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
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• ‘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.

The University of the South Pacific will be receiving additional funding from the Fiji government in the 2023-2024 national budget, says Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad.

Speaking at a public consultation in Lautoka this week, he said the additional funding was to pay off arrears owed by the Fijian government to the regional university.

As of February this year, the Fiji government owed USP F$116 million (NZ$86 million) in unpaid grants.

• READ MORE: ‘Nepotism, lack of transparency and accountability’ claims emerge at USP
• Other USP reports

“We gave $10 million already,” the Deputy PM said.

“I attended their council meeting and I made a commitment.

“We are restoring the annual grant to the university which is about $34 million.

“From this year the annual contribution that the Fiji government always used to contribute will be included in the budget and that will be paid.

“We are going to include an additional amount to clear out the arrears from the past years and so the university will have a lot of money.”

Professor Prasad was responding to queries raised by USP staff member Teresa Ali on the government’s commitment to the university’s annual grant.

Deputy VC ‘dismissed’
Meanwhile, Fijivillage News reports that the University of the South Pacific management has confirmed that deputy vice-chancellor and vice-president Professor Janusz Jankowski’s arrangement with the institution has ended.

In response to an email sent by FBC News, USP management said Professor Jankowski was recently engaged as a fixed-term and part-time consultant.

It also said that, contrary to media reports, the vice-chancellor and president of USP did not have the delegated authority to terminate the employment of a deputy vice-chancellor.

News media reports say that a week before the termination of Professor Jankowski’s contract, he had written a damning 13-page “whistleblower” report to two of the university’s pro vice-chancellors alleging “nepotism, lack of transparency and accountability” at the university.

Repeka Nasiko is a Fiji Times reporter. 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.

An alleged bizarre swinging punch towards an academic from a senior management figure at the top of the University of the South Pacific (USP) is underscoring a deepening crisis in the regional organisation.

While it was not vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia who threw the punch, its plain the one time Fiji deportee is spectacularly failing USP. With falling student roles, and running out of already badly spent money, the once model of regional cooperation and dreams is heading toward a Fiji road smash.

Much of it will have been Professor Ahluwalia’s fault, but inaction on the part of the current pro-chancellor Dr Hilda Heine carries a burden of liability too.

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

Professor Ahluwalia has gone into a kind of cone of silence, neither calling the “senior management team” (SMT) for several months, nor dealing with urgent issues.

To those inside the Suva campus, the place seems on remote control. Money is allegedly disappearing, and the institution is struggling again to pay its bills. Nothing decisive is happening to rescue the organisation founded in 1968.

While tensions between senior academic staff in any university is not unknown, inside USP it has become deeply hostile. Various allegations are made about staff, and the place has descended into a kind of madhouse.

Professor Ahluwalia occasionally issues emails to criticise those who he thinks is bringing him down. He now directs who gets what jobs and where.

Management ‘explosion’
This seems to have been behind an explosion at one of the last SMTs where a top figure is said to have screamed “bastard” and swung a punch at another academic head. Another senior figure had to break it up.

Professor Ahluwalia took no action and the man who swung the punch has been told his place is safe. Consequently Professor Ahluwalia has a new loyalist in SMT.

The latest events at USP have deep political implications in host nation Fiji, where a new government says it is going to pay its USP dues of F$86 million. The previous FijiFirst government led by Voreqe Bainimarama refused to pay, claiming Professor Ahluwalia and other senior figures in USP were corrupt.

Professor Ahluwalia was kicked out of Fiji and took refuge in USP regional offices in Nauru and Samoa.

With Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka in power in Suva, Professor Ahluwalia has been allowed back.

It may only be a coincidence, or not, that Bainimarama has subsequently been arrested and faces a charge of abuse of office. The charge specially cites his role over USP.

‘Colonial’ research deal
Now it is emerging that some in USP are party to a research deal with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi (signed in Papua New Guinea) that has a decently colonial feel to it, an endorsement of transferring Pacific resources to India.

It is not what universities are supposed to be doing, especially those set up to advance Pacific people.

While Professor Ahluwalia and Dr Heine — former President of the Marshall Islands who in 2016 made history as the first woman leader of a Pacific Islands independent nation — might hope to cope with the new tsunami hitting them, the reality is that the big donors, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the European Union and the United Nations, are going to get pretty weary of this endless, destructive childishness at USP.

