Our FUTURE is in the PAST
TROPICAL Cyclone Winston’s destruction of property, infrastructure and life in Fiji has raised serious questions about the preparedness of Pacific island countries for large-scale disasters. The Category 5 cyclone
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TC Winston is bad news
MONSTER storm Winston goes down in history as the most destructive cyclone ever to be recorded in the southern hemisphere. Forty-four fatalities, thousands homeless and a FJ$1 billion repair bill, the road after Winston
Ramrakha, a son of Fiji
Former Fiji politician KC Ramrakha, ran foul of the Indiandominated National Federation Party during the faction fighting of 1977. He speaks to ISLANDS BUSINESS about politics, sugar and life. PART TWO The kind that
Whispers
SO US$38.6 million (FJ$81.85m) in 90 days should be enough to fund cyclone rehabilitation for the 350,000 in Fiji that were badly affected by super hurricane Winston, of whom 250,000 are in need of water and sanitation
What Winston left behind: Death’s, debt and heartbreak.
$billion damage bill in the isles ALONG the dusty road in Fiji’s Tailevu North, sheets of mangled corrugated iron mark the path left by Tropical Cyclone Winston. Up hills and down valleys the pieces of tin
Will Fijian economy weather Winston’s wrath?
SEVERE Tropical Cyclone (STC) Winston didn’t just leave death and destruction in its wake – it also left Fiji’s economy in a shattered state. Preliminary estimates by the Fijian government placed STC
Climate, not God
IT did not take long for people in Fiji to point to Tropical Cyclone Winston as having some connections to a wrathful God seeking to punish people. On social media, from pulpits and in the yaqona circles the link was
‘The nature of elections’ in Samoa
FROM the outside, it looks as if the imbalance of power had not changed a bit. The ruling party swept back into power in the predicted landslide, winning at least 44 of 49 seats. “As leader, and on behalf of the Human
100 day plan: Cost cutting and control
THE launching of the 100 Day Plan of the new Government says much about the leadership of Charlot Salwai Tabimasmas. Yes, he will lead. More importantly he will unite. Disunity has brought this country five
Doubts over PACER Plus
Trade adviser defends agreement “THERE is no reason to doubt the sincerity of Australia and New Zealand in relation to the commitments they have undertaken” PACER Plus, when it comes into force, does not
Reviving the coffee industry on Tanna Island
Coffee is one of the main sources of livelihood for the people of Tanna Island. Home to one of the Pacific’s few active volcanoes, Yasur, its rich soils, abundant sunshine and rainfall, makes Tanna one of the best
MINING High risk, controversial business
On Viti Levu, the areas marked with shaded red are all prospective mining areas where 55 companies are currently carrying out works to see what minerals or metals can be found. The major player in the Namosi area is
Scars of Bougainville
WITH the looming referendum and the future of the Bougainville copper mine hanging in the loop, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s recent appointment of himself as Minister for Bougainville Affairs in a recent
TREATY CRISIS
Boats, payments in limbo THE U.S. government officially announced in mid-January that it is pulling out of the U.S. Pacific islands fisheries treaty, a move that starts a 12-month clock ticking to terminate the nearly
De Brum’s coalition a ‘show’
TWO months after the Pacific joined the world in adopting a new agreement on climate change, news are just emerging that all was not well within the Pacific Island Counties. Finally responding to questions submitted to
Vunibobo: A man of many seasons
A TREASURED document amongst war and modern history aficionados is an old sepia programme entitled “Official Programme of the VICTORY CELEBRATIONS 8th June 1946,” commemorating victory in Europe Day in
Time for regional fuel plans
LAST month the price of crude fell below the $USD30 a barrel mark for the first time since the beginning of the global economic recession. It took but a few days for petrol prices to fall by up to 21 cents in Tonga. But
BACK IN TIME
Former Fiji politician KC Ramrakha, ran foul of the Indian-dominated National Federation Party during the faction fighting of 1977. He speaks to Islands Business about politics, sugar and life. AS a student from Fiji
Whispers
FOR all they do and say about good governance and transparency among state players in our part of the ocean, non-governmental organisations or civil society agencies or non-state actors, however you want to call them,
Poll twists and turns
THE election of the Marshall Islands’ — and the independent Pacific’s first — head of state in late January followed a rollercoaster series of leadership twists and turns in this north Pacific
Battle for top job
IN what may be a record in the Pacific islands for speed of a no confidence motion following election, just three days after Casten Nemra’s inauguration as the new President of the Marshall Islands on January 11,
New players, old lessons
VANUATU saw out 2015 on a high note as a model of the Westminster system. The separation of powers worked well and the checks and balances were all in place. Fourteen Members of Parliament out of a total of 52 were in
Political horse-trading
VOTERS in Kiribati went to the polls on January 7th 2015 and gave the country’s more prominent political parties more than a wake-up call. For the first time in their political history, the i-Kiribati are more
