Opposition parties
Timoci Gaunavinaka, Nausori
All opposition political parties know that winning the upcoming general election on their own is a farfetched conclusion.
They must form a united coalition to stand a chance of beating FijiFirst. But each of these political parties are built on political ideologies that are miles apart and some absolutely oppose each other to the core.
This means that their marriage under a coalition can only be superficial and nothing more. It will be like a couple going to their wedding where the only thing they both agree upon is to say no vows and make it up as they go along.
SODELPA wants to bring back Affirmative Action. This means that some iTaukei students with lower marks will get scholarships over students of other races with higher marks. I do not believe that National Federation, Fiji Labour Party, HOPE and Unity Fiji supporters will agree to that!
SODELPA wants to bring back the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) and give them more power. This would mean allowing iTaukei traditional influences and allegiances to influence voters instead of fair and good governance. This absolutely contradicts what NFP and FLP preaches.
Sitiveni Rabuka, who is the leader of the most dominant opposition party, will be the likely Prime Minister if they win. This would practically mean that any vote for Biman Prasad, Mahendra Chaudhry or for Savenaca Narube is actually a vote for Mr Rabuka. Are supporters of NFP, HOPE, Labour and Unity Fiji ok with that?
SODELPA, in its SDL days, were on the verge to install the “Qoliqoli Bill” transferring ownership of all waterways, coastal seas, rivers and their tributaries, dams like Monasavu and their catchment and etc. to Native Landowners from State. They will most likely do this if they come into power.
That will be like opening Pandora’s box with no limits to associated and relative iTaukei demands that may spring out of
Many privileges will be unfairly given to iTaukei over other races under Affirmative Action to justify SODELPA’s ‘iTaukei victimisation’ claim under FijiFirst’s Governance. Are all parties ok with that?
The same Mr Rabuka, under whose governance our National Bank of Fiji went bankrupt, will now be in charge of all the money and the thriving economy, which the Bainimarama Government took years to build. Are NFP, Labour, UFP and HOPE supporters ok with that?
Once in power, what is there to stop Mr Rabuka from collapsing our economy once again and blaming it on the previous Bainimarama Government’s loans as a cover up?
These are valid and vital questions that Mr Prasad, Mr Chaudhry, Tupou Draunidalo and Mr Narube must answer to their supporters now and not deliberately “guise” and pretend that they are nonissues.
What these politicians are not telling their supporters now is that their marriage after the election will compromise so much of their ‘ocean’ of differences making their various political party agendas and pre-election manifestos absolutely null and void.
As a professor in social science, Mr Prasad knows this too well. It is not rocket science. He can never reveal to his supporters before the election that he will combine with Mr Rabuka after the election.
He knows that to tell the truth will be a political suicide so he has taken the only option available to him to try and entice voters with an “imaginary” NFP single party victory that everyone knows will never happen.