Michael Field is an independent journalist and author, and co-editor of The Pacific Newsroom. This article from “On The Wire” is republished with his permission.

The long-running row between the former Fiji government and the Suva-based regional University of the South Pacific (USP) has come back to haunt former Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, who spent a night in a police cell on March 9 before appearing in court, charged with abuse of office.

Not only did the “USP saga”, as it came to be known, cause a major rift between Fiji and the other 12 USP-member countries, but it may have contributed to the narrow loss of Bainimarama’s FijiFirst Party (FFP) in the December 2022 election.

Bainimarama’s abuse of office charges included accusations of interfering with a police investigation into financial malpractices at USP. If convicted, he would face a maximum sentence of 17 years in jail.

• READ MORE: Fiji’s Bainimarama granted bail, ordered to remain in country
• Former Fiji PM Bainimarama and suspended police chief charged
• The USP saga

But there are also serious questions about the future of the party that he co-founded, and which won successive elections in 2014 and 2018 on the back of his popularity.

A day before his indictment, there were surreal scenes at the Suva Central Police Station, as police officers marched an ashen-faced Bainimarama to his cell to spend the night before his court appearance the next morning.

This, under the full glare of live media coverage, with journalists tripping over themselves to take pictures of the former military strongman, who installed himself as prime minister after the 2006 coup and ruled for 16 years straight.

Arrested, detained and charged alongside Bainimarama was his once-powerful police chief, Sitiveni Qiliho, who managed a wry smile for the cameras. Both were released on a surety of F$10,000 (about NZ$7300) after pleading not guilty to the charges.

Shut down police investigation
It is alleged that in 2019, the duo “arbitrarily and in abuse of the authority of their respective offices” shut down a police investigation into alleged irregularities at USP when former vice-chancellor Rajesh Chandra was in charge.

In November 2018, Chandra’s replacement, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, revealed large remuneration payments to certain USP senior staff, some running to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Fiji government, unhappy with Ahluwalia’s attack on Chandra, counter-attacked by alleging irregularities in Ahluwalia’s own administration.

As the dispute escalated, the Fiji government suspended its annual grant to the USP in a bid to force an inquiry into its own allegations.

When an external audit by the NZ accountants BDO confirmed the original report’s findings, the USP executive committee, under the control of the then Fiji government appointees, suspended Ahluwalia in June 2020.

This was in defiance of the USP’s supreme decision-making body, the USP Council, which reinstated him within a week.

Samoa’s then Deputy Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa (who is now prime minister, having won a heavily contested election of her own) said at the time that Ahluwalia’s suspension had been a “nonsense”.

The then Nauruan President Lionel Aingimea attacked a “small group” of Fiji officials for “hijacking” the 12-country regional university.

Students threatened boycott
The USP Students’ Association threatened a boycott of exams, while more than 500 signatures supporting the suspended vice-chancellor were collected and students protested across several of USP’s national campuses. All these events played out prominently in the regional news media as well as on social media platforms.

With Fiji’s national elections scheduled for the following year, the political toll was becoming obvious. However, Bainimarama’s government either did not see it, or did not care to see it.

Instead of backing off from what many saw as an unnecessary fight, it doubled down. In February 2021, around 15 government police and security personnel along with immigration officials staged a late-night raid on Professor Ahluwalia’s Suva home, detained him with his wife, Sandra Price, and put them in a car for the three-hour drive to Nadi International Airport where, deported, they were put on the first flight to Australia.

The move sent shockwaves in Fiji and the region.

To many, it looked like a government that had come to power in the name of a “clean-up campaign” against corruption was now indulging in a cover-up campaign instead. The USP saga became political fodder at opposition rallies, with one of their major campaign promises being to bring back Professor Ahluwalia and restore the unpaid Fiji government grant that stood at F$86 million (about NZ$62 million) at the time.

A month before the 2022 polls, a statement targeting the estimated 30,000 staff and student cohort at USP, their friends and families, urged them to vote against FijiFirst, which would go on to lose government by a single parliamentary vote to the tripartite coalition led by another former coup leader, Sitiveni Rabuka.

Albanese official visit
It was Rabuka who greeted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on his first official visit to Fiji last week. During talks at the Australian-funded Blackrock military camp, Albanese reportedly secured Rabuka’s support for the AUKUS deal.

