Four years ago, soon after a few of us had helped Sitiveni Rabuka (People’s Alliance Party), Professor Biman Prasad (NFP) and Bill Gavoka (SODELPA) win the 2022 Elections, I had written a one pager (“Steve: A Fijian movie for the ages”) as the last reading for my paperback Volume 4 (Towards a Decent Fiji).
I had pointed out the extraordinary tale of Mr Rabuka, a Third-in-Command in the RFMF, carrying out a coup in 1987, removing at gun-point the democratically elected Government of the late Timoci Bavadra, Mahendra Chadahry and the late Jai Ram Reddy; imposing the racially biased 1990 Constitution under which he became Prime Minister and then reforming.
Mr Rabuka had an incredible change of heart in the mid-‘90s. In co-operation with NFP’s Jai Ram Reddy, Mr Rabuka’s SVT sponsored the Reeves Commission and passed the resulting 1997 Constitution through both Houses of Parliament.
In partnership with NFP, Mr Rabuka then fought the 1999 elections which SVT sadly lost as did all of NFP (including myself) wiped out because the electoral system (the Alternative Vote System) was just not proportional and Indo-Fijian voters hated NFP partnering with the coup maker.
Soon after the 2000 coup and mutiny, Mr Rabuka then went into the political wilderness for 20 years.
But, as had no other political leader anywhere in the world, Mr Rabuka again fought the December 2022 Elections, in partnership with NFP again, but now under the leadership of Professor Biman Prasad.
With the help of 5 seats from NFP and 3 seats from SODELPA, Mr Rabuka just barely became Prime Minister by 1 vote on the floor of parliament. Wow. What a fairy tale, I thought.
But already by the end of 2023 my one pager was warning “Unfortunately, Rabuka’s role in Fiji is taking a far more questionable role than the progressive one I had hoped for soon after the 2022 Elections”. Sadly, in the last three years, Mr Rabuka has engaged in betrayal after betrayal.
By October 2026, he has been belatedly trying to impose his own brand of constitution using utterly questionable undemocratic means in Parliament. He is again tarnishing his reputation and place in the history of Fiji.
It is utterly unclear why Mr Rabuka is doing so. Is he listening to a bunch of advisers and hangers on who have no idea of the right thing to do?
But all is not lost yet for Mr Rabuka since all that the public are asking for is that all constitutional changes be left to the next Government formed after the next general elections, when the members of Parliament, with or without Mr Rabuka, will genuinely represent the majority of voters of Fiji. The current parliament does not represent the majority of voters of Fiji.
But first I cover some of Mr Rabuka’s unnecessary betrayals over the last three years (I leave aside the Ashton Lewis Commission of Inquiry and scandals such as bloating their own salaries and perks).
Rabuka’s betrayal of the 2025 Electoral Law Reform Commission
It is horrifying that despite Mr Rabuka himself belatedly appointing the 2025 Fiji Electoral Laws Commission chaired by former Chief Justice Daniel Fatiaki (and comprising Professor Wadan Narsey, Dr Deidre Brooks and Seini Nabou), he embargoed their Report and refused to even table it in Parliament.
That Report, backed by solid community wide consultations throughout Fiji paid for by taxpayers, was presented in July 2025 with its recommended electoral system easily implementable for the 2027 Elections.
Why did Mr Rabuka not release the report? Did he and his advisers think that the 2013 Electoral system would suit Mr Rabuka better? No one knows.
Rabuka’s Betrayal of the 2026 Constitution Review Commission of Inquiry
In early 2026, Mr Rabuka belatedly appointed a Constitution Review Commission chaired by PAP official Sevuloni Valenitabua and with a genuinely multi-racial composition. Their report was delivered to the President by August 2026.
Then in no time at all, a Constitution Amendment Bill was presented to Parliament, but with numerous critical changes from what was in the 2026 CRC Report, with no explanation:
· why these changes had been made?;
· on whose advice?; and
· who exactly made the decisions on the changes?
