Fiji cannot compete with Australia and New Zealand to retain its teachers, the man in charge of the country’s finances says.

The Fijian education system is facing major challenges as the Sitiveni Rabuka-led coalition struggles to address a teacher shortage.

While the education sector receives a significant chunk of the budget (about NZ$587 million), it has not been sufficient, as global demand for skilled teachers is pulling qualified Fijian educators toward greener pastures.

• READ MORE: Other Fiji education reports

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Biman Prasad said that the government was training more teachers.

“The government has put in measures, we are training enough teachers, but we are also losing teachers to Australia and New Zealand,” he told RNZ Pacific Waves on the sidelines of the University of the South Pacific Council meeting in Auckland last week.

“We are happy that Australia and New Zealand gain those skills, particularly in the area of maths and science, where you have a shortage. And obviously, Fiji cannot match the salaries that teachers get in Australia and New Zealand.

According to the Education Ministry’s Strategic Development Plan (2023-2026), the shortage of teachers is one of the key challenges, alongside limited resources and inadequate infrastructure, particularly for primary schools.

Hundreds of vacancies
Reports in local media in August last year said there were hundreds of teacher vacancies that needed to be filled.

However, Professor Prasad said there were a lot of teachers who were staying in Fiji as the government was taking steps to keep teachers in the country.

“We are training more teachers. We are putting additional funding, in terms of making sure that we provide the right environment, right support to our teachers,” he said.

“In the last two years, we have increased the salaries of the civil service right across the board, and those salaries and wages range from between 10 to 20 percent.

“We are again going to look at how we can rationalise some of the positions within the Education Ministry, right from preschool up to high school.”

Meanwhile, the Fiji government is currently undertaking a review of the Education Act 1966.

Education Minister Aseri Radrodro said in Parliament last month that a draft bill was expected to be submitted to Cabinet in July.

“The Education Act 1966, the foundational law for pre-tertiary education in Fiji, has only been amended a few times since its promulgation, and has not undergone a comprehensive review,” he said.

“It is imperative that this legislation be updated to reflect modern standards and address current issues within the education system.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

A group of concerned alumni of the University of the South Pacific has called the regional institution’s delay in releasing the outcomes of the 98th USP Council meeting held in Rarotonga late last month “totally unacceptable”.

The group released a statement on Thursday, stating that the regional university’s main decision-making body and support staff’s failure to provide a timely update “to keep the Pacific Islands taxpayers and fee-paying students fully informed about important decisions . . . is becoming totally unacceptable”.

“This is particularly so as the USP unions’ strike action mandate is active,” the statement read.

• READ MORE: Other USP crisis reports

Earlier this week, there was speculation that the USP vice-chancellor and president, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, who has fallen out of favour with the staff unions, had stepped down from his role at the Rarotonga meeting.

However, the USP told RNZ Pacific that information about Professor Ahluwalia resigning was “inaccurate”.

The university did not respond to RNZ Pacific’s specific question on whether the vice-chancellor had resigned.

“The University of the South Pacific wishes to clarify that the allegations regarding events at the 98th Council meeting are inaccurate,” a USP spokesperson said.

“The USP Council will issue an official statement on the outcomes of the meeting in due course.”

But the USP alumni statement included a “summary of the major council decisions”, including the appointment of a new VCP as one of seven main outcomes of the two-day meeting in the Cook Islands.

But the USP alumni statement included a “summary of the major council decisions”, including the appointment of a new VCP as one of seven main outcomes of the two-day meeting in the Cook Islands.

“A new USP visitor has also been appointed. He is Mr Daniel Fatiaki, former Chief Justice of Fiji and Vanuatu. He is an alumnus and Preliminary 2 graduate in the early 1970s.

“On the first day, VCP [Ahluwalia] indicated he would be stepping down from the VCP position.”

The USP is jointly owned by 12 Pacific Island nations.

New Zealand and Australia have been major development partners of the institution since its inception in in 1968, providing core funding for the university.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The University of the South Pacific — one of only two regional universities in the world — is facing a “gathering storm” over leadership, a management crisis and a looming strike, reports Islands Business.

In the six-page cover story in the latest edition of the regional news magazine this week, IB reports that pay demands by the 12-nation institution “headline other contentions such as the number of unfilled vacancies and the strain that the unions say it’s causing staff”.

The magazine also reported concerns about the “diminishing presence of Pacific Island academics” at what is a regional institution with 30,000 students representing Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

• READ MORE: USP staff vote in favour of strike action over ‘just and fair’ pay rise
• Other USP crisis reports

The world’s other regional university is the Jamaica-based University of the West Indies with five campuses in 18 countries and 50,000 students.

Another factor at USP is the “absence of female academics, and questions over the way some key contracts have been handled by management”.

Staff say there are no longer any female professors at the Pacific university and the institution recently failed to renew the contract of Nobel Prize-winning academic Dr Elisabeth Holland, formerly professor of ocean and climate change and the longtime director of USP’s Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development (PaCE-SD), in controversial circumstances.

She had been one of USP’s most distinguished staff members and a key Pacific climate crisis voice in global forums.

Plunged into crisis
“In February 2021, the University of the South Pacific (USP) was plunged into crisis when vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia was unceremoniously thrown out of Fiji following a middle-of-the-night raid on his campus residence, accused by the then [FijiFirst] government of Voreqe Bainimarama of breaching the country’s immigration laws,” wrote the magazine’s Fiji correspondent Joe Yaya, himself a former graduate of the university who was a member of the award-winning USP student journalism team covering the George Speight attempted coup in May 2000.

“Within months of taking up the job in 2019, a bombshell report by Ahluwalia had alleged widespread financial mismanagement within the university under former administrations. It triggered an independent investigation by New Zealand-based accounting firm BDO and Ahluwalia’s eventual expulsion from Fiji.

“Three years later, USP finds itself beset by a host of new problems, most prominent among them an overwhelming vote this month by staff across Fiji (97 percent of academic staff and 94 percent of administration and support personnel) to go on strike over pay issues.”

Some of the concerns about pay and appointments are shared by key members of the USP Council and its senior management team.

“Leadership emerged as a major point of discussion in interviews conducted by Islands Business,” wrote Yaya.

Dr Ahluwalia reportedly retains firm support from some USP Council members, and also the student association.

However, Islands Business reported that the university management had refused to respond to the magazine’s questions.

Several interview efforts
“Over a seven-week period beginning January 22, we made several efforts to reach vice-chancellor Ahluwalia. In mid-February, his office said he would not be able to provide an interview while at Laucala Campus ‘because of his busy schedule’ (they specified ‘engagements with stakeholders and other university-related activities’),” the magazine reported.

“On March 6, Dr Ahluwalia responded in an email: ‘Many of the questions that you ask in relation to staff are being discussed with the respective unions and it is inappropriate for me to make comments through the media.

“‘Most of your other questions relate directly to matters that are the business of our Council and its deliberations are confidential so it is inappropriate too for me to discuss these matters outside of Council.'”

Islands Business also sought a response from Professor Pat Walsh, acting pro-chancellor of USP, and chair of the Council. Dr Walsh is the New Zealand government’s representative on the Council. He did not respond to Islands Business.

Former USP pro-chancellor and chair, now Marshall Islands President Dr Hilda Heine, told Islands Business that during her term with USP, one of the “strong challenges we faced was the issue with the vice-chancellor”.

Professor Ahluwalia’s extended work contract is expected to be finalised at next month’s Council meeting which has been moved from May to April 26-27.

The vice-chancellor is due to meet the staff unions in mediation on Tuesday in a bid to avoid a staff strike.

• The full Islands Business report

Disgruntled staff at the University of South Pacific (USP) are demanding the USP Council make a decision on the relocation of the vice-chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, to Fiji from Samoa.

The demands from the USP staff coincide with the university’s two-day 96th council meeting at the Laucala campus’s Japan ICT Building earlier this week.

In an email that was sent to regional media last Friday, including the Samoa Observer, the staff said they were “up in arms” over the decision by the university’s pro-chancellor to block a submission from the staff to the agenda of the council’s meeting.

• READ MORE:  Ahluwalia reappointed as USP’s VC in spite of protests, strike threat
• USP strike on the cards after council blocks staff papers in pay row
• USP union warns of industrial action if fair pay is not approved
• ‘All talk and no action’ say USP protesters calling for fair pay
• USP staff unhappy with VC, but he thanks them for ‘engagement’
• USP saga and other reports

“The paper is in response to the decision of the May 2023 USP Council (C95) meeting where its attention was drawn to the many unresolved issues faced by the staff over the period 2021 to May 2023 and some earlier, despite meetings of the staff policy committee and SMT/union quarterly meetings which are chaired by VCP [vice-chancellor and president],” read the statement issued by the university staff.

“University management only found it necessary to respond to issues when the Association of USP Staff (AUSPS) filed a log of claims in October 2023. The VCP then appointed the chief operating officer and the executive director people and workforce strategy to engage with the union.”

According to the USP staff, two meetings were held to respond to the decision of the May Council for the university management and the unions to work together to address the issues and to report and update the November (C96) council.

A paper was then submitted for the November 2023 council agenda containing updates on resolved and unresolved issues in response to the council’s decision and new issues that have come to light since C95.

Paper ‘cannot be tabled’
However, the staff said that on November 20 the secretary to the council informed the council staff representative that the pro-chancellor and chair of the council had directed him to inform her that after reviewing the paper, “it cannot be tabled at the 96th council meeting” because “the issues raised therein are not for council to deliberate on”.

They added that the pro-chancellor had directed that these be worked on with the USP management.

“She failed to acknowledge that the paper contained responses to May council decision and that there are issues such as the salary adjustment that the management has refused to discuss or negotiate on.

“PC [pro-chancellor] then proceeded to state that the council does not deal with matters of salary adjustment. Precedent has been set where the council has approved salary adjustments.”

Fiji’s national broadcaster FBC on Tuesday reported that the president of AUSPS, Elizabeth Read Fong, had questioned why Professor Ahluwalia continued to live in Samoa despite the Fiji government lifting the ban that the former Fijian government had placed on him.

Fong reportedly said that the logical choice would be for the university’s vice-chancellor and president to return to his office at the main headquarters of the USP in Laucala Bay, Suva, and appealed to the Samoa government to facilitate the release of the vice-chancellor.

She said the regional university continued to spend a lot on Professor Ahluwalia’s travel and accommodation expenses every time he travelled to Suva from Samoa.

The Samoa Observer has contacted the USP vice-chancellor for comment on the concerns that the USP staff members have raised.

Many USP staff dressed in black protested for two days over their grievances with the vice-chancellor.

Alexander Rheeney is editor of the Samoa Observer. Republished with permission.

The University of the South Pacific Council has reappointed Professor Pal Ahluwalia as vice-chancellor and president amid two days of staff protests.

The council says it has also heard from staff representatives and urged the unions and management to work collaboratively in the interest of the university.

The meeting was chaired by the acting pro-chancellor and chair of council and the New Zealand government representative, emeritus Professor Pat Walsh, in place of the pro-chancellor and chair of council Dr Hilda Heine, who is away from university business.

• READ MORE:  USP strike on the cards after council blocks staff papers in pay row
• USP union warns of industrial action if fair pay is not approved
• ‘All talk and no action’ say USP protesters calling for fair pay
• USP staff unhappy with VC, but he thanks them for ‘engagement’
• USP saga and other reports

In a statement released by USP, Professor Walsh welcomed the reappointment of the vice-chancellor and expressed his and the council’s endorsement of Professor Ahluwalia’s performance.

Professor Ahluwalia thanked the vouncil for its continued support, saying he looked forward to serving the university and the region.

The council noted reports from the pro-chancellor and the vice-chancellor and president on activities undertaken since their last report to council.

Professor Pal Ahluwalia said the university was delivering its priorities successfully against the backdrop of declining enrolment numbers and financial constraints.

Updated on finances
The council was updated on the finances of the university and noted the ongoing challenges USP continues to face.

The council adopted the proposed annual plan for 2024 and noted the financial strategies for the coming year.

It also approved the financial plan for 2024 and adopted the audited financial statements for the half-year ended 30 June 2023.

The council further noted the impact and risks associated with the financial challenges being faced by the university largely due to the decline in student numbers.

The management outlined its strategies for mitigating the challenges ahead.

The council also approved a report by the University Senate and instituted new programmes in Pacific TAFE.

In addition, the council endorsed a proposed scoping study to establish a Pacific Centre of Excellence for Deep Ocean Science and a report will be presented at the next council meeting to be held in Vanuatu in 2024.

Unions want VC out
Meanwhile, The Fiji Times reported yesterday in a front page report that staff unions said they wanted Professor Pal Ahluwalia out.

Vijay Narayan is news director of Fijivillage News. Republished with permission.

The Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) will now make necessary submissions to go on a strike.

This comes after AUSPS president Elizabeth Read Fong confirmed that the USP Council had denied staff papers to be presented in this week’s USP Council meeting.

Fong said this meant there would be no pay adjustments, among other things they had asked for.

• READ MORE:  USP union warns of industrial action if fair pay is not approved
• ‘All talk and no action’ say USP protesters calling for fair pay
• USP staff unhappy with VC, but he thanks them for ‘engagement’
• USP saga and other reports

She said that the next step would be to take industrial action, and they will give 21 days’ notice prior to the planned action.

She added that they would decide on the date of the protest for maximum impact.

The staff braved the wet conditions today to carry out a second day of peaceful protest outside the meeting venue of the USP Council.

Fong said staff still wanted vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia to step down or be removed from his role.

The meeting will conclude later today.

Apenisa Waqairadovu is a FBC News multimedia journalist.

University of the South Pacific Union (USPU) president Reuben Colata says industrial action will be the next step if USP does not approve their pay increment being sought.

Colata said they did not know why the university did not want to negotiate a salary increase.

He said the university had about $80 million in savings with another $19 million given by the government this year.

• READ MORE:  ‘All talk and no action’ say USP protesters calling for fair pay
• USP staff unhappy with VC, but he thanks them for ‘engagement’
• USP saga and other reports

With that amount of money, the university could pay the staff rather than allow the staff to bargain for their salary.

His union is one of two unions representing USP staff.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad, said he encouraged the staff to engage with management — and with the USP Council — to resolve this issue.

Professor Biman said Fiji’s coalition government believed in academic freedom and also valued the freedom of workers the country needed.

The USP Council meeting is still underway at the USP Japan ICT Centre and it will continue today.

The USP staff had a silent protest yesterday after their staff paper was not allowed to be included as part of the council’s agenda.

Seeking removal of VC
They are calling for the staff paper to be discussed by the USP Council which includes the issues about the staff pay increment demand.

They are also calling for the removal of the regional institution’s vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

The academic staff are represented by the Association of USP Staff (AUSPS) whose president, Elizabeth Read Fong, told FBC News that Professor Ahluwalia’s contract should end by December 31.

She hinted that the vice-chancellor had already turned 65, which is the institution’s retirement age.

“He also turns 65 at the beginning of the year,” she said.

“The university policy is that when you turn 65, you work until December 31st, so there is a post-retirement thing, but he has put that on hold, so one policy applies to everybody.”

Iliana Biutu is a Fiji Village News reporter. Republished with permission.

University of the South Pacific (USP) staff gathered outside the Japan-Pacific ICT Centre today to protest over better pay and conditions as well as calling for the removal of the regional institution’s vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

The university’s main decision making body, the USP Council, is meeting at the Laucala campus this week.

Aggrieved employees of the university showed up in black, holding placards calling for “fair pay” and for Professor Ahluwalia to resign.

• READ MORE: USP staff unhappy with VC, but he thanks them for ‘engagement’
• USP saga and other reports

The staff are unhappy after the USP pro-chancellor chair of council Dr Hilda Heine did not include a staff paper on the agenda of the meeting today, according to local media reports.

“The Association of USP Staff (AUSPS) president Elizabeth Fong said the paper included a submission on staff salary adjustment and a recommendation to recruit a new Vice Chancellor who is originally from the region,” according to a Fiji One News report.

FBC News reports that the staff are calling for the “non-renewal Ahluwalia’s contract, claiming that he is no longer fit for the role” and that the vice-chancellor’s position to be advertised.

“Fong claims the VC is all talk and no action,” it reported.

The state broadcaster is reporting that USP staff want a 11 percent increase in pay and not the four percent they have received recently.

“We have staff shortages, vacancies which means people have doubled up and tripled up on their responsibilities. This is about keeping USP serving the region, serving its people,” Fong was quoted by FBC News as saying.

USP staff gather in numbers for peaceful protest pic.twitter.com/y4XA6EHYvC

— fijivillage (@fijivillage) November 27, 2023

‘We remain hopeful’ — USP
In a statement to RNZ Pacific, USP said its management “continues to work with the staff unions regarding their grievances” since they were raised earlier in the year.

“Through its meeting with AUSPS, the USP management has resolved some of the matters raised in the log of claims while discussion continued on the remaining issues.”

The university said that in October 2022, all USP staff received salary increments and the second increase kicked in in January 2023.

“Staff also received a bonus in the middle of the year (2023). Negotiations are continuing, and provisions have been made for another salary increase next year, subject to the Council approving our 2024 budget.”

The USP said the chair of the USP Council approved the council agenda, “and the USP management does not have a say in the matter”.

“As stated several times previously, the vice-chancellor’s relocation is decided by the council.

“The institution, as always, supports union rights and acknowledges that a peaceful protest is within its ambit.