Australia is keen for stability in Fiji, which has not had a smooth transition of power since independence, with democratically elected governments removed by coups in 1987, 2000 and 2006. Any disturbance in Fiji has the potential to upset the delicate balance in the region as a whole.

For Bainimarama and his followers, there is much to rue. His claimed agenda — to build national unity and racial equality and to rid Fiji of corruption — earned widespread support in 2014.

His margin of victory was much narrower in 2018 but Bainimarama managed to secure a majority in Parliament to lead the nation again.

His electoral loss in 2022 was followed by a series of dramatic events, which first saw Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, his deputy in all but name, disqualified from holding his seat in Parliament.

Bainimarama went next, suspended for three years by Parliament’s privileges committee for a speech attacking head of state Ratu Wiliame Katonivere. He chose to resign as opposition leader.

Following his March 10 hearing, Bainimarama addressed the media and a few supporters outside court, adamant that he had served the country with “integrity” and with “the best interests” of all Fijians at heart.  The former leader even managed to smile for the cameras while surrounded by a group of followers.

With nearly double the personal votes of the sitting PM Rabuka under Fiji’s proportional representation voting system, Bainimarama’s supporters still harboured some hope that he could return as the country’s leader one day.

However, his health is not the best. He is now out of Parliament and bogged down by legal troubles. Is the sun now setting on the era of Bainimarama and FijiFirst?

Dr Shailendra Bahadur Singh is a frequent contributor to Asia Pacific Report and is on the editorial board of the associated Pacific Journalism Review. This article was originally published by the Lowy Institute’s The Interpreter and is republished here with the author’s permission.

The University of the South Pacific is expected to receive the first instalment of the promised $10 million part payment of owed grants soon.

Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said this was a show of the coalition government’s commitment to restoring Fiji’s outstanding grant contributions since 2019.

It is understood that by June this year, the total grant to be paid to USP would reach $116 million.

• READ MORE: Professor thrilled over USP return – Fiji to pay university debt
• The USP saga

Rabuka made the comment during a moving thanksgiving service at USP’s Laucala campus this week to mark the return of exiled vice-chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia to Fiji.

Since 2019, the previous government under FijiFirst remained steadfast in its decision to withhold grant contributions to USP until independent investigations into alleged mismanagement by Professor Ahluwalia were carried out, ultimately leading to the professor and his wife Sandra’s deportation from Fiji.

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

“The power of one vote on the floor of Parliament made it possible for me to sit as Prime Minister in Parliament and cabinet, and allowed me and Fiji to say to Pal Ahluwalia to come home, come back,” Rabuka said.

‘Fiji did it to you’
“I want to apologise to you, very simple. It doesn’t matter who did it. As far as the world is concerned, Fiji did it to you,” Rabuka said.

“Now, I am Fiji by the power of one vote. We’ve corrected that. Thank you for agreeing to come back.

“I reiterate the USP students’ apology, we were orphaned since you left; now we have our parents back.”

The Prime Minister said USP was the best example of regional cooperation, breaking new ground in bringing people together, not only from the Pacific but within Fiji.

In accepting the apology, Professor Ahluwalia said the thanksgiving service was a day to celebrate and expressed his appreciation to the Prime Minister and Deputy PM for their support and commitment to the regional university.

“After 107 weeks of exile, I never thought I would see the day I get to thank my staff and students in person,” he said.

“I am overwhelmed by the heart of the university, our students, for standing by me, our staff; how do I thank people who sacrificed without expecting anything in return.

Beacons for education
“Universities have to become beacons for education and to speak truth to power. I am here, I am here to serve you and the nation.”

USP pro-chancellor and chair of the USP Council Hilda Heine expressed her gratitude to Rabuka for allowing Professor Ahluwalia to return to Fiji and for providing assurances and support towards the region’s premier institution.

She also acknowledged Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa for hosting the vice-chancellor and his family in Samoa since January last year, and Nauru’s Deputy Speaker of Parliament and former president Lionel Aingimea and the government of Nauru for hosting the vice-chancellor following his removal from Fiji in February 2021.

Geraldine Panapasa is editor-in-chief of the University of the South Pacific’s journalism newspaper and website Wansolwara News. Republished in collaboration with the USP journalism programme.