Mr Rabuka and his chosen few have since been making “public consultations” to justify their report, when clearly, the 2025 Electoral Law Reform Commission and the 2026 Constitution Review Commission had already done the thorough public consultations underlying their reports.
The Constitution Amendment Bill has “passed” its required First and Second Readings and the Third Reading is now due in a few weeks time.
How revealing that Mr Rabuka has effectively neutralised or rather co-opted the Chair of the 2026 CRC (Sevuloni Valenitabua) by appointing him as Attorney-General who will now rubberstamp whatever Mr Rabuka wants.
Rabuka’s Betrayal of NFP (and Professor Prasad) and SODELPA
Both NFP and SODELPA have expressed their opposition to the Constitution Amendment Bill being rammed through Parliament.
Political observers all know what a huge risk was taken by Prof Prasad in having a partnership before the 2022 Election with the 1987 coup leader who caused so much suffering and grief to the Indo-Fijian population, leading to the 1999 elimination of NFP from Parliament.
Unlike his ministerial colleagues in Parliament, Prof Prasad had a great remunerative USP academic career which he sacrificed in order to serve in Parliament these last twelve years.
In the last three years Prof Prasad has had to endure countless attacks on his personal integrity because of his partnership with Mr Rabuka.
But Prof Prasad and his NFP MPs have persevered and together with SODELPA, were crucial in making Mr Rabuka Prime Minister again.
Which is why it is utterly disgraceful that in the last few weeks, Mr Rabuka has threatened NFP and SODELPA MPs with a loss of their Cabinet positions should they not support his brand of Constitution Amendment Bill.
G-11 Betrayal of FFP Voters
In my previous Fiji Times article of Oct 9 2026 (“Rabuka’s Betrayal of Parliamentary Democracy”) I had explained how Rabuka has totally undermined voter sovereignty and parliamentary democracy after the FijiFirst party was deregistered and Voreqe Bainimarama lost his seat.
The Rabuka-appointed Speaker – and the current President Ratu Naiqama Lalabalvu who had been a failed PAP candidate in the 2022 Elections with just 652 votes – had astonishingly ruled that the FFP MPs “could join any party”.
Eleven of the former FijiFirst party MPs – led by Ioane Navalarua – then totally unethically joined PAP, the very party which FFP had campaigned against in all the three elections of 2014, 2018 and 2022.
Did these G-11 former FFP MPs ever ask their FFP voters for their permission to join PAP? How could they blemish their records forever?
But Mr Rabuka offered bribes – and these 11 former FFP MPs gladly accepted – ministerial or deputy ministerial positions earning massive salaries and perks (that Fiji taxpayers had to pay unnecessarily).
Of course, the planned result for Mr Rabuka was that he no longer needed the NFP or SODELPA MPs to remain as Prime Minister.
More importantly, with the support of the G-11 MPs he could also obtain the two thirds majority that he needed to push the Constitution Amendment Bill through Parliament, as the Supreme Court opinion allowed.
That will occur if the Third Reading obtains the two thirds approval, which is not clear yet. Also not clear at all is whether the required referendum will have the 50 per cent majority to become law.
Public not understanding
Rabuka’s Loss of Democratic Legitimacy
I have previously pointed out that the Panel of Supreme Court Judges did not allow for the astonishing perverse political reality that the MP with the highest number of votes in the 2022 elections (Voreqe Bainimarama with 136,829) would be excluded from Parliament and that two thirds of the votes of the remaining MPs in Parliament would represent a mere 47 per cent of total voters in the 2022 Elections, or less than a half.
I doubt if the Panel of Supreme Cout Judges would even comprehend that the votes for a large number of former FFP MPs could be deviously transferred, without their voters’ permission, by a Speaker (a losing PAP candidate) appointed by Mr Rabuka, to the FFP’s political opponents, PAP, led by Mr Rabuka himself.