“However, we remain hopeful that through USP management, we can continue to have discussions with the AUSPS about their grievances and follow proper channels to meet their demands until an amicable solution is reached,” it said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

University of the South Pacific staff who once stood by vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia are now up in arms about his role in a decision by pro-chancellor Dr Hilda Heine to disallow a staff paper to be placed on the agenda of the 96th USP Council meeting being held today.

A joint press statement by the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the University of the South Pacific Staff Union (USPSU) said the blocked paper was in relation to “many unresolved issues faced by the staff over the period 2021 to May 2023”, which included pay and other matters.

The unions said staff from across the region met on November 22 and “are aggrieved and angry at the refusal of the PC (pro-chancellor) and VCP to allow their voice to be heard at council”.

• READ MORE: USP saga and other reports

“This is the same VCP that  the staff stood for in his hour of greatest need,” the unions said.

“The same staff who took risks to ensure that he was given worker justice and the opportunity to prove his worthiness of the VCP position.

“That he was a likely party to a decision to disallow the Staff paper is indicative of VCP’s leadership style which has become very clear to staff.”

The unions said USP management refuse to discuss or negotiate a salary adjustment for 2019-2023 and the final course of action was to bring the matter to the council for resolution in preference to industrial action.

What the VC had to say
In response to queries from The Fiji Times, Professor Ahluwalia sent a message he had issued to USP staff.

In it, he thanked them for joining him in a staff discussion which had a “record number of staff who attended with a high level of engagement.

“Whilst we have made considerable progresses, some issues remain outstanding,” the VC said.

He said USP now had a budget that would be presented to the council for approval today.

“Despite the alarming situation concerning declining student numbers, we have managed to ensure no redundancies, albeit, we will only be able to fill 30 per cent of our vacancies next year.”

Professor Ahluwalia said in terms of salary adjustments, the university had “made a great deal of progress, with two salary increases in October 2022 and January 2023 and an increment/bonus for all staff in the middle of the year (2023), and provisions have been made for another salary increase next year subject to council approving our 2024 budget.”

Questions sent to pro-vice chancellor Dr Hilda Heine yesterday remained unanswered.

Felix Chaudhary is a Fiji Times journalist. Republished with permission.

A leaked document authored by a recently recruited senior University of the South Pacific academic has again put a spotlight on the affairs of the regional institution.

The “strictly confidential” document, viewed by RNZ Pacific, is written by Professor Janusz Jankowski, the deputy vice-chancellor and vice-president (research and innovation) of USP.

The 13-page report is addressed to the USP Council chair and pro-chancellor — and former Marshall Islands president — Dr Hilda Heine and deputy chair and deputy pro-chancellor, Professor Pat Walsh.

• READ MORE: Academic ‘tsunami’ at USP shakes regional Pacific institution to core
• ‘USPgate’ allegations by Fijileaks
• Background to SCORI – is this a sell-out of Pacific’s ‘Sea of Islands’?
• The USP saga

It alleges several “issues, concerns and breaches with both USP policies and procedures” under USP’s vice-chancellor and president Pal Ahluwalia’s leadership.

Dr Jankowski — who was appointed to his role in November last year and has been working remotely from the UK — is calling for formal investigations of the vice-chancellor of the regional university.

RNZ understands that following Dr Jankowski’s report to the USP Council, he has been dismissed from his position.

It is also understood that USP staff unions are unhappy with a range of issues highlighted in the report and the sacking of Dr Jankowski.

RNZ Pacific has contacted Professor Ahluwalia and USP for comment.

In an email response, a USP spokesperson said on Wednesday that Dr Jankowski was no longer working at the university but that was not related to his complaint.

“Contrary to media reports, the vice-chancellor and president of USP does not have the delegated authority to terminate the employment of a deputy vice-chancellor,” the statement said.

“This authority rests with the University Council. In the matter pertaining to Professor Janusz Jankowski’s status with the university, he was until recently engaged as a fixed-term and part-time consultant, and this arrangement has now ended.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Students at the Fiji-based regional University of the South Pacific have welcomed the announcement by the new coalition government to release $10 million in grants owed as Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka assured the region’s premier institution they were committed to restoring outstanding grant contributions totalling $78.4 million since 2019.

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, along with Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad, had earlier said the reinstatement of Fiji’s grant contributions to the 12-nation USP was a promise they had made in their party manifestos during the election campaign.

USP Students Association (USPSA) secretary-general Emosi Vakarua said thousands of USP students were faced with new learning challenges brought about by covid-19 and exacerbated by the withholding of the obligatory grant payment by the former FijiFirst government.

• READ MORE: Other USP grants reports

“We appreciate the commitment made by the current government of Fiji in honouring its grant contribution with the latest installment,” he said in a statement.

“We thank the government of Fiji for restoring trust and confidence in the region and showing us the true meaning of our Pacific vuvale [family] partnership.”

He said the student body would continue to work closely with the USP Council and senior management in shaping Pacific futures.

Since 2019, the FijiFirst government remained steadfast in its decision to withhold grant contributions to USP until independent investigations into alleged mismanagement by current vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia were carried out, ultimately leading to Dr Ahluwalia and his wife’ being deported from Fiji.

Invitation by Rabuka
Professor Ahluwalia, who has since been operating in exile from USP’s Samoa campus, was offered an invitation by Rabuka last month to return to Fiji, a move that has gained widespread support from USP students and staff.

Early this month, Professor Ahluwalia congratulated Rabuka on being elected the new Fiji Prime Minister.

“The new government’s continued reassurance to resuming the payment of grants to USP is a great relief for staff and students and revives the longstanding relationship between Fiji and the regional institute,” he said.

“I look forward to working together with the new coalition government to strengthen the relationship between USP and Fiji.

“As a regional institution, USP will continue to serve its island countries, particularly Fiji and work hard to shape Pacific futures.”

Professor Ahluwalia also acknowledged Rabuka’s support and contribution towards the wholesome development of the institute over the past years through his chairmanship of the advisory committee appointed by the USP Senate to assist the Labasa campus with its various programmes.

It is understood a redeployment of funds from the 2022-2023 National Budget would allow the new government to release an initial $10 million to USP as Rabuka noted discussions were being held with USP about a repayment plan for grants owed alongside the restoration of the university’s annual grant, expected to be included.

Republished from Wansolwara News in collaboration.

With barely four weeks to go to the election, students and staff at the regional University of the South Pacific have stepped up their political activity against the FijiFirst government over its refusal to pay $85 million (and counting) in outstanding contributions to the running of USP.

The USP community — which some estimates put at more than 30,000 — is being encouraged to vote accordingly, with an indirect but unmistakable appeal to “Friends of USP” to vote for the People’s Alliance-National Federation Party prospective coalition come polling day.

It beggars belief that the Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, has left Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and his cabinet colleagues so exposed at USP.

• READ MORE: Sayed-Khaiyum hits out at alleged USP vote swaying tactic
• Follow the Graham Davis file on the Fiji elections
• Other Fiji election reports

Because if the university community — students, staff, their families and sympathisers — lodge a collective protest vote against his conduct, it could easily cost the government the election.

What other political party in its right mind would put at risk its survival to support a position that simply isn’t sustainable because Fiji doesn’t have the numbers on the USP Council to enforce its will?

FijiFirst, of course. Which is prepared, lemming like, to go over a cliff with Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum just to pander to his ego.

You might have expected student protests at USP as it is being slowly strangled by the ruling party and certainly that would have happened anywhere else in the world. Yet it’s no surprise to learn that there has been a strong, though subtle, plainclothes police and military presence at USP for some time, including specific incidents of intimidation of students and staff.

Climate of fear
So the relative silence from the student body doesn’t owe itself to apathy but fear — the climate of fear that pervades the rest of the nation as well and has been the subject of public comment by church leaders and private comment by almost everyone else.

It is a rich vein for the opposition to mine in the election lead-up. So get set for the government’s scandalous conduct at USP to become a major election issue.

And for the prospect of FijiFirst suffering a humiliating setback at the polls to match its humiliating inability to get its way with its absurd demand for “reform” of the university, including the removal of its exiled vice-chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, who continues to run USP from Samoa.

Australian-Fijian journalist Graham Davis publishes the blog Grubsheet Feejee on Fiji affairs. Republished with permission.

Statement to Friends of USP voting in Fiji’s election 2022:

TURN UP AND MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT.

We will be casting our votes on 14 December.

Nine political parties are contesting. Apart from Fiji First Party (FFP), the other serious contenders are Rabuka’s People’s Alliance Party, Prasad/Tikoduadua’s National Federation Party (NFP), and Gavoka’s Social and Democratic Party (SODELPA). SODELPA has been imploding for some time!

Since 2018, FFP government has withheld Fiji’s contribution to USP. All other parties have campaigned to pay what Fiji owes. Most of us would like to see a change of government because of the government’s refusal to pay its contribution which stands at FD$85 million.

As preposterous as it may sound, it means that eight small member countries such as Tokelau (pop. 1400), Niue (1600) and Tuvalu (11,300) are subsidising Fiji, having the largest population with nearly a million people!

Despite five independent investigations confirming corrupt practices by the former vice- chancellor and president (VCP), and confirming the current VCP’s report on the corruption, the government continues to shield the former VCP and his supporters.

Through its domineering presence in Council, the government lobbied hard to terminate the current VCP Dr Ahluwalia’s contract. When Council rejected it, the government unprecedentedly deported Dr Ahluwalia and his wife Gestapo-like. It declared them persona-non-grata in the same shameful manner as the late pre-eminent Pacific historian Dr Brij Lal and his family.

With Council’s support, USP is being run from Samoa campus, home of current Chancellor (Head of State Tuimaleali’ifano) former mother and daughter Pro Chancellors (Fetaui and Fiame Naomi Mata’afa), and VCP Professor Ahluwalia.

There are three serious implications of the Fiji debt.

First, institutional utilities and student services are likely affected as maintenance and upkeep of buildings and facilities are compromised.

Second, the growing vacancies across a number of academic, professional and support staff will not be filled quickly, thereby increasing the work-load of an already overstretched staff.

This is exacerbated by the protracted delays in the issuance of work permits to expatriates and regional staff from member countries such as Tonga and Solomon Islands.

Staff shortage threatens availability and variety of programmes (e.g. Pasifika orientated programs in Governance, Law, Social Sciences, Climate Change, Engineering, MBA etc), erosion of quality of teaching and research output.

The third and most critical is the obvious collateral damage to the education of students (35,000 to 40,000 in 2022) and 50 years of capacity building with an alumni of 60,000 plus across the globe.

For USP to continue as the premier university to nurture and realise the spirit of Pasifikan regionalism, a change is necessary.

In 2018, the FFP narrowly won by 150 votes. A groundswell of support is evident for Rabuka’s Peoples Alliance Party (PAP), and Prasad/Tikoduadua’s National Federation Party (NFP). To make the change and ensure USP’s survival, make your vote count.

Voting is at the polling stations shown on the voter registration card. For iTaukei voters intending to travel to the islands and villages before 14 December, before traveling, check the polling station shown in your voter registration card and avoid disappointment.

WE must turn up and not waste OUR votes on FFP, smaller parties and independent candidates.

God Bless Fiji and USP

November 2022.

A major development out of the besieged University of the South Pacific has meant that two main characters in a saga that threatens the financial viability of the regional institution are now out of the University Council.

Controversial chair of the USP Council audit sub-committee Mahmood Khan of Fiji was voted out of the position at the council meeting that was held virtually yesterday.

However, he remains as one of Fiji’s 5 representatives in the council.

• READ MORE: Secret report revelations at USP
• Other reports on the USP saga

Equally controversial council chair and pro-chancellor of the university, Winston Thompson, will be replaced in the position by Hilda Heine, former President of the Marshall Islands, one of the 12 Pacific Island nations that co-own USP, together with Fiji.

She takes over the pro-chancellor and chair of the council position when Thompson completes his term on December 31.

Thompson together with the ardent support of Khan and Fiji’s Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum have been at the forefront leading moves to get USP Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Pal Ahluwalia removed.

This began with the leak to Islands Business magazine in 2019 of a confidential report authored by Ahluwalia alleging numerous cases of administrative and financial mismanagement and abuse by the previous university administration.

It saw the purported suspension of the VC by Thompson and Khan and culminating in his deportation together with his wife from Fiji in late January of this year.

Ahluwalia is leading the university from the USP campus in Nauru where he awaits the opening of flights into Samoa, where the office of the vice-chancellor will be now based.

Samisoni Pareti is publisher and managing director of Islands Business magazine. This article is republished with permission.

Nauru president Lionel Aingimea has accused Fiji of being “divisive” over its refusal to pay its share of funding for the 12-nation regional University of the South Pacific, saying the institution needs every member country to pay their contribution.

Aingimea said all Pacific island country members of USP were present and voted overwhelmingly to support the offer of a new employment contract to vice-chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

Professor Ahluwalia is now based at the USP campus in Samoa after Fiji unilaterally deported him and his wife Sandra in early February.

• READ MORE: Top global accolades for USP, the ‘captain’ and Pacific regionalism
• Nauru president praises USP for its global top 10% university ranking
• Other USP saga reports

Aingimea, delivering a ministerial statement in Nauru’s Parliament this week, said there was ongoing contention about Fiji withholding its grant agreement due to the USP council decision to renew Professor Ahluwalia’s contract in spite of opposition by Fiji.

He said Fiji’s Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, had expressed disapproval of the decision of the council

“This disapproval was voiced in the Fiji Parliament sitting of 19 August 2021.

“Honourable Speaker, USP as a regional university does not belong to any one country.

Responsibilities of members
“Responsibilities of the institution are borne by its members.

“Needless to say, there were a lot of statements that were issued by many bodies and people who went against what Fiji’s A-G stated in Parliament.

“In summary of the USP’s council actions, I state that in a democratic environment, where respect and honour is paramount, the USP Council and employer of the vice-chancellor discussed and voted for his re-instatement.”

President Aingimea, former chancellor of USP, said the re-appointment of Prof Ahluwalia was supported by officeholders, staff and student unions.

In August’s Parliament sitting, reported in The Fiji Times, Sayed-Khaiyum said Fiji did not accept Professor Ahluwalia as the vice-chancellor of USP and that it would not provide any funding or assistance to USP as long as he remained in this position.

BDO report tabled in Nauru Parliament
The Fiji Times reported on Saturday that Fijian academics in the former USP administration had been implicated in a 2019 report into mismanagement and corruption at the regional university that was tabled by President Aingimea in Nauru’s Parliament this week.

Known as the BDO report, Aingimea said it showed serious breaches of university processes and procedures resulting in the loss of millions of dollars of member government and donor funding.

Aingimea said the report showed clear violation of university rules, unethical conduct and gross financial mismanagement by the previous university administration.

He said one particular academic was mentioned more than 100 times in the report.

She was investigated after being awarded a five-year contract, three cash bonuses and one-step increment that was not aligned with the university’s recruitment standards.

Aingimea said the report was then used to review the university’s procedures and implement reforms so mismanagement, corruption, fraud and financial irregularities were not repeated.

Moving forward, Aingimea urged USP to develop strategies to ensure it remained financially sustainable.

Most trying times at USP
Aingimea said that during his year-long tenure as chancellor ending in June 2021, he was faced with the most trying times in the history of the regional university.

“Our unity as a region was being severely tested.

“My tenure was marked by having to deal with challenges including the covid-19 pandemic on USP, a severe funding crisis, and the deportation of the vice-chancellor and president (VCP).”

Questions on Aingimea’s comments sent to Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama had received no response.

Contacted on Friday, Professor Pal Ahluwalia said he was in a meeting and that he would respond.

USP Staff Association president Dr Elizabeth Fong said the association had called for action to be taken on the report’s findings.

Arieta Vakasukawaqa is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

President Lionel Aingimea of Nauru has praised the University of the South Pacific for becoming ranked among the world’s top 10 percent of universities by The Times Higher Education rankings (THE).

This is the first time that the university has achieved this recognition in its 53-year history.

President Aingimea, who is outgoing chancellor and a law graduate and former teacher at the regional university, said it was a “remarkable achievement” and a “resounding endorsement of regionalism” in the Pacific.

• READ MORE: The USP saga
• NZ universities climb in Times Higher Education world rankings
• Full THE rankings

The ranking comes at a critical time for vice-chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia who has faced bitter opposition by the Fiji government for more than two years in what commentators regard as a “political vendetta”.

Professor Ahluwalia was deported by Fiji in February but had his contract renewed by the USP Council with him being based at a USP campus in Apia, Samoa, instead of Suva.

The THE ranking is seen as a vindication of his efforts to strengthen the university.

The 2022 rankings, released in the UK, look at five criteria: teaching, research, international outlook, citations and industry income.

President Aingimea said in a statement today Nauru had “been a proud founding member” of the university.

‘Longstanding commitment’
“At the time of USP’s establishment in 1968, Nauru stood tall recognising the importance and value of a regional university,” he said.

“Since that time, many Nauruans have, and continue to attend USP. Today, that long-standing commitment as one of the owners of USP has been rewarded in an unprecedented manner.

“USP has for the first time in its 53-year history been ranked by one the most prestigious ranking organisations of the world, The Times Higher Education Rankings (THE).

“USP has entered global rankings to now be part of an elite group that sees it ranked among the top 10 percent of universities in the world. This is truly a remarkable achievement when we take into account our developing regional context.

“Today is a day when the 12 member countries that own the USP can rejoice and see the resources and efforts that they have invested in this great Pacific institution being justly rewarded.