The University of the South Pacific’s vice-chancellor and president, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, was given a rousing welcome at Nadi International Airport today returning to Fiji from exile.

He returned two years after he and wife Sandra Price were detained and deported by the former FijiFirst government for allegedly breaching provisions of the Immigration Act.

“We have arrived in Nadi. What a fabulous reception. USP staff, students and so many well wishers to meet us fills out hearts with joy. Beautiful singing and prayer. Thank you Fiji,” he wrote on Twitter, as the couple were received by USP deputy vice-chancellors and vice-presidents, Professor Jito Vanualailai and Dr Giulio Paunga.

• READ MORE: Professor thrilled over USP return – Fiji to pay $90m university debt
• Other USP saga reports

USP Council Secretariat representative Totivi Bokini-Ratu, Lautoka campus director Pramila Devi, and representatives from the USP Students Association, USP Staff Association and Association of the USP Staff were also at the airport to greet Professor Ahluwalia.

“I’m so humbled to see everyone. It is an absolute joy to be back and an opportunity for us to continue serving USP,” he said in a statement.

We have arrived in Nadi. What a fabulous reception. USP Staff, Students and so many well wishers to meet us fills our hearts with joy. Beautiful singing and prayers. Thank you Fiji.

— Professor Pal Ahluwalia, USP VC (@pal_vcp) February 9, 2023

“The support from staff, students and regional governments has just been incredible.

“It was so beautiful to see how much our staff fought. The fight wasn’t just for me; it was for a bigger cause and I’m just a catalyst for the bigger change they wanted to see.”

Next step for students
Professor Ahluwalia said the next step was to work with his senior management team to ensure they got the best out of their students and the region.

He is expected to visit the USP Pacific TAFE Centre in Namaka and Lautoka campus today with other events and meetings scheduled for the coming week, including a launch of the Alumni Relationship Management Service, and the welcoming of international students.

Professor Ahluwalia and his wife’s controversial exile from Fiji followed months of increased tensions between USP and the previous government over allegations of financial mismanagement and corruption.

With the new People’s Alliance-led coalition government in power after ousting the FijiFirst administration in the 2022 general election, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has vowed to right the wrongs of the past administration.

Last December, he declared that Professor Ahluwalia and Dr Padma Lal, widow of another exiled academic, the late Professor Brij Lal, were free to enter the country.

“I am ready to meet Dr Lal and Professor Ahluwalia personally. I will apologise on behalf of the people of Fiji for the way they were treated,” Rabuka had said.

Working from Samoa
He said prohibition orders against Professor Ahluwalia, Dr Lal and the late Professor Lal, were “unreasonable and inhumane”, and “should never have been made”.

Professor Ahluwalia has been working out of USP’s Samoa campus since 2021, and said he looked forward to working with the 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 said.

Meanwhile, USP and the Fijian government are expected to conduct a joint traditional welcome ceremony for Professor Ahluwalia, followed by a thanksgiving service at the Japan-Pacific ICT Multipurpose Theatre, Laucala campus next Tuesday.

Geraldine Panapasa is editor-in-chief of the University of the South Pacific’s journalism newspaper and website Wansolwara News. Republished in collaboration with the USP journalism programme.

Compiled by Sera Tikotikoivatu-Sefeti, leila Pafrina, Sibete Ietaake and Aralai Vosyaco in Suva

From the last Strategic Plan 2019-2021, USP faced two major challenges — a fall in core funding and the impact of the global covid-19 pandemic. This hindered the university’s ability to invest in key ambitions. How has USP fared since then in terms of addressing those challenges and its impact on academia, general operations and staffing as well as USP’s financial status?

Professor Ahluwalia: It’s obvious that the impact of not receiving funding from the government is affecting us. But when we are faced with adversity, what we do is prioritise. That’s the job of a CEO, or in this case, the vice-chancellor, the president. You prioritise. You determine what is important to you. In our strategic plan, which we refreshed last year with a lot of consultation with our students and staff, our priority is to provide quality education for our students.

• READ MORE: The full e-edition of Wansolwara

That’s the first priority. With funding challenges we can’t walk away from those. But we’ve prioritised everything so that we give our students priority. It hasn’t really changed my commitment to you since the day I walked into the university. It just means that we’ve sharpened the student experience.

