Regime Change Should Happen In Fiji Soon, says Mara

Regime Change Should Happen In Fiji Soon

A Second Statement by Lieutenant Colonel Tevita Uluilakeba Mara

Firstly I would like to thank Commodore Bainimarama for his statement yesterday. Without his help my arrival in Tonga would have been unnoticed by the world’s media. But now it has become global news and people the world over will learn of Bainimarama’s oppression of the Fijian People.

The Commodore has never qualified as a Naval Officer from any Naval Academy so his confusion of two points on the charts which are 100 miles apart, though understandable, bodes ill for the Fijian Navy. The Brotherhood of the Sea, in an emergency demands that the saving of life temporarily supersedes bureaucratic considerations of sovereignty. It is exactly under these rules that RNZAF aircraft are permitted often to overfly the waters of South Pacific Islands once an EPERB transmission is received. It is an exemplary and selfless act which is in the highest traditions of the RNZAF. Does the Dictator now suggest that, having found shipwrecked victims in future they should now be interrogated by the crew of the rescue craft and put back in the water if they were found to have been critical of the military regime? I can assure you that Kaiyum and Bainimarama will not get far instructing a tough bunch of Kiwis to carry out these inhumanities!

He has accused me of being under investigation for the disappearance of $3m from the Fiji Pine Board. These are the desperate attempts by a mentally and morally bankrupt man to smear the Mara name. There is no truth to the allegations. In fact that money went missing long before I became Chairman of the Fiji Pine Board. And it was under my Chairmanship that the loss was discovered and it was I who made it known to the authorities. All of this is recorded in the minutes of the Fiji Pine Board.

I was charged with using Seditious language. In a conversation to a fellow officer, whilst in Korea last year, I am alleged to have said “This Government is F*** All!” If saying that is sedition then everyone in Fiji, except for Bainimarama and Khaiyum, is also guilty of sedition. What he is saying is that anyone who criticizes any aspect of his regime in a private conversation can be reported and charged. That is not the Fiji I know and love, that is more like Nazi Germany and the Gestapo or the Soviet Union and the KGB.

I will come back to Fiji and I will face my fellow Fijians and answer for my part in the 2006 coup. However, I will not come back to face frivolous charges whilst the puppet master, Khaiyum, interferes with the Fiji judiciary on a daily basis. There are no longer fair trials in Fiji. The courts pass verdicts and the sentences dictated by Kaiyum.

I am more than happy to face any attempts for my extradition from Tonga. They have had democratic elections for the first time in November and they have a Government accountable to the people. They have a judiciary free from interference and I am sure that my side of the story will be heard fully and justice will prevail.

I want to give my thanks to the Tongan people for their hospitality and kindness.

16 May 2011

Bio-data of Ratu Tevita Kapaiwai Lutunauga Uluilakeba Mara

Ratu Tevita Kapaiwai Lutunauga Uluilakeba Mara is a Fijian career soldier, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel as of early 2006. On 3rd Feb, 2001 he was named Army Chief of Staff succeeding Colonel Meli Saubulinayau, a close relative of his. This position is the fourth highest in the Fijian Military, behind that of the Military Commander, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff RFMF Brigadier General Mohamed Aziz and the Land Force Commander Brigadier General Pita Driti. Mara held the position for several months, before he was appointed Commanding Officer of the Third Infantry Regiment, a key position in the Fiji Army as he controls the infantry division.

Background

In December 2006 The Republic of Fiji Military Forces took control of Fiji in bloodless coup. The army had a strict plan which was te remove corruption and corrupt politicians and to return to barracks within a year. Lieutenant Colonel Tevita Uluilakeba Mara was in charge of the 3 FIR on that day and for the next 4 years.

He witnessed from the inside how power has corrupted the key players in the regime and how now they have forgotten their original objectives as they desperately cling to power. Colonel Mara has left Fiji so that he can speak freely about the need to for regime change in his beloved Fiji.

ENDS

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