In a passionate defence of the People’s Alliance-led coalition government, former Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica took to the floor of Parliament yesterday, crediting Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka’s leadership with resurrecting genuine democracy after nearly two decades of what he called “democracy in name only.”
Kamikamica, now a backbencher, reflected on the coalition’s achievements since coming to power in 2022.
“Honourable Speaker, when you reflect on what this side of the house, through the leadership of the Honourable Prime Minister, has done, it boils down to one simple sentence: we have brought back the real democracy to Fiji,” Kamikamica sai.
He contrasted the current administration with the previous FijiFirst government, accusing it of fostering an “atmosphere of fear” through restrictive media laws.
“Sadly, and with utmost due respect to the other side of the house, over the last 16 years – or 18 years, or whatever number of years you want to talk about – democracy existed in name only,” he said.
“Media was muzzled. There were restrictions on media. The Media Industry Development Act – MIDA – was basically creating an avenue, an atmosphere of fear in this country. People could not report properly.”
“In our first sitting, formal sitting in Parliament after the maiden speeches, we removed MIDA. We threw it into the dustbin of history, where MIDA belongs.”
The former DPM also condemned outdated electoral laws that disadvantaged women voters.
“We threw also into the dustbin of history the laws that restricted women’s votes. It was quite embarrassing, Honourable Speaker. Women were forced to go and change their birth certificates to choose between their maiden name and their married name – and this was all preordained, for obvious reasons.”