We’ve sharpened the realities of working in a post-covid-19 environment. We’ve tried to see how we can get our students better qualifications.

The byproduct of that is that we’ve also been able to focus on rankings because we want people to know how good this university is. It’s not like we’re chasing rankings for the sake of chasing rankings. Rankings are there as an icing on the cake, but the cake has to be the right thing. Rankings are external people telling us that we’re doing things right.

I think the impact on learning and teaching has been as minimal as you can imagine, as well as on research. We’ve deferred capital works and really important projects, which should have been done. When I came to the university, I inherited a deferred maintenance bill of $36 million. Now that’s a huge thing I tried to really solve that problem to begin with, where the idea was we would put $5 million into it every year.

We haven’t been able to do that because of the funding. So we are trying to reprioritise all the time so that students’ education is always paramount. But of course, that’s where those issues have come. In terms of staffing, since I’ve been here, we’ve never ever sacked anybody at USP. We will continue to prioritise our staff. Where there is natural attrition, in some cases, we might not fill those positions. Secondly, we’ll prioritise academic staffing over all other staffing because it’s the academic staffing that is so vital to our school.

The Strategic Plan 2022-2024 aims to strengthen five priority areas from the previous plan. How is USP progressing so far with these priorities?

The five priority areas really kind of represent our core values. In many ways, we’re doing exceptionally well. There are some areas that have been adversely affected because of covid-19. Some of those areas would be around our staff not being able to travel to regional countries. The core business of our university is reflected in Strategy Five, teaching and learning, research and innovation, our regional campuses, our work as a CROP (Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific) agency, and all the other sections that support our core values. That is how our strategic plan is set up.

We give regular reports to our council on how we’re performing. As an example, a couple of things that have been affected because of covid-19 is that we couldn’t get enough students into laboratories. These are postgraduate students to make sure that our postgraduate number of completions remain at the same level. But it’s no different than anywhere else in the world. The whole world is experiencing that kind of disruption. For eight months our campuses in Fiji were closed, so I wasn’t surprised when we didn’t meet that KPI (key performance indicator).

We paid very close attention, and I’m really proud of our academic staff and our students because I think it’s shown our team spirit. It’s shown our human resilience. Students had to make adjustments. Probably nobody you know in the last four generations of USP students would have had to do that, so it’s a real testimony to how our students have responded to those kinds of efforts in a once in a 100-year pandemic.

Recently, USP was ranked 401-600 out of 1406 institutions, with an overall score of 70 out of 100 in the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Ranking for 2022. Would this recognition bring about further changes at USP to increase its ranking?

Rankings are not the sole focus of our efforts. Our focus is on our strategic plan and on our mission, vision, and values. Our children must have the opportunity to study at the best university in the Pacific. We are a value-led organisation, so I’m really pleased to say that three rankings in the last 18 months have really given us confidence that we are on the right path.

We have to continue and how do we invest in this? We have funding for research, but we are also continuously making sure that the best academics are recruited and that we don’t compromise on academic quality because, at the end of the day, academic quality is what gives our students that cutting edge. It is the academic quality that helps us produce the research outputs that would then improve the ranking.

In terms of capital projects and ongoing maintenance works, what progress has been made to the upkeep of the university and its campuses?

With the crisis that we’re in right now, we continue to prioritise issues that have to be addressed. If we don’t, the problem just gets worse. So there is the normal routine maintenance and other projects. Some of the other things have been put on the backbench, but we’re still putting a lot of effort into these things. In terms of the Solomon Islands campus, there are no new plans. It’s externally funded. The campus is progressing, and we hope it will be finished next year.

This will be something that is really important because it will provide more opportunities for our Solomon Island students. The Solomon Island students are the second largest number of students of any of our campuses, so the fact that the campus will be finished soon will give a real boost to our Solomons regional campus.

In terms of financial status, is USP implementing new measures to mitigate the fall in core funding? If so, what are these measures? Are we expecting an increase in fees, will there be staff cutbacks or cutbacks to major expenditures, and is USP seeking major external funding as a backup?

By the end of June, the Fijian government would have owed us roughly $74.8 million, which is a very substantial cut in our funding from the agreed formula. What that means is that people try to understand what that funding is for. Funding from different governments is really a subsidy for students studying on campus.

