Bainimarama Puts Rabuka, Narube in Spotlight Again
The political party campaigns have reached yet another level of politics. This time, FijiFirst leader, Voreqe Bainimarama is calling the 1997 Constitution racist.
Why vote for Rabuka
At the party rally in Vusuya, Tailevu, yesterday, Mr Bainimarama said: “In the last elections, I know that most of you here voted for Rabuka in 2018, especially the iTaukeis.
“I want to ask you all why you voted for Rabuka because he has done nothing for this area yet you all voted for him in the last elections. “In 2014, many of you voted for me but in the last election your support shifted to Rabuka. This was the same in Nakelo.
“None of you has missed out from the benefits that FijiFirst have put out. There’s free bus fare, school fees and $100 for oldies. No one has been left behind by the FijiFirst Government.
Mr Bainimarama said he knew most of the voters in Vusuya voted for Mr Rabuka in the last elections. He questioned them on what development and assistance had Mr Rabuka given them.
“I know why you all are voting for Rabuka,” he said.
“[Track] record for Rabuka is that most companies fell under his leadership including the National Bank of Fiji. The 1997 Constitution boasted by him and Biman is a racist constitution,” he said.
“I want them to hear me and see me from the live video saying that the 1997 Constitution is racist. iTaukei lands were not protected unlike the 2013 Constitutions.
“In the 1997 Constitution, we stood in four to five different lines during elections; this was according to your race. That’s what the 1997 constitution does to us, it separates us.
When approached for comments, the leader for The People’s Alliance, Mr Rabuka, said he did not want to lower his level to that of Mr Bainimarama’s.
“You are looking for an opinion,” Mr Rabuka said.
“He stated something which I refute. I do not want to go into a personal debate and lower my level to his level.”
Unity Fiji under FijiFirst spotlight
Unity Fiji leader, Savenaca Narube, was also under the spotlight of Mr Bainimarama’s campaign.
Mr Bainimarama claimed that while campaigning in Tailevu, Mr Narube had called on voters to never let a corrupt government into power.
“I heard while Narube was campaigning somewhere here there was a man whining or crying. I don’t know whether he was crying for Narube,” he said.
“Anyway, Narube was saying that we should never let a corrupt government come in. I think he meant this man here (pointing at the billboard of NFP leader Biman Prasad).
“I think not only that man but his partner in crime Rabuka, all bunches of corrupt people,” he said.
But Mr Narube does not remember making such a statement. Mr Narube also did not recall having a campaign in Tailevu as claimed by Mr Bainimarama.