“This ranking is a resounding endorsement of regionalism.

“I have a deep personal association with USP, as a student witnessing first-hand the power of forging life-long relationships with colleagues from across the Pacific.

‘Part of the team’
“I have been a member of staff at USP, as a lecturer in law, and have been part of the team dedicated to delivering a quality education to our students.

“Finally, as president it was a privilege to serve as chancellor of USP. My term as chancellor was marked by the work we had to do to provide USP with the good governance it well and truly deserves.

“As an alumnus of USP, I stand tall with all the staff, students and alumni who have contributed to the success of USP through this ranking.

“It gives me enormous pleasure to congratulate Professor Pal Ahluwalia who has championed USP’s entry into the THE rankings along with his senior management team.

“This ranking speaks volumes about the high calibre of research and academic output that USP has produced. I express my deep gratitude to everyone for their commitment to achieve this recognition.

“Over the last two years, our staff and students have sacrificed a lot, and to each and every one of you, on this wonderful occasion, I once again offer my heartiest congratulations.”

In a USP profile, Professor Ahluwalia said the university had achieved recognition in two particular categories with the THE rankings — “international outlook” (top 400) and “industry income” (top 500).

Both University of the South Pacific staff unions have attacked claims made in Parliament last week by Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum about the university.

The Association of USP Staff (AUSPS) and the USP Staff Union (USPSU) issued a statement in answer to Sayed-Khaiyum, who said the Fiji government would not make any monetary grants to USP until investigations were carried out against vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

The AUSPS and USPSU said it was their duty to set the record straight.

• READ MORE: Corruption accused USP staff ‘apply for state jobs’, says Fiji opposition
• The USP saga

The staff groups rejected Sayed-Khaiyum’s claims that Professor Ahluwalia had been “illegally appointed” for a three-year term despite “significant opposition” at the USP Council, saying the decision was made by a majority vote of its members.

“The minority that included the Fiji members, abstentions and opposition were insignificant in this democratic process,” the joint statement said.

“In Parliament, the majority rules. Likewise in council, the majority ruled.

“It should be noted that since the council as the employer did not terminate his [the vice-chancellor’s] employment, any references by the AG to the process of appointment are null and void.

Council rejected deportation
“Upon independent legal advice, the council refused to endorse the act of deportation that was the decision of one member country without the professional courtesy or diplomacy to consult the employer and give due justice.

“The majority of the council voted to appoint VC Ahluwalia for good reason and this was based on the fact that as the legal appointing authority, the council was neither informed nor consulted by the Fiji government of any of its concerns.”

The staff unions also attacked Sayed-Khaiyum’s claims in Parliament that the vice-chancellor’s appointment was evidence of “mismanagement, nepotism, cronyism, poor financial accountability and — in some instances outright fraud”.

They said the AG should refer to the findings in the BDO report that was commissioned by the USP Council after Prof Ahluwalia, in his first four months in office, identified past mismanagement and fraud at USP.

Questions sent to Sayed-Khaiyum regarding the union’s comments remain unanswered.

Luke Rawalai is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Some people who were accused of corrupt practices at the University of the South Pacific have applied for Fiji government positions, claims opposition SODELPA member of Parliament Ro Filipe Tuisawau.

He was responding to Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s statement against the governing USP Council in Parliament last week.

“Some people who were accused of corrupt practices have applied for government positions to be part of the civil service,” Ro Filipe said.

• READ MORE: Fiji funding threat over Pacific-wide university draws ire in New Zealand
• Background to the USP saga

He said Sayed-Khaiyum was fond of bringing up allegations against expatriate USP vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia but failed to mention allegations against the previous Fiji vice-chancellor [Professor Rajesh Chandra].

He said victims of the USP saga were students and staff members who mostly comprised Fijians.

He said there were allegations of corrupt practices before Professor Ahluwalia’s term that should be investigated and the Attorney-Genefral only told “one side of the story”.

“Fiji should be paying more (in grant) because there are more Fijian students.”

Fiji’s USP stance ‘vindictive’

Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry described the Fiji government’s decision not to release its annual grant to USP unless an independent inquiry was carried out on allegations against Professor Ahluwalia as vindictive.

“One does not expect this degree of immaturity and pettiness from a high-ranking government minister,” Chaudhry said.

“The minister should know that USP will go on regardless of such petty behaviour from him, it is Fiji that will suffer.

“His antics are giving Fiji a bad name and putting regional cooperation at risk.

“We have the PM making an upbeat statement in Parliament talking of regional solidarity and building trust and confidence in our relationship as a forum family’ while the Economy Minister is going all out to wreck this regional family.”

He questioned whether, in line with his new policy on USP, the minister would also suspend payments under the Toppers and TELS scheme to Fiji’s USP students.

“I also wonder what our two big regional donors [Australia and New Zealand] and forum partners think about such petty behaviour.

Divert budgetary support to USP
“Maybe they can consider diverting some of the budgetary support money they donate to the Fijian government, to the USP to make up for the default in Fiji’s annual grant payments.”

Questions sent to Sayed- Khaiyum last week regarding Chaudhry’s statements remained unanswered.

While the Australian consulate has chosen to remain silent on the issue, New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said its government respected the collective decision of the USP governing Council to reappoint Prof Ahluwalia.

New Zealand would continue to work with all stakeholders to find a solution that was in the best interests of students.

“New Zealand remains concerned by the ongoing management and governance challenges at the University of the South Pacific (USP),” a statement from the ministry said.

Felix Chaudhary and Luke Rawalai are Fiji Times reporters. Republished with permission.

The New Zealand government says it remains concerned by the ongoing management and governance challenges at the Fiji-based regional University of the South Pacific.

This week the Fiji government announced it would not pay its multi-million grant to the university while the current vice-chancellor Pal Ahluwalia remained at his post.

It has called for another investigation after an earlier one revealed significant abuses by former vice-chancellor Rajesh Chandra, who is believed to have close links with the Fiji government.

• READ MORE: Background to the USP saga

The Fiji government deported Professor Ahluwalia and his wife in February, after accusing them of immigration breaches.

But the governing USP Council, headed by Nauru President Lionel Aingamea, renewed his contract, and the vice-chancellor is to work out of the Samoa campus instead of Suva.

New Zealand said it respected the collective decision of the council and said it would continue to work with all stakeholders to find a solution that was in the best interests of students.

New Zealand and Australia give significant financial backing to the university which is owned by 12 Pacific Island states.

USP faces a struggle
Long time USP academic Professor Vijay Naidu said that while Fiji paid the most in grant money, it was also the main beneficiary of the institution.

He said that without the Fiji funding the university would struggle.

“The university will survive until the end of this year, but looking beyond that they will obviously be looking to find other sources of funding,” he said.

“And given the fact that the GDPs of Pacific Island countries and the per capita income of the region is relatively low this would be a difficult challenge.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Nauru President Lionel Aingimea has rejected a Fiji minister’s claim that the decision of the University of the South Pacific to reappoint its vice-chancellor and base him in Apia, Samoa, instead of Suva is illegal.

“I don’t see how it can be illegal,” said President Aingimea, who is also the university’s chancellor, in defending the decision to relocate Professor Pal Ahluwalia to Samoa after he was deported by the Fiji government in February in widely condemned circumstances.

“I am also a lawyer and I’ve also read the USP charter and statutes and the [USP] Council has the authority in making appointments.

• READ MORE: USP staff and students hit back at Sayed-Khaiyum’s ‘illegal’ claim

“There’s nothing in the statutes or the charter to suggest we have broken any rule by reappointing the vice-chancellor or issu[ing] him with a new contract.

“There is nothing illegal about it; council offered him a new contract and it can, as the employer.”

As chancellor of the 12-nation regional university, Aingimea said in statement issued by the Nauru government that the council had acted within the guidelines of the USP charter and statutes in response to a claim by Fiji’s Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum last week that USP had acted illegally.

On Tuesday, the university’s two staff unions and the students’ association also issued a joint declaration that USP had acted legally.

Offer of new contract
A sub-committee chaired by President Aingimea presented six recommendations to the USP Council which convened a special meeting on May 25 and June 2 and agreed to offer a new contract to Professor Ahluwalia as vice-chancellor and president (VCP) of the USP.

Students and staff were pleased with the recommendations and the outcome of the council deliberations in re-appointing the VC, said Aingimea.

“The council stands for what’s right and that’s what the students and staff want.”

President Aingimea agreed that it was Fiji’s decision when it came to terminating work visas. However, he added that the issue of contract termination lay with the council as the vice-chancellor’s employer.

“We [USP Council] looked at the USP statutes and charter and we have not broken any rule in offering a new contract to the VC.”

Since the sub-committee was established, President Aingimea said he had received a lot of correspondence from staff, students and the Fiji media inquiring about the status of the VC.

As chairman of the sub-committee, President Aingimea respected the process and considered it inappropriate to respond to those enquiries — until now, saying that any communication and developments arising from the sub-committee must first be reported to council.

Contract renewal precedence
He said there was precedence when former VC Professor Rajesh Chandra’s contract was renewed by the council without advertising the position.

President Aingimea also defended Samoa as an established USP hub — as Emalus campus in Vanuatu was. Relocating the VC to Samoa would not be a disadvantage in terms of the VC carrying out his work.

As a former lecturer at USP, said President Aingimea, the reports and issues facing the university were not new. He described them as “longstanding issues”.

“So maybe it’s about time the region spoke out,” Aingimea said.

“This is a regional university. It doesn’t belong to any one country.”

Fiji has the highest number of students attending USP and is thus the highest contributor to university grants with an annual contribution of $34.4 million.

It also benefits the most through income tax, rent, travel, transport, medical, and the purchase of goods and services by the staff and students that attend and are employed by the university.

Fiji not paid up
In reality, however, said the Nauru government statement, the Fiji government had not paid the full amount in recent years.

In 2019, it was short $7.8 million and $17.75 million in 2020. This year, a contribution has not been made by Fiji, which gets back nine times its contribution.

President Aingimea said all member countries of the USP had the right to an equal voice in the decisions and operations of the USP.

“USP belongs to all of us, not just one country.”

The University of the South Pacific staff and student unions have condemned Fiji Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s claim that a new USP contract offer to the vice-chancellor is illegal, saying he has “misled” the Fiji public with a “baseless” statement.

The unions also said he had shown “total disrespect” for the governing USP Council which represents 11 independent regional governments, donors, staff, students and alumni in the Pacific.

In a joint media statement, the Association of USP Staff (AUSPS), University of South Pacific Staff Union (USPSU) and the USP Student Association (UPSA) said today Fiji had the highest number of representatives on the council and was “given ample opportunity by the pro-chancellor and chair of council to share its views” under democratic process.

• READ MORE: A-G: Appointment illegal – USP Council accepts reinstatement of Professor Pal Ahluwalia
• Other reports on the USP saga

Fiji was decisively out-voted in the council. A new Samoa-based contract was offered to Professor Pal Ahluwalia who had been abruptly deported along with his wife in February in a widely criticised action.

“In essence the Fiji members of the council failed to convince other members of the council regarding their views on the issues under discussion and now calling a decision illegal and questioning others that are within the purview of the august body,” said the media statement signed by AUSPS president Elizabeth Reade Fong, USPSU president Taris Vacala, and USPSA president (Laucala) Lepani Naqarase.

“This press release serves to rebut as baseless the statements of the AG [Attorney-General] and the Fiji representatives to the USP Council who have reported council outcomes to him.”

Citing many of the university’s governing documents — including the university charter — the statement said: “The council is well within its rights and has determined that the VC/P will be located at the Samoa campus. This was voted for by a clear majority.

‘Within due process’
“The same is applied to the continuation of salary of the VC/P on his deportation by the council at its February 16, 2021, meeting at which the chair of council and chair of the Audit and Risk Committee were not present due to ‘conflicts of interest’ which led to their earlier and continued recusal from council deliberations.

“All of this was within due process. The members must accept that the council has the right to determine whether a conflict of interest exists.”

The statement added that only the University Council could appoint and remove a vice-chancellor.

Sayed-Khaiyum told the Fiji Parliament last week that Professor Ahluwalia’s reinstatement was illegal, reports The Fiji Times.

In response, the university stated its priority during these challenging times was learning and teaching delivery and it wished not to comment further.

The university stated the governing body of the regional institution was the USP Council.

Speaking on the university’s annual report for 2018, Sayed-Khaiyum said the appointment was illegal because it was not in accordance with the university’s charter.

• Full joint USP unions media release at The Pacific Newsroom

The governing body of the University of the South Pacific has put a stop to a long and bitter campaign by the Fiji government to get rid of vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

With the strong leadership of Tonga and Samoa, the council voted to:

• Issue a new contract for the vice-chancellor’s position to Professor Pal Ahluwalia
• Relocate the VC’s office from the university’s main campus in Suva, Fiji, to the USP’s Alafua Campus in Apia, Samoa; and
• Stipulate that VC Ahluwalia’s contract be a three-year term.

Fiji’s five representatives to the council were led by its Solicitor-General Sharvada Nand Sharma in place of Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum (who was attending a virtual session of the Fiji Parliament), and Education Permanent Secretary Dr Angeela Jokhan (who was until last year a senior academic at the USP).

• READ MORE: Other USP saga reports

They attempted unsuccessfully to garner support to block the three motions.

The strongest support they received was when eight council members voted against a three-year term for Professor Ahluwalia’s new contract as VC. The additional three votes against the motion came from the representatives of Australia, New Zealand and council chair Winston Thompson of Fiji.

A majority of council members did not support reservations raised over Professor Ahluwalia’s age. He is 62 this year, but some senior members of USP have worked at the university until they were 70 years of age.

Australia called for this clause to be reconsidered by a new sub-committee, a suggestion Nauru’s President and education minister, Lionel Aingimea, strongly opposed. Aingimea argued that the motion had already been scrutinised by a sub committee of the council which he chaired, and the better way for Australia to show its stand on the matter would be through voting.

How they voted
Thompson and the Australian representative also voted with the Fiji bloc against the relocation of the VC’s office to Samoa. New Zealand joined the majority of members that included Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Tonga, Marshall Islands and a majority of the USP staff and student reps in endorsing the motion.

Solomon Islands had an unusual voting pattern, Islands Business was told, for its education minister voted with Fiji on the first motion opposing the re-engagement of VC Ahluwalia, and then decided to abstain in the successive two motions.

Her attempt to claim the additional vote of their new co-opted member to the council, long-time Pacific fisheries expert Dr Transform Aqorau was denied by the council because Dr Aqorau is yet to undergo an induction as its newest member.

Samoa was represented by senior civil servants.

With the council secretariat withholding a statement on the outcome of today’s meeting which was held virtually, it could not be confirmed whether the council would be meeting again next week to decide on the fate of its chair Winston Thompson and the chair of the council’s audit and risk sub-committee Mahmood Khan, also of Fiji.

Both men have been cited for insubordination and of working against the interest of the council and the USP, and have spearheaded the campaign to remove Professor Ahluwalia as VC.

Those efforts saw attempts to suspend him from the position in July last year, and a middle-of-the-night deportation, along with his partner, Sandy Price, from Fiji in early March this year.

Professor Ahluwalia and Price have been living in Nauru since then.

Samisoni Pareti is managing director of Islands Business news magazine in Fiji. This article is republished with permission.

The deported vice-chancellor of the University of the South Pacific has told the Samoa Observer that his future remains in limbo after he was expelled from Fiji, the 12-nation regional university’s headquarters.

Speaking to the Observer from Nauru, Professor Pal Ahluwalia said the decision about where to serve out his tenure remains out of his hands.

The remarks come the day after Samoa formally extended Professor Ahluwalia the offer of a safe haven.

• READ MORE: Other reports on the USP saga

The professor says he had received offers from both Samoa and Vanuatu to offer him a safe haven, but that the decision about where he ends up will be up to the university.

Professor Ahluwalia has been in Nauru for two months now at the invitation of President of Lionel Aingimea to observe first-hand the challenges that face countries in Micronesia and the South Pacific and see what can be done to improve them.

“I’m waiting for the University Council to decide about where I go next and I know your prime minister and the prime minister of Vanuatu have both said that they would like me to operate from either of those two countries,” said Professor Ahluwalia.

“My view is [I will go] to wherever the council wants me to go.”

Confident over Samoa
The caretaker Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Dr Sa’ilele Malielegaoi, is confident the vice-chancellor will choose to pick Samoa

Speaking for the first time following the election during his Taimi ma le Palemia programme last Monday, Tuilaepa confirmed Samoa is one of only two countries that have extended an invitation to host Professor Ahluwalia.

“Our branch of the regional university was more focused on agricultural courses, but with the recent change, it is now a general campus,” he said.

“This means any course can be taught there and that’s why we offered to host the vice-chancellor; similar to when he lived in Fiji while also directing the university here and in Vanuatu.

“This is why he can also live here during his tenure while he oversees the campuses in Fiji and Vanuatu. Only two nations offered – Vanuatu and Samoa.

“And we do feel that the [vice-chancellor] would prefer to be in Samoa; so we are awaiting a decision as there is also Australia and New Zealand involved. But whatever it may be, I really believe that he will come here.”

Professor Ahluwalia drew the ire of university and national authorities for whistleblowing a raft of misspending and irregular bonuses among the university leadership.

Leaked audit report
Copies of his audit report, and a follow-up report that backed up his findings by forensic accountants BDO Auckland were widely leaked and exposed widespread corruption in the school.