The Fiji government gives that because, one, they have the largest number of students and so the amount is calculated on the number of students and it’s based on a formula which has been in place for many years. That’s the first point I want to make.

The second point I want to make is that we made it work despite the fact that we haven’t been getting that funding.

So that means that Fiji students are still being subsidised, but they need to be subsidised by the overall ways in which the university operates.

So effectively, by not paying their funding, the Fiji government is not really supporting its students, and of course, that affects our core funding, but we have reprioritised students. Our priority is teaching and learning.

Are we going to increase fees? There is no plan to, given the state of our economy at the moment. At the outset, what I’m really proud of is the resilience of our staff as well. We don’t have any staff cuts. We have not taken any. We’re not reducing our staff. We’re actually maintaining ourselves because we believe that the staff we have provide the quality education. Despite everything, we’ve maintained our staff.

We’re always looking for external funding. We’re pursuing that all the time. For us, a lot of external funding is not coming directly into consolidated revenue, which we can use the way we want. We are getting it for projects and projects are being funded. Of course, our biggest challenge remains a non-funded community.

The Kiribati campus lacks essential facilities and equipment to assist students with their programmes. This is a reason many students from Kiribati travel to Fiji to study at the main campus in Laucala. What plans, if any, are in the pipeline to upgrade USP’s teaching and learning facilities on Kiribati and other regional campuses?

One of the things that covid-19 taught us is that we can do a lot of things in more imaginative ways and still deliver quality education. People can study from home. They can do a lot of their own studies. As the vice-chancellor I spent some time in Nauru.
I had an absolutely amazing experience, which made me understand what a small Micronesian country goes through, what challenges people face on a day-to-day basis, and that has really informed a lot of my thinking about where we are.

Now that I’m at one of our larger campuses in Samoa, I’m discovering many things that need to be solved here too. But I think in terms of our programmes, we are offering more and more programmes for our regional students.

The first year experience buddy programme has been successfully running at the Laucala campus, given the importance of non-academic support in a student’s first year of university life. Will the university roll out the First Year Experience buddy programme across other regional campuses?

That’s certainly my expectation that we’ll be doing that. There are two things that we did this year that were very different, something that I am really proud of — the Semester Zero initiative. I had this idea that students should be able to come to university. Many students out there have no experience with technology, which would be normal in other countries.

So that was the first thing that we really wanted to solve, and I think we ran that programme for the first year to get that better. Now there’s a final programme to something that is actually run in different ways on different campuses.

While it is business as usual for some campuses, is USP still concerned about the possible resurgence of other deadly strains of covid-19 and its impact on education? Are appropriate measures being implemented or improved to mitigate these impacts on the USP community?

Absolutely! There’s no room for complacency. I’m really proud of the team and DISMAC — our Disaster Management Committee. We were very quick to develop plans. We’ve had to deal with a lot of different things, and we’ve learnt how to do that effectively. We’re not being complacent. We’ll monitor this.

Every week I get a report on where we are with campuses and what’s going on. I have regular meetings with all my SMTs (senior management teams).

I want to know how our staff are doing, their well-being is important to us. We’re very prepared. I think that’s why we’ve managed this crisis as well as we did. That’s what the ranking was for when we were ranked 11th for “crisis management” by the World Universities with Real Impact (WURI) 2021 global ranking.

You have many notable and remarkable achievements, and these may have been accompanied with its fair share of challenges. How has your time in Samoa been and what are some life lessons or perhaps one factor that has kept you going during those challenging times?

I’ve been very blessed. I’ve had the experience of working at a lot of institutions and I think I’ve been able to bring all that experience together to serve the Pacific. But the one biggest thing in all this, is the support of my staff and my students. Without that, nobody’s worth anything.

I’m eternally grateful and proud of the achievements of our staff and students. This is never a one-person job; it’s always teamwork. It’s always bringing the best of everybody together. I’m so proud of that.

The one thing about rankings is, not only for our students now but also for our alumni, is it shows that we are not just any ordinary university, but that we are the premier institution in the country.

As a custodian of that university, I’m very conscious of that. It’s always been on my mind. I’m not here to rule, I’m here to serve. That’s the attitude which I feel very blessed about and that’s deep in my heart. I know that the minute I stop serving, I’ll be gone.

