turn up. Up till yesterday they had not paid the transport costs to the carrier owners.
The other disturbing aspect of this case is how easily people accept information without verifying their authenticity.
The verification process is crucial if we do not want to get disappointed or hurt.
In the coming weeks, political campaigns and rallies will intensify. Expect an information overload. What we need to do is to sift through the information and isolate fact from fiction.
We saw in the 2014 general election the misinformation spread by some politicians to score cheap political points.
While we exhort all our politicians to be honest and truthful in their campaigns, sometimes some of them distort facts on issues to suit their political agenda.
The Nasaibitu villagers’ experience is a wake-up call for all of us to be vigilant in ensuring that we are getting the right information.
We cannot be naïve and accept information without checking its validity.
Otherwise, we can only blame ourselves. The other side of the coin, of course, is the victim. In the Nasaibitu case, the PM has been maligned.
As the Police continue their investigations, let us not allow ourselves to be manipulated and exploited by selfserving individuals to achieve their selfish motives.