But when he began investigating the situation, he never imagined it would lead to his overnight expulsion, he said.

“Obviously, I did an audit when I first got to the USP in 2019 and that audit revealed irregularities and financial mismanagement and human resource breaches of policy,” he said.

“I thought the only logical thing for me to do was report it to my council, which I did and of course some members of my management who were incriminated in it don’t share my values or my passion for higher education in the Pacific.

“It’s a clash of values and integrity and ethics. I can only speak about myself, others have to really answer those questions for themselves.”

Professor Ahluwalia was deported from Fiji, the site of the university’s main campus, without warning in February following a late night raid and he was deportated to Australia the following day.

In the meantime, Dr Giulio Masasso Tu’ikolongahau Paunga, is acting vice-chancellor and president.

University clarification
Last week, USP’s chancellor, President Aingimea, clarified that Professor Ahluwalia was still the head of the university despite his abrupt removal from the main campus.

Speaking to The Fiji Times, the regional university chancellor said there was no question that Professor Ahluwalia was still the vice-chancellor.

“That was a question that was put to a subcommittee, the subcommittee has put it back to the council with some recommendations – as far as I am personally concerned, he is still the VC of the USP,” he said.

“As far as I am concerned there are other campuses around the region, USP is a regional institution and, therefore, the VC can, as far as I am concerned, operate out of Samoa, Vanuatu or Nauru or any other country for that matter.”

The Samoan government has been clear on its intentions to have Professor Ahluwalia work from Samoa from the start and speaking to the Samoa Observer soon after his deportation in February, the vice-chancellor said he would be delighted to do so.

The caretaker Prime Minister said such scandals were crucial in shaping the future of the university as well as a lesson for the next host country for the university head.

This article was first published in the Samoa Observer.

Deported Canadian academic Professor Pal Ahluwalia is still vice-chancellor and president of the University of the South Pacific, says chancellor Lionel Aingimea.

Professor Ahluwalia and his wife, nursing lecturer Sandra Price, were forced to leave Fiji in early February after the Fiji government claimed the couple had breached provisions in their work permits.

Aingimea, who is also Nauru’s President, said once issues relating to the academic’s departure were cleared at the council level, Professor Ahluwalia would be allowed to operate out of any USP member country, except Fiji.

• READ MORE: More reports on the USP saga

Aingimea’s comments comes amid a council meeting this week to discuss a report which had highlighted governance issues at the regional institution.

The report was compiled in 2019 by forensic accountant BDO Auckland following allegations by Professor Ahluwalia of “serious mismanagement and abuse of office” at the USP.

The fallout between the university’s governing body, the USP Council, and the head office host nation, Fiji, came to the fore following the deportation of Ahluwalia.

Aingimea had condemned the deportation.

USP not informed
He said the USP Council, Professor Ahluwalia’s employer, was not informed of his deportation by the Fijian authorities.

The council had not revoked Professor Ahluwalia’s contract, Aingimea said.

He told the Fiji Times newspaper last week that he had received a lot of letters from USP students and staff expressing their disappointment that issues remained unresolved.

The question of Professor Ahluwalia’s role was put to a subcommittee, Aingimea said, and the subcommittee had returned it to the council meeting this week with some recommendations.

“As far as I am personally concerned, he [Ahluwalia] is still the VC of the USP,” he said.

On Ahluwalia not being able to return to Fiji, Aingimea said he could operate from any member country.

“As far as I am concerned there are other campuses around the region, USP is a regional institution and, therefore, the VC can, as far as I am concerned, operate out of Samoa, Vanuatu or Nauru or any other country for that matter.”

Ahluwalia and his wife were taken from their Suva home late at night on February 3 and driven to Nadi International Airport to be put on a flight to Australia.

According to the Fiji government, Alhuwalia and Sandra Price had continuously breached Section 13 of the Immigration Act which led to their deportation.

The couple have denied the claims.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The arrest, detention, and deportation of University of the South Pacific vice-chancellor Pal Ahluwalia and his wife are significant issues for Fiji and the “Sea of Islands”.

As a son of the Pacific committed to Oceania, I am dismayed by recent events at USP. I write in support of all the peoples of Fiji. Moreover, I uphold the mana of the many artistic and intellectual ancestors USP has provided for the education of younger generations of Pacific people across Oceania.

I acknowledge USP’s educational leadership for all peoples in Oceania with humility and respect. I extend solidarity to all USP staff and students from Fiji and around the Moana.

• READ MORE: USP open letter: How Fiji infiltrated a campus and kidnapped a vice-chancellor in ‘Gestapo-style coup’
• Secret report reveals widespread salary and allowance rorts at USP
• USP’s academic leader deported for getting close to Fiji’s dark secret
• Fiji work permits comes with conditions, says Bainimarama
• Other reports on the USP saga

I do not have the right to tell USP staff or students how they might resolve their issues. We Pasifika in Aotearoa are not qualified to lecture our brothers and sisters at USP about conflict resolution. USP has the collective culture, history, people, and protocols to resolve some of the issues about the expulsion of their vice-chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

But I wish to provide some humble suggestions to empower those seeking to resolve the issues that USP in Fiji confronts today.

Speaking as a Pasifika activist, I acknowledge that the only resolutions will be holistic ones involving all parties. But I think the Fiji government can perform an important role in resolving all issues. In broader terms, I feel the Fiji government could perform an important leadership role in allowing USP to heal and move forward in a spirit of Moana unity.

Ramifications for Fiji, region
The Fiji government’s expulsion of Professor Pal Ahluwalia and his wife from Fiji has had tremendous ramifications for Fiji and the region.

Academic organisations, activists, legal organisations, NGOs, journalists, Fiji members of Parliament, regional politicians, and USP alumni, staff, and students have all clarified relevant issues about the Fiji government’s unilateral decision to expel Ahluwalia and his wife.

In summary, some of these issues are:

1. The rule of law and the right of due process;
2. Protection of human rights;
3. The protection of the right to dissent;
4. Academic freedom;
5. Unilateral government intervention into the affairs of USP;
6. Protection of USP staff from unfair dismissal,
7. Safety and the wellbeing of USP staff, students at USP in Fiji, including safe from arrest or detention;
8. Claims of corruption at USP;
9. Allegations against Pal Ahluwalia;
10. Claims of punitive action against Ahluwalia by the Fiji government and Fiji members of the USP Council;
11. Issues of staff remuneration;
12. The health of relationships between Fiji and other member states who co-own USP;
13. Distinctions between state and civil society, i.e. the distinctions between the Fiji government and the regional university campus in Fiji; and
14. Calls for a relocation of the office of USP’s vice-chancellor from Fiji to other member nations, such as Samoa or Vanuatu.

Helpful resolutions
The Fiji government could help resolve these matters by engaging in a number of actions, discussions and processes. It could:

• Invite Professor Pal Ahluwalia and his wife back into the country so the issues could be resolved in Fiji.
• Clarify precisely what part of the law Ahluwalia his wife are alleged to have breached.
• Recommit to protecting the human rights of all in Fiji. More specifically, the government could ensure that all USP employees’ human rights are guaranteed so academic freedom can be exercised responsibly.
• Acknowledge that Pal Ahluwalia and his wife’s human rights have been breached. Moreover, the government could act to ensure this does not happen again to any other USP employee.
• Take precautions not to directly intervene in the affairs of USP again by expelling employees of the university. Moreover, Fiji government representatives on the USP Council could work to ensure this is never carried out again at the university.
• Release the funding the Fiji government owes USP without strings attached.
• Work closely with USP’s member nations to work out collective resolutions to enhancing the regional nature and character of the institution. This could be achieved through the creation of innovative policies that ease current immigration restrictions on the recruitment and retention of staff particularly from the region, and, further, by helping to facilitate an easing of inter-country movement of USP staff and students among member countries.
• Uphold the sanctity of USP as a learning space and strongly discourage police and military units from entering any USP grounds in Fiji and elsewhere.
• Respect the autonomy of USP’s staff and student organisations.
• Ensure the University Council-commissioned 2019 BDO Report, which independently investigated all allegations of corruption, is officially released to all stakeholders including staff and students. The only way to investigate criticisms of Ahluwalia is for independent people to assess the truth of these allegations. Similarly, only independent voices can consider the truth of claims made on Ahluwalia’s behalf. The government agrees to accept the outcomes of such investigations. The search for truth and fact are being politicised because of the Fiji government’s interference in university matters. Truth can only prevail if it is not weaponised for political purposes.
• Ensure all concerns regarding staff remuneration are scrutinised fully and fairly by investigators acting independently of both the Fiji government and USP. The government could respect the independence of investigator’s findings. Moreover, the issue of remuneration for those staff who have served the region selflessly over long years could be examined with sensitivity and respect by investigators.
• Allow USP staff and students privacy to work through issues raised by Professor Ahluwalia’s deportation. The government could step back and encourage USP’s people on all sides of this issue to engage in toktok or talanoa in order to heal and move forward in unity. This might encourage people not to settle scores with one another via government and/or university politics.
• Articulate and clarify the lines of autonomy existing between the spheres of the Fijian state – and USP as part of Moana civil society. Then healthy lines of intersection between state and civil society might be established. If such lines are not clearly established, the Fiji government could be accused of trying to absorb USP in Fiji into an apparatus of the state.
• Seek assistance from Pacific neighbours to help sort out issues. Pacific unity is perhaps best demonstrated when we support one another. Working with Pacific Island friends ensures USP’s vision of re-shaping the future in Oceania continues. Moreover, working in partnership with other Pacific Island peoples ensures USP’s mission of empowering Moana peoples in the region continues for the foreseeable future.

Tony Fala is an activist, volunteer community worker and researcher living in Auckland, Aotearoa. He has Tokelau ancestry. According to genealogies held by family elders, Fala also has ancestors from Aotearoa, Samoa, Tonga, and other island groups in Oceania. He works as a volunteer for the Community Services Connect Trust rescuing food and distributing this to families in need. Fala is currently producing a small Pan-Pacific research project, and is also helping organise an Auckland anti-racist conference.

As the fate of the University of the South Pacific remains on edge, a small leak of a personal file hints at what is wrong with the 50-year-old regional institution.

It is detail on Dr Angela Jokhan, until recently USP’s Head of Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment.

It’s unflattering: “…she has an unfortunate tendency to create conflict with her peers and to be extremely disrespectful”.

• READ MORE: Other USP saga reports
• USP chancellor condemns treatment of Pal
• The BDO report

Plainly a significant player in the organisation, Dr Jokhan is of greater significance now in Fiji having been appointed Fiji’s Permanent Secretary Education last October.

How she got the job, given her academic performance, raises questions. Answers point to her marriage to a wealthy land agent who happened to be an unsuccessful FijiFirst candidate for Parliament.

The couple have been strong supporters of Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.

At the 12-nation USP, under former vice-chancellor Professor Rajesh Chandra, Dr Jokhan earned a significant salary and had her contract renewed in a less than transparent way, say institutional sources.

Complaint led to BDO report
Incoming vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia took up the post and, as is now well known, suspected matters were not right. His complaint to the USP Council led to the now infamous BDO report, initially revealed in The Pacific Newsroom.

Dr Angela Jokhan was mentioned 109 times in the BDO report.

Professor Ahluwalia called for reports on the various people and among them was one written by Professor Derrick Armstrong, the deputy vice-chancellor. Last year, he became acting vice-chancellor when the Fiji government moved to have Professor Ahluwalia fired.

When they were unsuccessful in that, they earlier this year just nabbed him in the middle of the night and deported him.

Professor Armstrong’s report on Dr Angela Jokhan has been leaked. Headed “Feedback on the Performance of Associate Professor Anjeela Jokhan as Dean FSTE” it is in several sections.

”Contribution made to support the University, the Vice-Chancellor and President and the Senior Management Team.
“Associate Professor Jokhan is a highly experienced manager and makes significant contributions to the University across a number of areas. In addition to her Faculty responsibilities she has also recently taken over temporary responsibility at the SMT level for the University’s ICT area. She pursues her responsibilities with vigour and has been fully engaged in a number of key areas and activities central to the University’s strategy and performance. She is a very active member of the University Senate. Her enthusiasm can from time to time lead to her being quite abrasive and dismissive of other points of view. She can be a very effective member of the SMT team but this is not always the case and she has an unfortunate tendency to create conflict with her peers and to be extremely disrespectful. She does have a tendency to insist that she is correct on an issue on the basis of her personal knowledge and long experience with the University, even when there is no evidence to support her viewpoint.

”Contribution to the Faculty/Department.
Associate Professor Jokhan runs her Faculty with a very firm hand. The Faculty is successful on a number of indicators and she has put together a good team of Associate Deans who ensure efficiency and consistency in the administration of Faculty procedures. The Faculty has led the University in a number of areas, for example in the development of apps and the granting of patents. The Faculty has also been very successful in achieving the international accreditation/recognition of programmes in, for example, Engineering and Computing. The research performance of the Faculty might be considered satisfactory overall but there has been very little success in achieving external funding for research and with some individual exceptions its performance would not be considered notable compared with Science Faculties elsewhere. With stronger academic leadership there would most certainly be opportunities for the Faculty to step up a gear. There have been many conflicts with Heads of Schools and with other staff. On occasions the Dean has taken actions with regard to staff members that have put the University at risk. She demonstrates considerable impatience with those with whom she differs. It would be hard not to be aware of the widespread grumblings and dissatisfaction within the Faculty over her management style.

”Leadership, Representation
“Associate Professor Jokhan does not have the rank of full professor and her personal research leadership is minimal. She is a biologist by academic background but in recent times has contributed to publications with her students and junior staff in the area of ICT enabled learning. However, she does not have an academic background in this area, nor does she have a strong profile. The absence of academic leadership is a significant deficit in the leadership one might expect from a dean. Her contribution is principally as a manager rather than as an academic leader.”

Also leaked is a spreadsheet itemising Dr Angela Jokhan’s academic publications and PhD supervision.

It’s rather modest for an academic who, as BDO said, was on a salary of F$450,000 (NZ$305,000) a year.

• Full report and documents at The Pacific Newsroom

Never again should a University of the South Pacific staff member be treated in the manner vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia was in being deported from Fiji, says the USP chancellor.

Chancellor Lionel Rouwen Aingimea, who is also the President of Nauru, hinted at the possibility of Professor Ahluwalia “continuing in his role from one of the university’s other member countries”.

Aingimea said the university’s expatriate staff needed to be assured that they had security of tenure – and allowing staff to operate across member countries would support their job security and enhance the academic reputation of the university.

• READ MORE: Other USP saga articles

He said he had been entrusted by the USP Council to chair a subcommittee that would look into Professor Ahluwalia’s contract and a recommendation would be made soon.

He also revealed Professor Ahluwalia was in Nauru at his invitation and was witnessing first-hand the challenges countries in Micronesia and the South Pacific faced.

In an earlier report by Luke Rawalai, Aingimea said USP was not solely owned by one country but 12 countries whose interest it needed to serve well.

Responding to questions from The Fiji Times, Aingimea said it was called the University of the South Pacific because it was inclusive.

“It is not a university of any particular country,” said Aingimea.

‘Not political institution’
“It is not a political institution; it should not be treated as a political institution.

“It should be treated as a place where ideas are fostered, where learning is upheld to be sacrosanct.

“I am also concerned that because of the reputational risk that USP carries, that we have to carry a reputation that will want donors to come in and give money.”

Aingimea said donors wanted to invest in the university’s maritime school, law school, and other schools within the institution, adding they needed confidence in the university’s administration.

“Donors need to see that we have the governance ability to be able to use their money well and to use it for the betterment of the Pacific countries.

“One of the most important things for us to remember is that the university is a regional institution and what I would like to basically tell the students and the staff is this, as a chancellor that I want to reassure them and want to emphasise that first and foremost are the staff and the students of the USP, their interests come first.

“Good governance strategy and vision must go hand in hand and that’s what many council members are concerned with and of course council must always be thinking ‘how do we safeguard our students, how do we safeguard our staff’.

“That also is of great importance.”

Litia Cava and Luke Rawalai are reporters of The Fiji Times.

Opposition parliamentarian Ro Filipe Tuisawau claims University of the South Pacific pro-chancellor Winston Thompson and audit and risk committee deputy chair Mahmood Khan had blocked investigations into irregularities highlighted by vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

Speaking in Parliament during debate on the the 2017 USP annual report, Ro Filipe said deported USP vice-chancellor Prof Ahluwalia had acted as a whistleblower and highlighted irregularities.

Ro Filipe said he had documented evidence of Thompson’s and Khan’s involvement in obstructing investigators.

• READ MORE: Other USP saga reports

“What is the role of pro-chancellor Winston Thompson and the deputy chair of the audit and risk committee Mahmood Khan who was appointed to that committee?” Ro Filipe asked.

“All they did was block the investigations and this is documented.

“I am not talking out of thin air. This is documented in a summary by the manager assurance and compliance and reported to the council for interference and restrictions.

“Investigators from the assurance and compliance unit were denied access to records because the pro-chancellor Winston Thompson instructed that his approval was required.”

When contacted for a comment, Thompson denied the allegations adding they would not do such a thing.

“Part of my responsibility and Mr Khan’s as chairs of audit and risk is that we would encourage investigations of any wrongdoings that is taking place,” he said.

Thomson said people were reacting to investigations they had initiated with their “colourless reports”.

Luke Rawalai is a Fiji Times reporter.