Moving forward, what can we expect from USP in terms of programme offering, and improvements to learn, teaching and research?

We’re always looking at what the future is going to hold for our region, what is it that our staff and students need to be doing to take us to the new year ahead of everybody else because we’re training the future of the labour force, the workforce that’s going to be required for our region. We’re going to enter into health programmes and we will start looking at other programmes where we can really bring innovation to the region.

Some existing programmes will need to accommodate that change. I think the future looks fantastic, and the new streams of areas that would be available to our students and prospective students also look fantastic.

Wansolwara is the student journalist newspaper of the University of the South Pacific. It collaborates with Asia Pacific Report, which prioritises student journalism.

Fiji’s Economy Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is “doing damage” to the premier regional university by withholding the Fiji government’s obligatory contribution, say the two staff unions representing the University of the South Pacific.

Association of the USP academic staff president Dr Elizabeth Fong and USP staff union president Tarisi Vacala said in a statement that the USP Council had held several special meetings to address current USP issues as well as matters of concern of the Fiji government members.

“The council deliberations led to clear majority decisions that exonerated Professor Pal Ahluwalia yet again of any mismanagement, administrative or for financial, and his reappointment as vice-chancellor and president of the USP and his relocation to Samoa,” the statement said.

• READ MORE: Other reports on the USP saga

The unions said despite the deportation from Fiji of Professor Ahluwalia and his wife, just two years into his first contract, the government continued to “hurt Fiji and regional students” by withholding its obligatory grant.

“Mr Sayed-Khaiyum’s statements in the Fiji Parliament and media about the withholding of Fiji government grant have not been accompanied by any formal paper to the University Council justifying his calls for an independent inquiry, the objectives of the inquiry, the composition of the commission of inquiry, or its terms of reference nor the financial costs that may be incurred.

“It is apparent, that unable to remove Professor Pal Ahluwalia for his exposure of financial mismanagement and other breaches, Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is doing damage to the premier regional university and hurting USP students by withholding the Fiji government’s obligatory contribution.”

Questions sent to Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and Sayed-Khaiyum by The Fiji Times remained unanswered at publication time.

‘Honour’ Parliament decisions call
RNZ Pacific reports that the unions called on the Fiji government to “honour” the decisions of Parliament and pay the outstanding subsidy due to the university.

The Fiji goverment has withheld what is officially called a grant but is in fact a subsidy on the student fees at the university, RNZ Pacific said.

The two unions — Association of USP Staff (AUSPS) and the USP Staff Union (USPSU) — said the Fiji government owed the institution FJ$78.4 million (NZ$58 million).

The money has been withheld by the government because of its ongoing battle with vice-chancellor Pal Ahluwalia.

There were a series of inquiries after Ahluwalia had identified significant corruption within the previous administration at the USP.

Five inquiries so far have cost the USP more than FJ$1 million — and they have all exonerated Ahluwalia.

The unions said: “It is apparent, that unable to remove Professor Pal Ahluwalia for his exposure of the financial mismanagement and other breaches of the previous USP Administration, the Attorney-General and Minister for Economy, Civil Service, Communications, Housing and Community Development is doing damage to the premier regional university and hurting USP students by withholding the Fiji government’s obligatory contribution.”

However, the Fiji government last week called for yet another investigation.

The two unions representing staff at the University of the South Pacific are calling on the Fiji Government to honour the decisions of their parliament and pay the outstanding subsidy due to the university.https://t.co/aIgYpn0lu3

— RNZ Pacific (@RNZPacific) July 22, 2022

The unions had a paid advertisement running yesterday in Fiji.

In it they said: “Based on the outcomes of the inquiries there is no reasonable justification for another inquiry.

“The unions on behalf of the students, staff and alumni therefore call on the Prime Minister, [Voreqe] Bainimarama to abide by and honour the decision of the Fiji Parliament that approved the USP grants for 2020, 2021 and to pay what is owed under its obligation and to bring this matter to closure so as to leave no-one behind.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ and with permission from The Fiji Times.

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.

A public relations disaster for Fiji just as Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum head to Glasgow for COP26 as one of Britain’s leading media outlets — The Independent — carries out a detailed investigation into events at the University of the South Pacific.

Fiji’s reputation in Britain and the academic community the world over has suffered a grievous blow.

