The beautiful island paradise of Fiji has been racked with political and ethnic discord in recent years. Last week saw yet another coup in which the military overthrew the government, accusing it of rampant corruption. Although the international community did not approve, the Fijians themselves are quite unperturbed.
Now the self installed Fijian military junta is looking to form a government. Like any other business in search of qualified candidates and in a show of "transparency", it has resorted to the time honored method of filling up job vacancies. The coup leader has placed "wanted" ads in the classified section of newspapers.
"SUVA, Fiji – Fiji’s coup leader ran want ads in local newspapers Saturday 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."
Accidental Blogger 
3 responses to “Help Wanted: In Running A Country”
Ruchira,
heh. Very amusing. You are right, perhaps they could just outsource the deal to India!
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Confused,
Just outsourcing to India would be anathema to the Fijians, considering that they systematically tried to run out the Indian population in Fiji because they were becoming too wealthy and powerful at the expense of native Fijians. Link. I would think that the ads in the papers would very likely mention that only people of native Fijian origin would be considered for the post.
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Interesting to note that the Fijian Church has condemned this coup but not the earlier one by Speight. Of itself, this should tell an objective observer all they need to know – the first coup was clearly anti-Indian; the latest one isn’t. Not all coups are alike.
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