The whistleblowing vice-chancellor at the University of the South Pacific (USP), Professor Pal Ahluwalia, has described the illegal deportation of he and his wife, Sandra Price, last week as a “surreal” experience.

Many would agree that the inhumane, immoral and illegal deportation has plunged the tertiary institution into the biggest crisis of its 50-plus-year history.

The ensuing standoff between USP host country Fiji and the university governing body, the USP Council, has put the institution’s funding at risk, and its future in jeopardy.

• READ MORE: Other articles about the USP saga

In another surreal episode, Fiji’s Prime Minister and Immigration Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama, chose to airily downplay the situation, apparently hoping that the controversy would blow away.

After initially going to ground in the face of the international and national uproar created by the expulsion, Bainimarama responded with a tweet – concentrating on things that matter – insinuating that the crisis engulfing the region’s once premier tertiary institute was of little, if any, consequence.

Bainimarama’s right-hand man, Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, followed suit by telling The Fiji Times that there is “no saga” and “no crisis” at USP. Since last year Khaiyum, as the economy minister, withheld Fiji’s $27 million allocation to USP over alleged unresolved governance issues.

It came after a failed attempt by the Fiji government’s USP representative to suspend Professor Ahluwalia.

Total disregard for the consequences
The statements by these two men, who virtually run the country, reflect a total disregard for the consequences of their actions. Besides the international furore, they seem unconcerned about the political fallout domestically, despite winning the 2018 election by the thinnest of margins with another election just around the corner in 2022.

Their growing arrogance is clearly a consequence of military support and the censorship of the media, which means the government maintains a firm grip on the country. Hiding behind the facade of a democracy is very much a military government.

This is reflected in the despotic actions of both the Prime Minister and his Attorney-General, who clearly feel that they can act with impunity, without suffering any consequences.

Then more surreality: when the USP issue was raised in Fiji’s parliament this week, it was ruled out by the Speaker on the grounds that it was not a matter of national importance. Even though Fiji has the most students at USP, and never fails to point out that it contributes more funds to the institution than any other government.

This week the education minister claimed that Fiji does not interfere in the decisions of the USP Council, even though it just did: by withdrawing the VC’s work visa the government voided his contract.

Various independent commentators have pointed out that the scale of the damage to USP is enormous and unprecedented, and raises serious questions about the broader, longer-term impacts on regional unity, academic freedom, respect for human rights and the rule of law.

The deportation has also seen the resurfacing of questions about Fiji’s suitability as the host nation for USP due to political instability and the lack of civil rights. Samoa has already put itself forward as an alternative host for the university.

Legally questionable, but morally wrong
The manner in which the Ahluwalias were deported has been well-covered by the media. It was not only legally questionable, but morally wrong. Up to 15 police and immigration officers descended on the couple’s accommodation in the dead of the night, demanding to be let in on the threat of breaking the door down.

The VC and his wife were then whisked away to the Nadi International Airport at high speed, without so much of a toilet break, let alone due process.

Few believe the official reason offered for the deportation — that Professor Ahluwalia’s conduct was “prejudicial to peace, defence, public safety, public order, public morality, public health, security, or good government of the Fiji islands”. Many feel that Ahluwalia has had a target on his back since his exposure of financial mismanagement under the previous vice-chancellor, Professor Rajesh Chandra, who was seen to be close to the government.

The losses ran into the millions of dollars, as articulated in the BDO special audit report, which was leaked to the media, much to the embarrassment and the consternation of the government, the chairman of the USP Council and those implicated in the scandal.

The situation is replete with ironies. Bainimarama used the mantra of a “clean up” against corruption to justify his 2006 coup but is now increasingly linked to this cover up at USP. Considering the importance of higher education in the region, and the cost to its own domestic and international reputation, the lengths to which the Fiji government has gone to get rid of Ahluwalia reveal a government that has completely lost the plot.

Unions, civil society organisations and opposition parties have roundly condemned the expulsion, but there is an uncanny silence from the office of the Fiji Human Rights Commissioner, Ashwin Raj, an appointee of the Attorney-General.

Deafening silence from donors
Also deafening is the silence from the USP’s major donors, Australia and New Zealand, the paragons of human rights and democracy in the region. Their statements have merely expressed concern about USP, while failing to condemn the treatment of the VC.

As recently as June 2020, on this very blog, I wrote about regional institutions with governance problems, including specifically USP, and the silence of international aid donors and partner countries.

I attributed these countries’ silence to political expediency and geopolitical priorities, warning that unless we demand high standards, and adopt zero tolerance for graft and abuse, we only embolden the perpetrators.

I called for a change of attitude, but to no avail, as this latest USP scandal indicates. Do Australia and New Zealand still stand for the rule of the law and human rights, or have they surrendered these values for the sake of political expediency?

The only fair outcome in this case, and the only one that would protect the viability of USP, would be the reinstatement of Professor Ahluwalia. This will only happen if the USP Council stands its ground, and if Australia and New Zealand, as USP’s largest donors, put the university first.

This should not be too much to ask, or to hope.

Dr Biman Prasad is a former professor of economics and dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of the South Pacific. He is an adjunct professor at the James Cook University and Punjabi University, and is currently Member of Parliament and Leader of the National Federation Party in Fiji. This article was originally published on DevPolicyBlog and is republished with Dr Prasad’s permission.

The pictures of Professor Pal Ahluwalia, the vice-chancellor of the University of the South Pacific (USP), and his wife Sandra Price on the morning of Thursday, February 4, during their long and unexpected plane journey back to Brisbane after their shock expulsion from Fiji brought back memories for us.

Former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, still very much a politician and leadership contender for elections in 2022, argued that the FijiFirst government’s behaviour in deporting Professor Ahluwalia and his wife was nothing short of childish.

He should know. He began Fiji’s coup culture with two coups in 1987, unleashing a wave of violence upon Fiji’s people: assaults, burglaries, arson, and imprisonment.

• READ MORE: Other USP saga articles

One group of demonstrators was gassed. Dr Anirudh Singh, a university scientist who criticised Rabuka’s biography, was hijacked by a military unit and severely tortured, his hands broken. In effect, anyone who by their actions signalled dissatisfaction became fair game.

In January 1988, we found out too that we had become fair game. After the first coup in May 1987, we had been warned by economist Wadan Narsey (another victim, later forced out of USP by government pressure and, in his case, the Bainimarama government) that our close friendship with William Sutherland, the deposed Prime Minister’s permanent secretary, might create problems for us. (William escaped Rabuka’s military, who came for him immediately after the first coup, and managed to leave the country. But at Nadi, troops dragged him off the plane. Only the pilot’s brave refusal to take off without all his passengers enabled him to leave.)

In reality, anything could cause problems. USP where one of us (Robbie) worked as a senior lecturer had long been subject to cliques at loggerheads with each other.

A simple call to the military could create a lifetime of pain for helpless individuals. Then VC, Geoffrey Caston, soon discovered this when hash harriers (social runners) left their cars outside his home and he was charged with holding unauthorised meetings.

Shadowy Taukeist activists
We had a member of Rabuka’s shadowy Taukeist activists living next door to us in Raiwaqa who didn’t look kindly on us, particularly around the time of the second coup in September 1987 when he held operational meetings in his home.

We also brought attention upon ourselves because we decided to write on the coups in our evenings. All news was censored, so to find out what was happening we would frequent certain bars where public servants and officers often hung out.

Asking the odd question, but mostly listening to conversations, could provide some framework for understanding what was happening.

The other author of this article (Akosita) was a journalist with the then Fiji Sun, but also did stories for London’s Gemini news service. She had been asked to send a story on the current political scene, but the only way to get it out was via Fintel, the government’s centralised telecommunications system.

She discovered on handing over the article to be faxed that Fintel had been militarised. An officer read her piece, said the fax was down and asked her to come back in the late afternoon.

We did, but before we could enter an employee exited and whispered that a whole group of soldiers was waiting for her. We decided to leave but were followed by a military vehicle for some time. Eventually we headed up to the Sun editor’s home and got approval to fax from the newspaper’s offices.

That still had to go through Fintel and was refused. In the end we used an old telex. But no sooner had the article been sent, power to the suburb was cut.

Things heated up
From that moment on, things seemed to heat up. Our house was raided by military intelligence. The family we allowed to live in the empty quarters under the house was turned against us and became the military’s spies. And our phone was tapped. After the first raid we took to taking everything to work that we had been writing in the evening.

Then everything went quiet. Classes finished at USP and we travelled to Vanuatu where Robbie taught for three weeks. Then we took a three-week holiday in Australia, in part to relieve the tension that went with two military coups, roadblocks, curfews, arrests, and beatings of friends.

When we returned in January, we went to Akosita’s parents to inform them that we intended to marry. On arriving back in Suva, Robbie received an urgent message to go to the university. There he was told that the government had decided not to renew his work visa and asked that he leave the next day.

The university suggested we go into hiding while they tried to sort it out. The sociologist Vijay Naidu (later thrown by the military into Fiji’s old death row cells) kindly took us up to the New Zealand High Commissioner’s residence, but his wife informed us that her husband was in the bath preparing to go out.

“We couldn’t help Richard Naidu (another expelled local who had been assaulted by Taukeists),” she argued. What makes you think you are different?

The next day was busy. Packers in to remove nine years of living. Then a quick trip down to the Registry Office. Then off to historian Jacqui Leckie’s house ostensibly to hide. Nothing worked. Everyone knew where we were and Rabuka refused to budge.

How did it come to this?
He told a New Zealand newspaper that Robbie was a security risk and had to go. So he eventually did, flying first to Auckland to stay with journalist David Robie, feeling we suspect much like Ahluwalia and possibly thinking: how did it come to this. And what is next?

As it turned out USP was good to Robbie. They kept him employed and planned to install him in Vanuatu. He would fly into Suva two or three times a semester to teach. But once the Fijian government heard of these plans, they declared him a prohibited immigrant and encouraged Vanuatu to ban him also. He eventually found work in Australia and the university paid for our effects to come over.

All’s well that ends well, and he did go back to teach again in Fiji as a professor of development studies in 2004, smartly leaving ahead of the well-advertised 2006 coup.

That coup was led by the current Prime Minister and bore all the clandestine and nasty tactics that Rabuka and others had employed since 1987 in the name of sovereignty. This is a country that now chairs the UN Human Rights Committee yet has managed to impose a draconian curfew ever since covid-19 became a potential threat.

Standing up to political pressure is not something that comes naturally to the politically appointed USP Council. Let’s hope it does for Pal’s sake and for the health of the Pacific’s regional university.

Let’s hope also for the notion of academic freedom, unfortunately often more honoured in the breach in the Pacific. In the early 1980s Mara’s pre-coup government pressured Ziam Baksh – a young Indo-Fijian academic – who called for a common term to refer to all Fijian citizens.

Much later, USP bowed to criticism and forced Professor Narsey to resign. Governments like to be in control, and Fiji is no different from many others in this regard, preferring instead a culture of silence.

But its assault on good governance under the pretence of sovereign rights, its attempt to pre-emptively sack a vice-chancellor, now threatens to unwind the Pacific’s great experiment in regional education and end the diversity of views and pathways so valuable for any democracy that wishes to garner the best for its peoples. All will lose if they succeed.

Dr Robbie Robertson is adjunct professor at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne where he was formerly Dean of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities. Akosita Tamanisau works as an assessor in the Victorian homelessness sector. They are co-authors of Fiji: Shattered Coups. This article first appeared on DevPolicyBlog and is republished here with the authors’ permission.

Samoa’s prime minister has gone public with his desire to “rehouse” the University of the South Pacific (USP) in his country.

It Is a long-term vision, according to Prime Minister Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi, one that has been resurrected by the ongoing saga surrounding the tenure of USP vice-chancellor and president (VCP) Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

In the latest chapter of his fraught presidency at the region’s premier university at the Laucala campus, Professor Ahluwalia and his wife were arrested and deported by Fiji authorities without consulting other regional partner governments.

• READ MORE: Deportation a ‘distraction’ from USP’s boom progress
• Other USP saga reports

Tuila’epa said Samoa was “100 percent willing” to make the move from Fiji happen.

“Samoa is revered in the region as a leading player when it comes to national issues benefiting not just our country but the Pacific Forum family as a whole,” he said in a statement.

Samoa did offer political and economic stability when compared with its neighbour to the west.

‘Samoa must take the lead’
The VCP’s forced eviction is the latest in a series of internal issues at the USP which came as no surprise, said Tuila’epa.

“Many big organisations have actually left Fiji in a similar fashion,” he said.

“I think Samoa must take the lead when regional issues surface that will compromise the mutual benefits and interests for all Forum countries and their respective residents,” Tuila’epa added.

He cited Samoa’s track record in providing a safe environment for regional organisations and international partners, including the WHO and the Pacific environmental agency SPREP, adding that the USP was no different.

Fiji’s unstable political history and perceived military strongman culture is well documented, Tuila’epa continued.

“Evidenced by multiple military coups over the years which has undermined democracy in that country,” he said.

The historical actions are comparable to those committed against Professor Pal Ahluwalia, according to the New Zealand-based Fiji academic Steven Ratuva.

‘Military regime mentality’
“They still have a military regime kind of mentality,” Dr Ratuva said.

“When they run out of options they just go for what they know, which is use force or some semblance of force.”

The actions have drawn widespread criticism from Fijian bodies including the Human Rights Coalition, Law Society and USP staff at the Laucala Campus who have expressed “grave concern and disgust” at the unsolicited presence of police.

With another university semester about to start, they have demanded police cease any further harassment and intimidation, saying the action against Professor Ahluwalia and his wife was “an attack on the right of staff to operate freely, with dignity and safety at the work place”.

The university’s governing body, the USP Council, is investigating the actions against Professor Ahluwalia. The council states that it has not dismissed him and expressed disappointment that it was not advised, as his employer, of the decision by Fiji’s government to deport him.

The council has excluded Fiji government representatives from the subcommittee investigating Professor Ahluwalia’s deportation.

Offered job back
Meanwhile, a council representative from Samoa, Education Minister Loau Keneti Sio, has come out in support of Professor Ahluwalia and offered him his job back if the USP relocates its administrative office there.

Australian citizens Ahluwalia and Price are in quarantine in Brisbane having been declined onward passage to Nauru, at the invitation of its president, by immigration officials.

Professor Ahluwalia told RNZ Pacific he had not been in touch with the subcommittee investigating his deportation but is looking forward to having the situation resolved.

“I’m confident that if and when I’m allowed to return to my position, wherever it is, that we [the USP] will just become stronger and stronger,” Professor Ahluwalia said.

But he said the ongoing saga was a distraction from the continued success of the USP.

Samoa is home to the USP Campus at Alafua, formerly the USP School of Agriculture and Food Technology. It was recently rebranded the USP Samoa Campus. The Samoa government states its long term vision for the Samoa campus is to broaden its academic curriculum beyond the agricultural sector.

‘Sad day for Fiji’
Meanwhile, the head of Fiji’s opposition National Federation Party has called for the USP to remain at its Fiji home.

Professor Biman Prasad said it would be a sad day for the region and Fiji if the USP headquarters were to move to another regional country because of the actions of the government.

“This university has a history which everyone in the region can be proud of,” Dr Prasad said.

“Hopefully the Fiji government representatives and Fiji government itself comes to its senses and respects the governance structure of the university, which is the council, and the charter.”

He has called on the government to acknowledge its mistake in acting against Professor Ahluwalia, and to correct it.

It still has time to make amends for its actions, Dr Prasad said.

“It is in the interests of Fiji as well as for the whole region for the Fiji government to realise that the deportation of the vice-chancellor was a mistake, it should have never happened and they still have an opportunity to correct that.”

Dr Prasad has also called out the complicity of USP Council members in the deportation of Professor Ahluwalia, saying the actions of Fiji representatives on council were wrong and against the interests of the USP.

He said the arrest and deportation of Professor Ahluwalia was the latest in a series of nefarious actions engineered against him.

Dr Biman Prasad hopes the USP subcommittee investigating his deportation will once again promptly clear the vice-chancellor and send a strong message.

“I hope that the Fiji government reps on the council now understand that what they’ve been doing is wrong, you know, it’s bringing about disunity within the regional organisation among the member countries.”

The Fiji government’s USP Council representative and education minister, Rosy Akbar, has not responded to RNZ Pacific requests for comment.

Further, the USP Council has declined to comment on what it says is a developing issue.

RNZ Pacific has asked the USP chancellor, Nauru president Lionel Aingimea who is chairing the subcommittee, about the scope, time frame and process of the investigation. The status of Professor Ahluwalia and Price’s employment at the USP has also been requested.

The USP is owned by 12 Pacific governments, including the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. It is funded largely through regional partnerships with the Australian and New Zealand governments.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The deported vice-chancellor of the University of the South Pacific says booming student enrolments are a vote of confidence in the regional institution.

Professor Pal Ahluwalia said numbers were up 23 percent on last year.

Professor Ahluwalia was arrested and deported with his wife last week by Fiji authorities.

• READ MORE: Other USP saga reports

The lack of consultation by Fiji with other regional government partners in the 12-nation university has led to a formal USP Council investigation.

Professor Ahluwalia said the “saga” was a distraction from the strong performance of the university.

Despite his sidelining, he said it was good to see the university flourish.

“It shows that our students are voting with their feet. I’ve been making this very clear that the USP is bigger than any single person and I’m confident that if and when I’m allowed to return to my position, wherever it is, that we will just become stronger and stronger.”

