Nepotism, backstabbing an age-old sickness

BACKSTABBING and nepotism within the Fiji Police Force were familiar to former assistant police commissioner Henry Brown while serving in the force.

Speaking as a guest on The Fiji Times online portal, TheLens@177, Mr Brown said “this was an age-old sickness within the force”.

Mr Brown, who served in the police force for more than 30 years, was removed from his senior position in 2016 over allegations of corruption.

“It’s been there,” said Mr Brown. “Competition for positions, nepotism creeps in and who you know.”

Mr Brown said the problem worsened when military officers were assigned to the Force.

“When we started having military police commissioners, this cycle got a bit intense.

“People tried to outdo each other. People got sacked for just having coffee with the wrong person at the wrong place.

“People not attending prayer sessions, so people started snitching on each other.

“It became a norm. You stepped on each other to climb to the top and people were not promoted on merit.”

He said this also affected other officers’ work.

“You might have a sergeant sitting at a sergeant’s station level and you do not know the sergeant’s work and the rest of the people will suffer because the decision maker is not able to make the right decisions.

“It’s been an old sickness in the force. “I hope (Acting Police Commissioner) Juki can weed this out.”

In response, acting Police Commissioner Juki Fong Chew said all the claims made by Mr Brown were true.

He said they were working hard to clean up the force.

“These things happen when there is a lack of trust within and certain groups focusing on their own personal agendas,” said Mr Chew.