Posted on 12/09/2006 7:21:33 PM PST by Dog Gone
SUVA, Fiji — Fiji's coup leader ran want ads in local newspapers today to fill vacant Cabinet jobs, trying to piece together a new government for the south Pacific country.
Army chief Frank Bainimarama has removed a swathe of senior civil servants, including top police officers, saying he is weeding out corruption entrenched in the administration of ousted Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase.
"Applicants must be of outstanding character and without any criminal records," the advertisements noted, asking aspirants to submit applications at military headquarters by Tuesday. "Each must not have been declared bankrupt."
"The deadline indicates the urgency in trying to get qualified people in to help in the running of the affairs of the state," Maj. Neumi Leweni, a military spokesman, told state-owned Fiji One News television. He added that the posts of finance and foreign affairs ministers would not be advertised.
Bainimarama's hand-picked interim leader, Maj. Jona Senilagakali, took over the prime minister's office for the first time Friday, arriving with an armed military guard. Some top government officials have been reappointed, the Fiji Times newspapers reported, including the chief executive officers for tourism and agriculture.
An aide for Qarase, meanwhile, said the ousted prime minister would return to the capital of Suva within days despite the risk of arrest.
"We know we will have a reception party at the other end," Sakeasi Ditoka told The Associated Press, referring to troops Qarase expects to meet him at Suva's airport.
"We know what's going to happen. But we need to come back for everybody's sake," Ditoka said. "The people want their leader among them."
Qarase fled the capital to his home island in the Pacific archipelago's north after Bainimarama seized power Tuesday and declared himself president.
Bainimarama has received signs of support from a key opposition leader and the country's powerful tribal chiefs, but has faced a wave of international repudiation.
The 53-nation British Commonwealth suspended Fiji on Friday, a decision Leweni said had been expected. It was the third time in 20 years that the Commonwealth suspended the country following a coup.
Qarase told Australia's Nine Network television the decision was "a very positive move." The U.N. Security Council and the European Union have also condemned the coup — Fiji's fourth in nearly two decades.
The coup was the culmination of a long impasse between Bainimarama and Qarase over legislation offering pardons to conspirators in a 2000 coup and handing lucrative coastal land ownership to indigenous Fijians. Bainimarama said the bills were racist.
Okie dokie, then.
I've had enough winter. What's the address?
Two out of three ain’t bad. Before I hop a flight, how do they define outstanding?
After all, one has to have some standards.
LOL. Hilarious.
Probably better than my grade in Property Law, which is now what I do for a living, dammit.
And to think I missed out on being the Cultural Minister for Fiji.
It just gnaws at me.
I'm tired of this cold Jersey weather I want to sip a drink on a beach and fish.
And but for some horrid twist of fate, I might have known the Cultural Minister of Fiji, to drop his/your name wherever useful.
We have a Freeper as White House press secretary. Don't see why Dog can't be Minister of Fishing and Beach Drinks.
An exalted position, which Dog has earned a thousand times over.
I’ll humbly accept the Ministry of Native Women.
Queen Elizabeth Barracks, Suva, Fiji.
My husband was stationed there for 2 1/2 years as the Southwest Pacific Rep. of CINCPAC back in the mid-80's, just before the coup in '87. Got to know a lot of the local "movers and shakers" in the political, judicial, and military circles. We still maintain contact with some of them. Hmmm. We've considered moving to Fiji in the past. Wonder if they'd hire a retired Navy Commander for one of those posts...?
What does the job pay? What kind of hours are we talking about? Health plan? Retirement plan?
I would go for a post, but only if the winner was the first caller in to the radio station where you had to, I don't know, name some tune or something.
No Bananarama jokes?
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