Rabuka Ignoring the Views of civil Society:
It is important to note that a whole range of civil society organisations:
– Fiji Women’s Rights Movement;
– Fiji Council of Social Services
– Social Empowerment and Education Programme
– femLINKPacific; and
– Transparency Fiji have opposed what Rabuka is doing.
CEO of the Centre for Democracy and Dialogue Nilesh Lal correctly points out – and the Opposition MPs including the G-11 should note – that the Rabuka Government’s changes to the Recommendations of the 2026 CRC Report amount to significant weakening of democracy and accountability standards, and will result in excessive concentration of power in the Prime Minister:
* The original Bill had limited the tenure of the Prime Minister to two terms, but this has been removed by Mr Rabuka (is it in his own interest?).
* The original Bill had limited the number of ministers to 14 while the amended Bill allows the PM to appoint as many as he wished (more bribes to come?).
* The original Bill had proposed a five-member Constitutional Offices Commission appointed through an independent appointments committee, while the Government draft makes the Prime Minister the chair of the commission alongside his Attorney-General, with the Government appointing a majority of the members.
This COC would be responsible for appointments to many key constitutional offices: Electoral Commission, Supervisor of Elections, Public Service Commission, Police Commissioner, Corrections Commissioner, RFMF Commander, Auditor-General, Reserve Bank Governor and Ombudsman.
Of course the amended Draft Constitution would concentrate extraordinary powers in the hands of the Prime Minister (whoever he is).
Mr Lal legitimately asks why other reforms proposed by the CRC were removed.
Mr Lal legitimately asks:
· who wrote the Government’s Constitution Amendment Bill;
· what was the basis for the changes from the Amendment Bill based on the Report of the 2026 CRC; and
· how the substantially different constitutional text was produced within such a short period.
The public can also ask why did the Rabuka Government refuse to remove the immunity provisions as recommended by the 2026 CRC and so strongly supported by the Commander of the RFMF, Ro Jone Kalouniwai. There is a huge story here that the Truth Commission could investigate.
The iTaukei bearing the cost of Rabuka’s 1987 coup and aftermath
A horror story to me as an economist is the total lack of awareness of the massive long-term cost to Fiji of the coup culture started by Sitiveni Rabuka in 1987.
A simple way to see this is the size of the gap between Fiji’s gross domestic product and that of comparable multi-racial island economies like Mauritius which is also based on tourism and sugar (see attached graph).
My graph shows that with hardly any difference in their gross domestic product (incomes) in the early 1980s, by 2025 the gap between Fiji and Mauritius had grown to a massive $US8 billion ($F20b) to get this in Fiji dollars, multiply by 2.6).
Adding up all that extra income Fiji has been missing from 1988 to 2025 gives an incredible $US196 billion ($F509b), that Fiji could have enjoyed had we grown like Mauritius.
Fiji’s current GDP is around $US6 billion ($F15.6b).
With the massive emigration of Indo-Fijians and other races since 1987, this huge loss is being largely felt by the iTaukei, who are now the poorest ethnic group in Fiji according to Fiji Bureau of Statistics poverty data.
In contrast, the majority of Indo-Fijians and others who have emigrated are now enjoying far better incomes and living standards for themselves and their families in Australia, NZ, Canada and US.
In Fiji, Mr Rabuka is leading his followers down the garden path, betraying all who made him Prime Minister.
All is not lost for Rabuka
Perhaps, all is not lost for Mr Rabuka.
He can still listen to his major partners with electoral credibility – the NFP and SODELPA MPs who made him Prime Minister, and simply withdraw the Constitution Amendment Bill.
He need not waste any energy or taxpayer funds on an unnecessary referendum which is unlikely to get 50 per cent support.
Mr Rabuka can concentrate on the 2027 election and let the new Parliament, hopefully with him still as Prime Minister, lead a genuine review of the Constitution based on what his own two commissions came up with.
Mr Rabuka could still leave a heroic tale “Steve: a Fijian movie for the ages”.