Professor Ahluwalia said he was proud of the USP’s executive, directors and academic staff for achieving such strong results.

“I’m confident the team will get the academic year off to a strong start despite my recent arrest in Fiji and deportation to Australia,” he said.

The actions of the Fiji government and USP Council representatives are being being investigated by a subcommittee of the regional institution.

Response to deportation in Fiji
Fiji’s Law Society and a human rights coalition have joined the widespread condemnation of the arrests and deportation of Ahluwalia and his wife Sandra Price.

The NGO Coalition for Human Rights said the extreme force employed by Immigration officials and police was unacceptable and unjustified.

The deportations come after months of tensions between the university and the Fiji government, with staff and student protests erupting in June following the removal of Professor Ahluwalia and ongoing allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement by him against the former administration.

The coalition said the strong-armed approach by government did not reflect democratic principles or the human rights values Fiji championed in its role as president of the UN Human Rights Council.

Meanwhile, Fiji’s Law Society said deportation was not an answer to allegations of impropriety.

It called on the government to follow the rule of law, saying no authority should exercise undue force when there were mechanisms to deal with such matters.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The deportation of academic Professor Pal Ahluwalia last week is alarming and highlights the restrictive environment for freedom of expression in Fiji, says the global civil society alliance Civicus.

Professor Pal Ahluwalia, the vice-chancellor of the University of the South Pacific (USP), a Kenyan-born Canadian, and his partner Sandra Price, were detained in their home in the Fiji capital Suva by police and immigration officials on 3 February 2021.

According to reports, the officials confiscated all electronic devices including phones, iPads, laptops, watches and passports. He then had his work permit revoked and was forced onto a flight bound for Brisbane, Australia.

• READ MORE: Other USP saga reports

His deportation notice said Professor Ahluwalia had been deemed “prejudicial to peace, defence, public safety, public order, public morality, public health, security, or good government of the Fiji islands”.

The Fiji government said the couple was deported for unspecified “repeated breaches” of the immigration act and their visa conditions.

The deportation is believed to be due to Professor Ahluwalia’s exposure of allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement under the previous university administrations.

“The deportation of Professor Ahluwalia without due process, displays an ongoing pattern of repression by the Fiji government to silence its critics,” said David Kode, advocacy and campaigns lead at Civicus.

It appears that he is being punished for exposing corruption and mismanagement, which is appalling.

Such acts will only create a chilling effect for whistle-blowers and those who want to speak up and expose violations by officials in Fiji.”

Background
On 6 February 2021, The USP Council stated it had established a subcommittee, chaired by the President of Nauru including the council representatives of Australia, Tonga, Niue, Solomon Islands, Samoa and two senate representatives to look into this matter

Professor Ahluwalia’s 2019 report on the USP alleged widespread financial mismanagement within the university, abuse of entitlements, unearned promotions and millions of dollars improperly spent under former administrations.

The report prompted an investigation by USP which substantiated some of his findings and called for stronger oversight by the university council.

Despite that, USP’s executive committee suspended him in 2020, a move which prompted protests from students and staff, and was later overturned by the university council.

Civic space in Fiji is currently rated as “obstructed” by the CIVICUS Monitor.

The deportation of Professor Ahluwalia takes place in the context of restrictions on freedom of expression and other human rights violations in Fiji.

Sedition provisions in the Crimes Act and the Public Order (Amendment) Act have been used to target journalists, activists and government critics.

The Media Industry Development Act (Media Act) has also created a chilling effect for the media and press freedom. Further, the right to peaceful assembly has been arbitrarily restricted with the use of the Public Order (Amendment) Act 2014, particularly against trade unions.

There are signs Fiji’s deportation of the University of the South Pacific (USP) vice-chancellor was engineered to avoid his contract being given better security.

Professor Pal Ahluwalia told RNZ Dateline Pacific that on Wednesday last week the USP chancellor, Nauru President Lionel Aingimea, had alerted the university’s governing body, the USP Council, to veiled threats in Fiji news media.

Professor Ahluwalia said this resulted in Aingimea advising council members, including Fijian representatives, that in their next meeting they would amend the vice-chancellor’s contract to afford better security.

However, the vice-chancellor said his work permit was rescinded on the same day (Wednesday) and he was deported on Thursday before the council could meet on Friday, following the notice in the media.

“What had appeared in the Fiji Sun in the Whispers column to say that ‘Watch this space: A school where big students study, its leader will be removed from the country.’ So he took the step to say to council we need to amend the vice-chancellor’s contract.”

An ‘illegal act’ by Fiji
Professor Ahluwalia said the way in which his contract was frustrated was an illegal act.

The USP is a regional institution, said Professor Ahluwalia, owned by 12 Pacific countries and “the decisions of the University Council, which has representatives from all the countries, needs to be respected” which is inconsistent with the way Fiji acted in his arrest and deportation, he added.

The council said in a statement that it was not consulted.

Professor Ahluwalia said he had received a lot of support from the entire region and that he would welcome any action from the USP Council that would allow the university to move forward, including a rumoured move of headquarters to another country.

“I believe I was selected to do the job and it’s obvious that the community – staff and students – strongly endorse what I am doing. So it’s my belief that if I need to move to Samoa to run this university, we’ll make it work,” he said.

“I will abide by whatever decision the University Council makes.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The Speaker of Fiji’s Parliament has rejected calls from the opposition to debate the controversial deportation of the University of the South Pacific’s vice-chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

Ratu Epeli Nailatikau ruled that an oral question from National Federation Party (NFP) leader Professor Biman Prasad, a former USP economics academic, and an adjournment motion from Sodelpa leader Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu were not urgent.

The deportation of the regional 12-nation body’s vice-chancellor has led to widespread regional criticism of Fiji’s government and urgent calls for action.

• READ MORE: Other updates on the USP saga

However, Speaker Ratu Epeli said Dr Prasad’s question did not relate to a matter of public importance and did not qualify as urgent.

Further, the adjournment motion was disallowed under standing orders.

“I have considered the nature of the adjournment motion and ruled that the matters raised in the adjournment motion are not something that requires the immediate attention of Parliament or the government,” Ratu Epeli said.

The council stated that it had not dismissed Professor Ahluwalia and expressed disappointment that it was not advised, as his employer, of the decision by Fiji’s government to deport him.

The council has established a subcommittee, chaired by the President of Nauru, Lionel Angimea, including the council representatives of Australia, Tonga, Niue, Solomon Islands, Samoa and two Senate representatives to look into matters surrounding the deportation.

The meeting on Friday also discussed the possibility of a vice-chancellor being based in and operating out of another country apart from Fiji.

Dr Giulio Masasso Tu’ikolongahau Paunga has been appointed acting vice-chancellor of USP in the meantime.

The sub-committee has been tasked to bring recommendations to the council as soon as possible. The next meeting is on February 16.

Dame Meg ‘disheartened’
The incoming Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum, Henry Puna, of the Cook Islands, said he would not be speaking about the removal of the vice-chancellor until after a communique from the regional grouping was released.

However, the outgoing Secretary-General, Dame Meg-Taylor, of Papua New Guinea, issued a statement.

“As the permanent chair of the Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific and a member of the USP Council, I am disheartened by the ongoing and recent events at the university culminating in the deportation [last week] of vice-chancellor and president, Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

“I am confident that fellow council members will continue to uphold good governance and follow due process to ensure the immediate restoration of strong leadership of the university,” Dame Meg said.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Forum, Tuvalu Prime Minister Kausea Natano urged the university council to find a resolution to the situation.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Documents tabled at last week’s special council meeting of the University of the South Pacific suggest that plans to amend the contract of the university’s vice-chancellor and president, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, prompted his forced deportation and that of his wife by Fiji government authorities on Thursday.

Nauru President Lionel Aingimea, who is the council’s interim chair, had authored the proposed amendment to Professor Ahluwalia’s contract.

But Fiji got wind of the proposed amendment when it featured on the agenda of the council’s virtual meeting on Friday, January 29.

• READ MORE: Open letter by US staff, alumni and students
• Other USP saga reports

The council could not deliberate on the amendment at that meeting, however, as the head of Fiji’s delegation, Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum called for a one-week postponement.

He said Fiji was in a state of emergency due to the then-approaching Tropical Cyclone Ana, and the meeting should be adjourned for a week. In the period between meetings, the government deported Professor Ahluwalia and his wife, Sandra Price.

In so doing, Fiji triggered what President Aingimea had wanted to avoid: the cancellation of the vice-chancellor’s contract the moment the Fijian government revoked his work permit.

In his paper to the USP Council, the Nauru President drew its attention to the urgent need to amend the work contract of the VCP, de-linking the work contract to that of his work permit.

Spooked by a news article
He was spooked – it now appears –by a brief article in the Fiji Sun newspaper, which is strongly supportive of the Fiji government, published on January 24 which had speculated about the expiry of the work permit of a “foreign head of a big school” in Fiji, adding that his “days may be numbered”.

“It is not reasonable that a decision by [USP] Council on the employment of the VCP should be able to be overturned at the behest of a single member country,” wrote President Aingimea in a paper to the council.

As chair of the subcommittee formed by the USP Council on Friday to look into the changes to the VCP’s contract, it seems likely that President Aingimea’s paper will inform their work.

The Nauruan leader’s paper recommended the removal of specific mention of Fiji in two clauses of the VCP’s work contract, replacing it with “at least one of the member countries of the university.”.

One clause concerns obtaining a work permit as well as residency, while the other amendment centres around police clearance.

“There are two issues that would cause the VCP’s contract to fail as currently drafted,” wrote President Aingimea.

“The first is cancellation/non renewal of his residency and work rights in Fiji, and the second is failing to get a police clearance for whatever reason.”

Proposed amendments
“To change these, the proposed amendment was that the VCP must “obtain a work permit and the university is obligated to obtain (and maintain) a permit to employ him”.

He added that it would be a failure of the university’s duty to the VCP if the maintenance of his work permit were not supported.

Friday’s USP Council meeting ran out of time and was unable to decide on the amendments to VCP Ahluwalia’s contract.

His work contract remains void, and while he and Sandra Price undergo the compulsory 14-day quarantine requirements in a hotel in Brisbane, Australia, USP’s deputy vice chancellor, Dr Giulio Masasso Tu’ikolongahau Paunga will act as VCP.

Professor Ahluwalia and Price were deported after the Fiji government claimed they had both breached the Immigration Act, although no specific details of what those alleged breaches are, have been revealed.

The council will next meet on February 16.

Samisoni Pareti is a media consultant and managing director of Islands Business. This article is republished from Islands Business with permission.

Vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia has only been at the University of the South Pacific (USP) for three years – and each year, Fiji has attempted to “coup” him. The first was in August 2019, second in June 2020 and now February 2021.

First, through a 16-page paper at the USP Council in Nadi in 2019, Fiji moved to sack him.

Second in 2020, using its numbers in a special executive council, Fiji suspended him and installed Professor Derek Armstrong, a failed candidate for USP VCP as acting VCP. After Council reinstated VCP Pal, and cleared him of all allegations, Fiji then told the Fijian public that the council made a wrong decision.

• READ MORE: USP’s academic leader deported for getting close to Fiji’s dark secret
• ‘Most surreal experience of our lives’: Leading professor describes being deported from Fiji
• A bruising 24 hours in the Pacific – three key questions about regionalism
• Forum calls for ‘due process’ over USP, inquiry into Ahluwalia deportation
• Case of ‘beating up the whistleblower,’ says deported USP chief
• USP staff, students condemn Fiji ‘Gestapo’ tactics, demand Ahluwalia’s return – Wansolwara
• Politicians, educators, advocates blast Fiji’s ‘barbaric’ expulsion of USP head
• Deported Pacific university VC claims no wrongdoing
• More USP saga reports

The third attempt was a plain old Gestapo-style coup.

Under cover of darkness and during curfew hours, like the parable thief, 15 Fijian officials infiltrated the region’s sacred space in Laucala, kidnapped its CEO and his wife and whisked them off to Australia. The operation was over within 10 hours from the 12am Laucala campus kidnap to catch the 10am Nadi flight.

And just next door at Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, in the early hours of the same Thursday, February 4, morning, the leaders were groaning over Dame Meg Taylor’s successor [as secretary-general].

This Fiji operation was a staged and successful coup on the supreme governing body of USP while its leaders were preoccupied and too tired to take any action.

Unable to stamp its dominance over the USP Council, the ruling FijiFirst government struck and for the third time, using its own laws, got rid of a thorn in its side and is ready for another showdown with the region.

Dr Morgan Tuimaleali’ifano
For the Good Governance Team at USP

When the University of the South Pacific’s vice-chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, was hauled out of his Suva, Fiji, home this week and deported, it had nothing to do with his views on education or tertiary management.

With his wife and nursing lecturer Sandy Price they were driven across curfew-locked down Fiji to be put on a plane to Australia.

It was not an action designed to make USP a better place, or to improve life for Fiji’s young people.

• READ MORE: ‘Most surreal experience of our lives’: Leading professor describes being deported from Fiji
• A bruising 24 hours in the Pacific – three key questions about regionalism
• Forum calls for ‘due process’ over USP, inquiry into Ahluwalia deportation
• Case of ‘beating up the whistleblower,’ says deported USP chief
• USP staff, students condemn Fiji ‘Gestapo’ tactics, demand Ahluwalia’s return – Wansolwara
• Politicians, educators, advocates blast Fiji’s ‘barbaric’ expulsion of USP head
• Deported Pacific university VC claims no wrongdoing
• More USP saga reports

It was bitterly personal.

“You have nailed it,” Professor Ahluwalia told Pacific Newsroom. “It is precisely a case of ‘let’s get rid of this man because he exposed too much corruption’.”

Professor Ahluwalia and Price were seized late last Wednesday and deported on Thursday morning to Brisbane where, due to covid-19, they are now in managed isolation until February 18.

He is adamant that he remains vice-chancellor of the 12-nation regional USP and will keep managing the university.

Money was missing
Just over two years ago Professor Ahluwalia took over USP from vice-chancellor Professor Rajesh Chandra. He discovered much was wrong in the accounting department, and money was missing. A lot of money.

Professor Ahluwalia submitted a report to the USP Council and, in an abbreviated form, this led to the hiring of Auckland accountancy consultants BDO. When their damning report reached the university council, it was pretty much suppressed. Key details were kept from the public.

The BDO report was then leaked – not by Professor Ahluwalia or any USP staff – to Pacific Newsroom, prompting uproar.

As BDO linked corruption and missing millions efforts were begun to get Professor Ahluwalia fired.

These were mostly led by USP’s pro-chancellor, Winston Thompson. A Fijian, BDO’s report made it clear Thompson was acting for FijiFirst; not USP or its students.

Professor Ahluwalia said that until talking with Pacific Newsroom, he had not talked publicly about these connections. He was now because Pacific Newsroom had become a key influence in the debate in Fiji.

Getting rid of Professor Ahluwalia was part of that: “It’s as personal as that and Winston Thompson was Fiji’s ambassador to the United States, he is a diplomat and he has presided over several interesting, very interesting, downfalls of public institutions…”

‘The intimacies of politics’
Surely, it was put to Professor Ahluwalia, USP was bigger than just a couple of people. But that, he replied, was what it amounted to.

“It is really that, the intimacies of politics… the way these networks work, after all this is a very small country.”

Fiji refuses to accept BDO evidence, claiming their own Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) had found no corruption.

BDO had pointed clearly to corruption and both Professor Ahluwalia and Price say they were close to getting to the bottom of the operation behind it.

“The best evidence I can provide for all of this at the moment,” Professor Ahluwalia said, “is that I am close, but don’t have evidence yet.

“What I would say as evidence is that 2019 and 2020 we had to put a number of financial restrictions in place, but the fact that I returned, in 2020, a $28.3 million surplus on a university that did not receive grants from Fiji and Australia. That tells me how much they were leaching out of the system.”

Was it a basic kind of fraud, people helping themselves to cash: “That’s what it seems to me. The bit I cannot figure out is that these accounts are audited by auditors and how were they doing it?”

People complicit at USP
There were, Price suggested, a lot of people in USP that were complicit.

This week, as the Pacific Forum met in Zoom session to elect a new secretary-general, the Fiji government moved against Professor Ahluwalia and Price. He found it interesting that this was the week.

“There was a special council meeting (a Friday week ago) and at that meeting the President of Nauru (Lionel Aingimea, the current USP chancellor) raised my contract as an issue.”

He wanted it placed on the agenda because he was concerned about it. Both Thompson and the council’s Fiji representative, Mahmood Khan, expressed concern at having it on the agenda, saying there was no supporting paper to explain its presence.

They said they needed to know what the issue was.

“And Lionel gave them a hint, he said it’s about visa issues and then he said, well we will send a paper.”

It was drafted and it noted that the Fiji Sun, a pro-Bainimarama newspaper, had reported in a gossip section that someone from “a big school for big students” could be sacked.

‘Draconian barbaric act’
Professor Ahluwalia said as soon as that appeared, they knew they had to act: “On Wednesday they did this draconian barbaric act, trampling over our human rights.”

As to the Pacific Islands Forum Summit: “I wouldn’t put anything in Fiji as just a coincidence. They probably knew all the leaders were busy.

For himself, and the USP Council, Professor Ahluwalia is still the vice-chancellor. His contract remained valid and he had done nothing wrong: “I suppose it’s a wrongful dismissal which is what I am arguing… the employer still has a duty of responsibility even if the government chooses to deport you on fabricated charges.”

