The Fiji Times

‘FLP government Prof Prasad labelled ‘king of will remove Qorvis’ emojis’

- By FELIX CHAUDHARY By SITERI SAUVAKACOL­O

A FIJI Labour Party government will get rid of internatio­nal public relations firm Qorvis.

Leader and former prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said this while unveiling the party’s manifesto recently.

He said there was no need to spend money on an internatio­nal PR company when there were local companies that were more than capable of doing the work.

“Cost is one factor,” Mr

Chaudhry said.

“Fiji does not need to pay $1 million a year to an overseas PR company to do public relations work for us. I believe we have PR companies in Fiji quite capable of handling whatever government’s needs are.”

He claimed Qorvis was hired in the first place to prop up the internatio­nal image of Fiji and its leader Voreqe Bainimaram­a after the 2006 coup.

“My government did its own PR work through the Informatio­n Ministry.”

FIJIFIRST leader Voreqe Bainimaram­a has labelled Professor Biman Prasad the ‘king of emojis’ and says that he does not understand what is going to happen if land in Fiji is converted back to freehold.

He said this to Nadi residents who turned up at a party rally in Nawaka, Nadi, last weekend.

A week ago in Nausori’s Syria Park, Bainimaram­a said political parties making promises to return freehold land bought with “guns and axes” to iTaukei landowners would cause widespread bloodshed.

“I mentioned that in Syria Park and the king of emoji, Biman, said that was not the right thing to do,” Mr Bainimaram­a said.

“Because he does not understand what’s going to happen if we do that.

“E levu na vakilakila, ira sega ni kila na ka a yaco na 1987 kei na 2000, (There’s too much of people who think they know it all, they do not actually know what happened in 1987 and the year 2000.)

“Maybe he’s a rich Indo-Fijian, when all hell breaks loose, the poor canefarmer will get it, but not him, and he’ll catch the next flight and go home to Australia and NZ.”

Mr Bainimaram­a pleaded with the Fijians who were present at the rally to be wary of what they were told during this election campaign period.

The FijiFirst leader said some political parties were just looking for iTaukei votes and this was why they brought up issues surroundin­g land and were coming up with all the lies.

The PM has come under attack from all Opposition political party leaders for his statements on the return of freehold land because they said he has not identified or provided evidence on who said it.

They said the PM was not addressing everyday challenges faced by ordinary Fijians but using fear tactics to try and win voters.

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