Given all the stresses, it would be understandable that Professor Ahluwalia and Price might want to cut their losses, but that is not so: “I was hired to lead USP and take it forward, I think it has a lot of potential, I don’t think it has to be just beholden to Fiji and one of the best things that would happen to the university is for the vice chancellor to operate from outside of Fiji and actually really lift the education of the rest of the region and give the region more attention while paying attention to Fiji as well.

“Covid has taught us that the university can be run from its other campuses. After all, the USP campuses are run from Laucala so the converse is absolutely possible,” he said.

“I have nothing against the people of Fiji and my students and staff in Fiji are the reason I have so much support so I want to make sure they are supported.”

He could live in another USP member country: Samoa is already waving the welcome mat.
The university would survive.

Damage done to Fiji
“I think the damage is not being done to USP, the damage is to the Fiji government because of their actions in violating our human rights.”

This kind of passionate battle augurs well for USP: “Its international reputation is enhanced, that there are people in it with ethical people trying to clean it up.”

Ethics, integrity and good governance mattered.

“My message to the students is very clear. Come to USP, a great regional institution, committed staff, we are there, it remains the premier regional institution and when this vice-chancellor is back he will continue on the march to make sure USP becomes an even better institution and be ready as a university for the next 50 years.”

Michael Field, the New Zealand author and an independent journalist, has also been deported from Fiji on several occasions under different prime ministers and remains persona non grata. This article is republished from The Pacific Newsroom with permission.

After a divisive marathon meeting into the early hours of Thursday, Pacific leaders have emerged with a new Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum. Cook Islands’ former Prime Minister Henry Puna was elected 9–8, with one abstention.

A break from the consensus tradition of the Forum, the appointment leaves the region bitterly divided.

To make matters worse, the Fiji government appears to have used the distraction of the meeting to swoop in and deport University of South Pacific vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

• READ MORE: Forum calls for ‘due process’ over USP, inquiry into Ahluwalia deportation
• Case of ‘beating up the whistleblower,’ says deported USP chief
• USP staff, students condemn Fiji ‘Gestapo’ tactics, demand Ahluwalia’s return – Wansolwara
• Politicians, educators, advocates blast Fiji’s ‘barbaric’ expulsion of USP head
• Deported Pacific university VC claims no wrongdoing
• More USP saga reports

The university, seen by many as a beacon of Pacific regionalism, had been embroiled in a long and very public dispute between the new VC and the old guard backed by the Fiji government.

The move to deport the VC sends this dispute nuclear, with many of the same red-eyed leaders who just wrangled over the new secretary-general also members of the university’s governing council, and now facing the potential of an emergency special meeting to discuss this latest move.

The past 24 hours have been incredibly damaging for Pacific regionalism and unity, the repercussions of which will be felt for years to come.

The very fabric of Pacific regionalism looks to be tested unlike any time in recent history.

Where does this leave North Pacific?
Some immediate questions are clear.

1. Where does this leave the North Pacific? Adamant that it was a Micronesian’s turn to run the Forum, five members had coalesced around former minister and current US ambassador Gerald Zackios of the Marshall Islands as their candidate. Some Micronesian leaders had threatened to leave the Forum if Zackios were not chosen, and from reports of their moods since the vote, they may look to follow through. Even if they don’t take that step, don’t expect them to be too involved in the Forum in the near future.
2. What happens next for the leadership struggle at the University of the South Pacific? Even if the governing council can convince the Fiji government to overturn the deportation of the VC, the damage has been done. It is highly unlikely he would return, or that any high-calibre international candidate would be interested in taking his place while the serious allegations of financial mismanagement at the university remain unresolved. The donors and Pacific nations which contribute towards financing the university may look to place the USP in some form of administration to sort it all out – likely in the face of protests from Fiji.
3. Where does this leave Fiji? Its government had already ruffled feathers by nominating a candidate for the secretary-general position (who did not make it to the final round of voting) so soon after fully re-engaging with the Forum. Now, by moving against USP’s vice-chancellor at the same time as Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama was sitting in a Leaders Meeting, aggravated bilateral tensions will linger in every corner of the Pacific.

With the covid-19 crisis and border closures forcing countries to look inwards more than ever, regionalism was already struggling, and the Forum was facing a slow-burning relevance crisis.

Fiji needs charm campaign
Fiji is looking to host the 2021 Forum Leaders Meeting in August, with Bainimarama going so far as to extend an invitation to US President Joe Biden.

Fiji will have to roll out the charm campaign across the region in the next few months if they expect Pacific leaders to push for the meeting to go ahead at all.

Finally, where does this leave Pacific regionalism? Outsiders can be forgiven for thinking the Pacific is a unified bloc, thanks to their prominent advocacy on climate change.

The past 24 hours, however, reveal just how divided the Pacific can be. While we don’t yet know which candidates each country voted for, there is a clear rift right down the middle of the Pacific.

With the covid-19 crisis and border closures forcing countries to look inwards more than ever, regionalism was already struggling, and the Forum was facing a slow-burning relevance crisis.

How regionalism can be revitalised in an era of deep division and no physical interactions is an incredible challenge.

Freshly elected Secretary-General Puna has a massive job on his hands dealing with the fallout, to say nothing of the larger challenges the Forum was already facing.

Jonathan Pryke is director of the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Islands Programme. His research is interested in all aspects of the Pacific Islands, including economic development in the Pacific Islands region, Australia’s relationship with the Pacific, the role of aid and the private sector in Pacific Islands development and Pacific labour mobility. This article was republished from The Interpreter with permission.

Pacific Islands Forum chair Kausea Natano has described the University of the South Pacific as a “shining example of regionalism” and called for due process in the wake of the shock deportation of the 12-nation institution’s vice-chancellor this week.

“The university is a shining example of regionalism and an institution that we cherish for over 50 years because it nurtures our greatest treasure, our youth and future leaders,” said Natano, who is also Prime Minister of Tuvalu, in a statement.

In other developments yesterday amid shock around the region, the USP Council appointed Dr Giulio Masasso Tu’ikolongahau Paunga as acting vice-chancellor and established a sub-committee to investigate the sudden deportation which was ordered by the Fiji government without consultation with the university.

• READ MORE: Case of ‘beating up the whistleblower,’ says deported USP chief
• USP staff, students condemn Fiji ‘Gestapo’ tactics, demand Ahluwalia’s return – Wansolwara
• Politicians, educators, advocates blast Fiji’s ‘barbaric’ expulsion of USP head
• Deported Pacific university VC claims no wrongdoing
• More USP saga reports

“The removal of the vice-chancellor [Professor Pal Ahluwalia] from Fiji has caused consternation among students, staff and forum members,” Natano said.

“As is the Forum, USP is governed by its Royal Charter, convention, statutes and ordinances and the USP Council must ensure that due process is followed.

“With this in mind, I encourage the USP Council to negotiate a way forward through this and other challenges to come.

“I ask that we all remain mindful of the welfare of our USP students and staff, and do our utmost to uphold the integrity of our regional institution”

RNZ News reports that Dr Giulio Masasso Tu’ikolongahau Paunga was appointed acting vice-chancellor following a full day USP Council meeting yesterday.

Dr Paunga, who currently holds the position of deputy VC regional campuses, estates and infrastructure, was appointed following the deportation of Professor Ahluwalia to Brisbane, Australia.

Professor Aluwhalia and his wife were arrested at their Suva home on Wednesday night, told they were deemed a threat to the Fiji public, and swiftly deported to Australia.

The USP Council released a statement saying it was not consulted over Professor Pal Ahluwalia’s deportation.

The council stated that it has not dismissed Professor Ahluwalia and expressed disappointment that it was not advised, as his employer, of the decision by Fiji’s government to deport him.

The council has established a sub-committee, chaired by Nauru President Lionel Aingimea, including the council representatives of Australia, Tonga, Niue, Solomon Islands, Samoa and two USP senate representatives to look into matters surrounding the controversial deportation.

The meeting also discussed the possibility of a vice-chancellor being based in and operating out of another country apart from Fiji.

The sub-committee is due to bring recommendations on these matters to the council as soon as possible.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The deported head of the University of the South Pacific, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, says his expulsion from Fiji is “a classic case of beating the whistleblower up,” and he has vowed to continue in the role from Nauru.

In an interview with ABC Pacific Beat from Australia, Professor Pal Ahluwalia has detailed his sudden arrest and deportation, reports Pacnews.

He and his partner, Sandra Price, both Australian citizens, were detained in their home in the Fiji capital Suva by police and immigration officials around 11pm Wednesday night, and put on a plane bound for Brisbane yesterday morning.

• READ MORE: USP staff, students condemn Fiji ‘Gestapo’ tactics, demand Ahluwalia’s return – Wansolwara
• Politicians, educators, advocates blast Fiji’s ‘barbaric’ expulsion of USP head
• Deported Pacific university VC claims no wrongdoing
• More USP saga reports

“I said I need to know who you are before I open the door, and [the officer at the door] said, ‘if you don’t open this door within three seconds, and we’ll break the door down’.

“So we let him in,” he told Pacific Beat.

“I was trying to speak with the Australian High Commissioner and about four people manhandled me and grabbed my phone off me, and really sort of roughed me up.”

He said the officers later apologised.

In other developments today:

• Fiji reportedly blocked the vice-chancellor from logging in to the virtual University Council meeting.
• Samoa offered the deported vice-chancellor a home
• Professor Ahluwalia insisted from Brisbane that he was still the vice-chancellor
• The University Council virtual meeting was reportedly adjourned

Still vice-chancellor
Professor Ahluwalia said he remained the vice-chancellor of USP, and has told the ABC he plans to fly to Nauru and will continue his administration of the regional body from there.

In a statement, the Fiji government claimed Professor Ahluwalia and Price were ordered to leave Fiji after continuous breaches of the Immigration Act.

“No foreigner is permitted to conduct themselves in a manner prejudicial to the peace, defence, public safety, public order, public morality, public health, security or good government of Fiji,” the statement said.

No specific details of the alleged breached were provided.

Professor Ahluwalia believes he was deported because he raised concerns about widespread mismanagement at the university under his predecessor.

“I don’t believe either Sandy or I have done anything wrong”.

“This is a classic case of beating the whistleblower up,” he said.

Victim of a witchhunt
Professor Ahluwalia has previously claimed he was the victim of a witchhunt, after raising concerns about governance issues and financial mismanagement at the university under the previous vice-chancellor.

In a confidential report that was later leaked to the media, he alleged widespread financial irregularities under his predecessor Professor Rajesh Chandra and the current pro-chancellor Winston Thompson, including massive salary increases, misappropriation of allowances and unearned promotions.

The report prompted an investigation by USP which substantiated some of his findings and called for stronger oversight by the University Council.

Despite that USP’s executive committee suspended him last year, a move which prompted protests from students and staff, and was later overturned by the council.

As the Council meeting has begun I am not allowed to join. Please keep praying. pic.twitter.com/azJw1AAAdt

— Professor Pal Ahluwalia, USP VC (@pal_vcp) February 4, 2021

On his Twitter feed today, Professor Ahluwalia said he and his wife Sandy were “overwhelmed by the support we have received from staff, students and globally”.

“We are humbled and inspired by your prayers,” he added.

Staff, students and alumni of the University of the South Pacific have called on the Fiji government to immediately reinstate the work permit for vice-chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia, who was deported today along with his wife, Sandra Price.

The USP community also called on the government to issue a formal apology to Professor Ahluwalia, an Australian, for the violation of human rights.

They expressed grave concern over the actions of police and immigration officials who removed the couple from the vice-chancellor’s residence on Laucala campus late last night.

• READ MORE: Politicians, educators, advocates blast Fiji’s ‘barbaric’ expulsion of USP head
• Deported Pacific university VC claims no wrongdoing
• More USP saga reports

In a petition issued this afternoon, the group said they were deeply concerned at the disrepute brought to the 12-nation regional university by the actions of the Fiji government in this morning’s deportation.

USP staff associations also condemned the manner in which the couple were removed from their residence and swiftly transported to Nadi International Airport for the 10.30am flight to Brisbane, Australia.

“The manner in which the VCP and his wife were removed is a violation of human rights and due process,” read a joint statement by the USP Staff Union (USPSU) and the Association of USP Staff (AUSPS).

“Given the seriousness of the decision, we demand the Fiji government to provide the justification for this Gestapo tactic.”

Vice-chancellor deemed ‘public risk’
“According to media reports, the VCP was deemed a ‘public risk’ and we as taxpayers, voters and owners of the university demand an explanation on how Professor Pal is a ‘public risk’.

“Given the impact on the university’s reputation and staff morale, we reiterate our support for the USP Council to proceed with its scheduled meeting to fully discuss this matter and already agreed to agenda items, to arrive at regionally acceptable solutions.”

It is understood police and immigration officers were acting on directives outlined in a letter, allegedly signed by Acting Director for Immigration Amelia Komaisavai.

The document with the Fijian Immigration Department letterhead dated 3 February 2021 with attention to Professor Ahluwalia, noted that the Minister for Immigration had declared the couple prohibited immigrants under the Immigration Act 2003, Section 13 (2) (g) and ordered that they leave Fiji with immediate effect.

USP management are also calling on staff and students to remain calm throughout the situation for the safety and wellbeing of the university community.

“Until the [USP] Council at a council meeting directs otherwise, the senior management team will take on the role jointly of undertaking the vice-chancellor’s duties,” a statement from management read.

“The senior management team has notified the council leadership and are waiting for direction. The safety and wellbeing of our staff and students and the continuation of university operations remain our priority.”

Several community leaders and politicians have come out strong against the surprising tactic.

The USP Council, the university’s highest decision-making body, is expected to meet tomorrow.

Asia Pacific Report collaborates with Wansolwara, the USP journalism newspaper and website.

Politicians, educators and civil society advocates around the region today condemned the “barbaric” and “shameful” detention and deportation of the regional University of the South Pacific’s vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia and his wife.

Reformist Professor Ahluwalia, an Australian citizen, and his wife, Sandra, were detained by Fiji authorities at their Suva home late last night and deported on a flight to Brisbane this morning.

The USP Council is due to meet in Suva tomorrow and the chancellor, Nauru Lionel Aingimea said today a statement would be made later.

• READ MORE: Fiji immigration officials, police deport USP chief Ahluwalia in swoop
• More articles on the USP saga

In Rarotonga, the director of USP’s Cook Islands campus, Dr Debbie Futter-Puati, said the university’s independence was under threat in Fiji.

Responding to questions from The Fiji Times, she questioned how the university’s vice chancellor’s deportation would advantage the Fijian government.

“The University is a private, independent educational facility owned by 12 member countries who must surely take exception to this action,” she said.

“I sincerely hope member countries make a strong and united stance back to Fiji government on this aggressive and inappropriate action.”

‘Outrageous’ act
Human rights activist and former human rights commissioner Shamima Ali described the forceful removal and deportation as “shameful, outrageous and not the Pacific way”.

National Federation Party leader Professor Biman Prasad said at a time when Fiji should be supporting victims of cyclones Yasa and Ana, government was “instead focused [on] its own petty jealousies”.

#Fiji immigration officials, police deport #USP‘s reformist vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia and wife in swoop @pal_vcp @USPEmaluscampus @wansolwara @USPWansolwara @ShailendraBSing #HumanRights #education #AsiaPacificReport #PacificMediaWatchhttps://t.co/vJQGMWeXqK pic.twitter.com/8Gb2R7lHO8

— David Robie (@DavidRobie) February 4, 2021

Social Democratic Liberal Party leader Viliame Gavoka condemned the arrest and deportation of Professor Ahluwalia and his wife as “barbaric treatment”.

Fiji Immigration officials and police have detained and expelled the University of the South Pacific vice-chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, and his wife Sandra.

The president of the University of the South Pacific Staff Association, Elizabeth Fong, said that the USPSA had received confirmation that the pair were taken in between 11pm and midnight last night, reports Fijivillage news editor Vijay Narayan.

Photos circulated on social media today showed Professor Ahluwalia being deported on a flight to Brisbane this morning.

• READ MORE: The University of the South Pacific saga
• Ahluwalia and his wife declared prohibited immigrants and deported from Fiji
• Reaction to Fiji’s ‘barbaric’ explusion
• USP vice-chancellor detained
• Head of Pacific university to be deported

Fong said they had also been getting reports from late last month about Ahluwalia’s work permit to be revoked.

A USP Council meeting is scheduled for tomorrow.

Nauru President Lionel Aingimea, who is also chair of the USP Council, said he would make a statement after the council meeting.

The USP staff unions were meeting this morning.

When contacted by Fijivillage, USP said it was unable to comment at this stage.

Professor Ahluwalia, a Canadian, could not be contacted.

Fijivillage said it was also trying to contact USP pro-chancellor Winston Thompson.

The radio station said it had also asked Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, Permanent Secretary for Immigration Yogesh Karan, Education Minister Rosy Akbar and the police. None had yet responded.

Among many messages of dismay and condemnation, Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) executive Shamima Ali slammed the Fiji government’s action as “not the Pacific way” and “unacceptable behaviour”.

Reports claim VC Pal to be deportedhttps://t.co/2mzqaA4kAV
FWCC coordinator and coalition executive Shamima Ali said it was “not the Pacific way and totally unacceptable behaviour from the Fijian Government and the authorities.”#VCPal #USP #FijiPolice #FWCC #ShamimaAli pic.twitter.com/sn2d7vn7uD

— The Fiji Times (@fijitimes) February 3, 2021

Nauru President Lionel Aingimea said he would issue a statement on VC Pal’s deportation after his meeting with Council members. #USP

— Islands Business (@IBIupdate) February 3, 2021

Nauru President Lionel Aingimea, who is also chair of the USP Council, said he would make a statement after the council meeting.

Whisked away from their home
RNZ Pacific reports that Professor Ahluwalia and his wife, Sandra, were awoken and whisked away from their home late last night by plain-clothed Fiji immigration officers who broke into their residence.

National Federation Party leader Dr Biman Prasad has accused the Fiji government of threatening the long-term stability of the Suva-based regional University of the South Pacific.

He said that the Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s threat to withhold funds from the university – which has 30,000 students, four-fifths of them from Fiji – if the government demands are not met are a “defining moment”.

Dr Prasad, a former professor of economics and dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics at the university, condemned the Fiji government’s “behaviour” against USP.

• READ MORE: USP staff slam freezing of F$28m grant as holding university to ransom
• More USP saga stories

“If [USP’s] biggest member is prepared to withhold fund any time it feels like it, how can the university plan for its operations and growth?,” he asked in a statement today.

“If the university’s regional member countries, key development partners Australia and New Zealand, its governing council, its staff and students give in to this threat, the Fiji government will do it again the next time it does not like a university decision.

“The next threat will be to vice-chancellor [Pal] Ahluwalia. It is well known that the Fiji government wants him out.

“The Fiji government has made similar threats in the past. It is now well-known that a few years ago it threatened to withhold funding if Professor Wadan Narsey continued to be employed there. Professor Narsey was finally required to retire.”

Fiji ‘unhappy about no USP cover-up’
Dr Prasad said Sayed-Khaiyum was making the threat to “assuage his bruised ego”.

“He is unhappy that the USP Council did not agree to cover up the USP funding abuses exposed by its new vice-chancellor.

“These funds belong to the people of Fiji. They are not Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s playthings.
Nor are the students of USP, including those who are Fiji citizens,” Dr Prasad said.

“USP taught, employed and nurtured me for more than 30 years. It is the most successful regional institution in the history of the South Pacific.

“The Prime Minister [Voreqe Bainimarama] claims to champion other South Pacific states on issues such as climate change. But it seems he is powerless when his right-hand man wants to destroy our university because he cannot get what he wants.

“If the Prime Minister has any concerns about 30,000 Fiji and regional students and staff and the future of the regional university, he would immediately stop this nonsense.”

The government statement added that this was not a matter to be resolved through the media.

Staff of the regional University of the South Pacific have condemned the Fiji government’s “dictatorial” action in freezing a $28 million grant, accusing it of holding the governing University Council to ransom and jeopardising the future of students.

“Fiji is reneging on its commitment to its people and the region,” say the staff in a letter to Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.

The letter, signed yesterday by the university’s academic Association of USP Staff (AUSPS) and the USP Staff Union (USPSU) leadership, was sent in support of the 29,000 students following the grant suspension statement by the Attorney-General that has “sent shock waves across this regional institution to which 80 percent of graduates from Fiji are indebted”.

• READ MORE: Fiji suspends grants to USP over long-standing conflict
• More USP saga stories

Attorney-General Aiyaz Saiyed-Khaiyum was reported as saying the Fiji government – as the largest grant contributor to the USP – was concerned at the “continuous question marks about the lack of adherence to the principles of good governance in the day to day administration of USP”.

This came after months of conflict at the regional institution between the University Council and the Fiji-based university management.

It also followed recent exoneration by the University Council of popular Canadian vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia who had been targeted by two senior Fiji officials over his reforms.

Yesterday’s staff letter said: “It is poor governance when a single member state of the USP Council attempts to dictate its course of action.

Critical financial position
“The staff of the USP strongly object to the AG and Minister for Economy’s decision to cease Fiji’s grant contribution to the USP,” the letter said.

“This places the university in a critical financial position, jeopardising the education of Fiji students (80 percent) and Fiji staff (80 percent).

“This decision is viewed as an assault on the Fiji students and staff who, to date, in this covid and pre-covid environment of 2019 have been able to continue their education and work with minimum impact under the current vice-chancellor’s prudent leadership and council oversight.

“The government is seen to be using Fiji students and staff to dictate to and to hold the USP Council to ransom whilst holding a ‘gun’ to the head of the vice-chancellor and president.

“The action is tantamount to ‘cutting off USP students and staff legs at their knees’ and therefore their lifelines to coping with living in the current and post-covid environment.

“Not only will hundreds of families suffer, the quality of support and education for USP students in Fiji and the region will be seriously affected due to the domino effect of this decision.

“The question being asked is, why would the government use such strong arm tactics and punitive action to jeopardise the education of its youth who are their voters and the next generation of leaders when the USP’s supreme governing body of 12 regional states and development partners have spoken,” the letter said.

‘Mere pawns on political game’
“Rather than being treated as valuable citizenry, it appears that all are mere pawns
in a political game.

“The vice-chancellor and president is doing what every government, university, corporation and family business in the world needs to do to survive – reflect, redesign and reorganise.

To date, said the letter, no staff member had lost a job, no student had been refused admission – except for “mandated academic reasons” – and there had been an increase in student enrolments.

“The gravity of this decision and its implications require serious reflection on the basis of the decision and in-depth reconsideration by the Fiji government for the greater good of the students of Fiji and our Pacific `vuvale’ [canoe sail].”

Fiji Labour Party Leader Mahendra Chaudhry has branded the Economy Minister’s suspension of Fiji’s grant to USP as “simply childish”, reports Fiji Village radio.

Chaudhry said it looked like Fiji wass on its own, “like a lone wolf crying foul”.

The FLP leader said he was concerned that students’ university education would be affected and it would also affect the reputation of USP.

The Fiji government has suspended its funding grants to the University of the South Pacific.

This comes after months of conflict at the regional institution between the regional governing council and the Fiji-based university management.

Fiji had allocated almost US$13 million in grants to the university for the current financial year.

• READ MORE: The ongoing USP leadership saga

Last week, Islands Business reported that the Chancellor and Nauru President Lionel Aingimea had alled for a special council meeting to determine the fate of two senior Fiji executives.

“Controversial pro-chancellor of the University of the South Pacific Winston Thompson of Fiji has been instructed to convene another urgent meeting of the USP Council,” reported editor Samisoni Pareti.

“This time … Aingimea told Thompson that the university’s supreme body [would] need to determine his fate and that of the chair of the council’s audit and risk committee, Mehmood Khan, also of Fiji.

“Supporting [the chancellor’s] call are council members from Marshall Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and representatives of the governments of Australia and New Zealand and the university Senate, staff and student bodies.”

Accepted exoneration of the VC
Thompson held a press conference earlier this month and said he had accepted the decision by the council to exonerate vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia of misconduct allegations.

But Thompson claimed there was a disconnect between the council and the university management.

In June, Professor Ahluwalia was suspended by the USP’s Executive Committee led by Thompson.

But he was reinstated after weeks of protests by students and staff, when the university council – which includes most of the region’s governments – ruled due process had not been followed.

On Thursday, FBC News reported Aiyaz Saiyed-Khaiyum as saying the Fiji government – as the largest grant contributor to the USP – was concerned at the “continuous question marks about the lack of adherence to the principles of good governance in the day to day administration of USP”.

The report said the government was particularly and deeply concerned about the lack of investigations into serious allegations that have been identified by both Thompson and Khan.

Sayed-Khaiyum said the USP council had ignored the recommendations of the special executive committee – that at least 14 of the 33 allegations against Professor Ahluwalia required an independent investigation.

The USP has been told that until a thorough and independent investigation was carried out to the satisfaction of the Fiji government, grants to the university would be stopped with immediate effect.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

• Meeting of USP called to determine pro-chancellor’s fate
• Staff, students elated as case dropped against USP vice-chancellor
• Report detailing USP mismanagement will not be made public

The University of the South Pacific Council has terminated the investigation into allegations of material misconduct against USP vice-chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

A media release from the university stated the council had considered the decision by the special executive committee, viewed all the evidence against the vice-chancellor, and came to a clear consensus that there was no indication of material misconduct.

USP vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia said he was happy that the USP Council had cleared all allegations against him.

READ MORE: Asia Pacific Report on the USP leadership controversy

Professor Ahluwalia thanked the council, especially the special executive committee, for their commitment to seek truth and justice.

The USP vice-chancellor said he was deeply humbled by the support that had been bestowed upon him and his wife and they were committed to serving the Pacific and making USP even stronger.

Lena Reece is a senior multimedia journalist with FBC News.

The current chair of USP Council, Winston Thompson, has airily dismissed media questions about the contents of the BDO Report, alleging that the report “is now history…. has now been dealt with and we need to give it a rest”.

It is understandable that Winston Thompson might want to consign the BDO Report to the dustbins of history and to call for the media to “give it a rest”.

But what about the taxpayers of the region, the member governments of USP and the donors who collectively all fund USP and who are entitled to know if their funds have been properly used as intended, and if not, who were responsible for the mismanagement, and what needs to be done to the system of governance to ensure that such disasters to no recur?

READ MORE: Special reports on the USP leadership crisis

The Fiji public may remember that when the public called for a public inquiry into the National Bank of Fiji (NBF) disaster the then Minister of Finance (the late Bernard Vunibobo) said famously “it is water under the bridge”. No public inquiry was ever held, no lessons were learnt, and government financial scams continued year after year as miscreants were not held to account.

That NBF crisis and now the USP crisis all lend substance to the oft quoted truism “those that do not learn from the mistakes of history are destined to repeat them”.

Or as Labasa wit Sukha Singh pointed out to Winston Thompson, “can we now expect this USP disaster is to be taught in history classes in schools?”. Probably not.

While the public are calling for the BDO Report to be made public, two blogsites (FijiLeaks and Coup 4.5) have had the BDO Report freely available to the public.

While the BDO Report does reveal much evidence of many of the USP shenanigans, it is strangely reluctant to draw the correct conclusions from the evidence that themselves have uncovered.

Note that the BDO Report admitted that they could not read all the documents made avaialble to them or do a full investigation.

We can also ask why USP Council did not call for a full investigation of the allegations (and constructive recommendations) made by a former senior manager at USP (Dr Dilawar Grewal) who was also terminated by the former VC Chandra.

Grewal’s fascinating and perceptive Report on the weaknesses at USP’s senior management level is also freely available on the blogsite Fijileaks.

Why was BDO hired?

BDO New Zealand was hired by the audit and risk committee of USP (chair Mahmood Khan) to undertake an investigation into the allegations raised by a paper tabled by USP VC Pal Ahluwalia at a USP Council meeting of 15-16 May 2019 in Vanuatu: “Issues, Concerns, and Breaches of Past Management and Financial Decisions” (“Paper”).

BDO presented their report dated 21 August 2019, noting that they had not been able to peruse all the documents that had been made available to them.

But BDO strangely managed through the assistance of USP’s IT section, to access the emails (and breach the privacy) of all the persons who may have had any role in the allegations that had been raised by the VC Ahluwalia, including the VC himself.

The BDO Report grouped the allegations under five headings under which all the allegations were examined:

1. Transition issues during the period when VC designate Ahluwalia came to USP
2. Professional leave and deferment of the former VC’s backpay
3. Recruitment, appointments, promotions and staff reviews
4. Responsibility allowances
5. Financial delegation breach and attempted use of VCP Contingency Fund.

This article DOES NOT address the persons and issues under the headings 2, 3, 4 and 5, juicy as they are.

This article only discusses the 15 allegations (14 made by Ahluwalia with one more wisely added by the BDO Team because of the evidence they uncovered concerning another head of department and professor who (interestingly) had not been not named in the Ahluwalia Paper.

The transition period
It is a pity that the BDO Report does not clearly set out the timeline of complaints by Ahluwalia in this transition period, because Ahluwalia had complained quite early on to chair of USP Council Winston Thompson.

Although the last contract of vice-chancellor Rajesh Chandra was to finish mid-2018, he prevailed upon USP Council to extend it to the end of 2018 to enable him to take part in the USP@50 celebrations.

USP Council approved the appointment of vice-chancellor Ahluwalia on 23 May 2018, to officially commence on 1 November 2018 as VC Designate, and then fully take over as VC from 1 January 2019.

The chairman of USP Council (Winston Thompson) noted that he had met with vice-chancellor Rajesh Chandra and cice-chancellor designate Ahluwalia on 23 July 2018 and called on vice-chancellor Chandra to fully consult with the vice-chancellor designate Ahluwalia on all important HR decisions from then on.

Vice-chancellor designate Ahluwalia had the understanding, completely sensible, that the retiring vice-chancellor would consult with the incoming vice-chancellor on substantive appointments, contract renewals and promotions from then onwards, as Ahluwalia would have to work with them.

Indeed, chair Thompson had called on vice-chancellor Chandra to fully consult Ahluwalia but clearly, that did not occur.

It is strange that Thompson, Chandra and Ahluwalia have different recollections of what was agreed upon at that meeting and amazingly, there were no minutes of this meeting, responsibility for which failure must be on the USP managers (vice-chancellor Chandra and Chair Thompson).

But there is an email on 27 August 2018 in which Professor Ahluwalia complained to Thompson “that it had become clear that the VCP had no intention of consulting Professor Ahluwalia as they had agreed [and that] he would like to be consulted prior to any further appointments”.

The BDO Report concluded obtusely in the double negative “the comments in this email do not refute that Professor Ahluwalia was not consulted”. i.e. read: Ahluwalia was not consulted.

Then the BDO Report noted that Professor Ahluwalia again complained (email 4 November 2018) after he had commenced his role as VCD, “decisions must be made collaboratively between the VCP and VCD…. that many senior positions that should have been advertised had been extended or were being considered for extension and that these positions will have an impact on his ability to shape the senior management team.”

Ahluwalia repeated that he was available and ready to cooperate and he requested chairman Thompson to make “make it clear that these decisions must have his input”.

Pro chair Thompson’s verified (email 5 November 2018) that “no decision on staffing will be taken without the VCD’s input now that he has arrived in Fiji” except for some temporary appointments or extensions to maintain continuity in critical areas.

But in his paper to USP Council, VC Ahluwalia stated that except for a minor two cases, the required consultation did not occur in some 14 major decisions some of which were irregular and serious enough for him to send his paper to USP Council.

Were Ahuwalia’s allegations correct?

Executive Summary of BDO Report
The BDO Executive Summary noted that their investigation had substantiated a number of allegations.

Only on 2 of the allegations in the transition period (Jai Karan and Hasmukh Lal), the BDO Report concluded that the allegations were “partially substantiated”.

On 11 other allegations the BDO Report agreed that they “saw no evidence” of consultation with Ahluwalia, but they still strangely concluded “Allegation not substantiated”.

Jokhan
Bibya Sharma
Utkal Mehtha
Prem Misir
David Peeks
Thomas Lange
Akanisi Kedrayate
Eric Colvin
Mohammed Umar
Kolinio Boila
Arvind Patel

Anyone with common sense would say, surely if VC Ahluwalia said he was not consulted on these major HR decisions (and I make no comment on their financial implicaitons), and if the BDO Report explicitly stated that “it could find no evidence” of any consultation by the former VC, then VC Ahluwalia’s allegations were substantiated. How could the BDO Report allege otherwise that they “were not substantiated”?

All that the BDO Report conceded was that that a number of decisions by the former VC “did not make commercial sense”.

The public can themselves read the BDO Report on the juicy details to understand how even this observation on major financial shenanigans has to be called the “understatement of the year”.

Conclusion
Any reasonable person concerned about the proper use of taxpayers funds and reading the few details in the BDO Report must conclude that a fuller and independent inquiry must be done which examines the responsibilities of ALL the stakeholders in USP, including USP Council itself.

For instance, the BDO Report itself noted in the Executive Summary that similar themes and weaknesses that they were outlining, had been previously identified by KPMG in their role as internal audit service provider, with many discrepancies in Payroll (2 “high” and 6 “moderate), HR Recruitment and contract management (7 “high” and 3 “moderate”) and HR development (6 “high” and 3 “moderate”).

The BDO Report noted that these KPMG Reports pointed to a need for greater control and oversight, they were only partially implemented, or in some cases, not at all. Why not?

Why did the BDO Team not consult Ikbal Janif or Dame Fiame Mataafa, both of whom had been deputy chair and chair of USP Council during the tenure of the former VC?

Why did the BDO Team not consult Dr Dilawar Grewal who had been terminated by the former VC, and who had sent a full report of complaints to the chairman of USP Council (Winston Thompson)?

Was USP Council even given Grewal’s comprehensive report and litany of complaints?

Lastly, even if the current chair airily declares that the allegations against him were “minor” and he was ready to work with the reinstated VC Ahluwalia, surely USP Council must ask whether it is fair to VC Ahluwalia to ask him to continue to work under a chair who so readily suspended him instead of praising him for being a brave whistleblower.

Dr Wadan Narsey is a an independent economist and writer and also a former professor of economics at the University of the South Pacific. He has also been a regular columnist for the Fiji Times, Pacific Scoop and the Pacific Media Centre, a former Fiji parliamentarian, and a prolific commentator on the key economic, social and political issues facing Fiji and the Pacific. This article was first published in The Fiji Times today and has been republished with permission. The full article is on Dr Narsey’s website.

• The BDO Report on Fijileaks