What emerges is a sordid tale of cronyism, bullying, repression and a frontal assault on regional cooperation by the FijiFirst government that has undermined Pacific solidarity and adversely affected the education of ordinary Pacific Islanders at USP, including Fijian young people.

• READ MORE: The long-running USP governance saga

The length and scope of this article and its impeccable pedigree guarantee that it will become the dominant global narrative about events at USP and have a far reaching impact on Fiji’s reputation, including its current role as Chair of the Pacific Islands Forum.

And for what? For Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s ego.

A festering wound that will cripple the FijiFirst government all the way to the 2022 election, when its prized “youth vote” will get to make its own pronouncement at the ballot box on events at USP.

Be genuinely dismayed at the AG’s shortsightedness and Bainimarama’s stupidity for allowing his number 2 to embark on a battle he simply cannot win.

This is what The Independent describes as a “long read”:

“At first there is a woman’s voice coming from the back of the house in the dead of night. Then there is repeated ringing of the doorbell. Other voices, male ones, are coming through the front door now; the voices are authoritative and increasingly impatient. Instructions are barked, telling those inside to open up. Fists bang the door. Soon plainclothes police officers are inside and shortly afterwards 63-year-old Professor Pal Ahluwalia and his wife Sandy Price are forcibly escorted to the airport. The vice-chancellor of the most prestigious university in Fiji is being deported on the orders of the Fijian government.

“The University of the South Pacific (USP) is pretty. Its main campus building in Fiji has a clean, modern design and is fronted by rows of palm trees. But behind the attractive facade and beneath a clear blue South Pacific sky, all hell is breaking loose. An internecine conflict has broken out. On one side stands the vice-chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, who claims to have blown the whistle on mismanagement and malpractice at the university; opposing him are pro-chancellor Winston Thompson and the Fijian government, who say Ahluwalia is guilty of both breaking USP hiring protocols and of unspecified immigration violations.”

Read on at The Independent or if you want to dodge the paywall, read here.

Republished with permission.

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.

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.

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.

University of the South Pacific staff unions and students have protested in “disgust” over what they call interference and unsolicited presence by Fiji police on the Laucala campus.

“We demand that this must immediately stop, to allow staff to work and prepare for incoming students and the semester of learning ahead,” said a joint statement today from the Association of USP Staff (AUSPS), USP Staff Union (USPSU) and the USP Student Association (USPSA).

The unions described the police activity as an “attack on the right of staff to operate freely, with dignity and safety at the work place”.

• READ MORE: Other articles about the USP saga

The unions said that police officers had been seen on campus since the “unethical” deportation of the vice-chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia last Thursday.

USP security officials had also reported a number of incidents involving police vehicles that had been refused entry onto the campus.

“This is seen as an attempt to intimidate and harass staff while disrupting preparations for the semester ahead,” the statement said.

Fiji police were reminded that Laucala campus was a place of work and tertiary education for regional Pacific students as well as Fiji students.

“As such, [the police] must respect the right for these students to be facilitated by USP staff in an environment that is free of harassment and intimidation,” said the statement.

The USP is a regional institution with 12 member countries and comparable to the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).

The opposition National Federation Party (NFP) said in a statement that Fiji’s credibility as a leading state in the region was at stake over the deportation of Kenyan-born professor Ahluwalia, reports RNZ Pacific.

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.

COMMENTARY: By international students of USP, Australia subgroup

Echoing the collective concerns of the University of the South Pacific Student Association (USPSA), students and staff, and a commentary from respected elder and leader, Dr Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka, an associate professor and director of the University of Hawai’i’s Center for Pacific Islands Studies, we are seeking to support a transition towards good governance at the USP.

A brief recap: in June this year, vice-chancellor Pal Ahluwalia was “tried” by Winston Thompson pro-chancellor of the USP Council in an act widely seen as a defensive reaction against the BDO report and anti-corruption campaign spearheaded by vice-chancellor Ahluwalia.

Watching from within Fiji and from overseas, we saw waves of solidarity and support for vice-chancellor Ahluwalia’s efforts.

• READ MORE: Portfolio of Asia Pacific Report articles about the University of the South Pacific saga

Various international student associations and other overseas voices added to the groundswell of support from staff and students within Fiji.

Regional students gathered at the Alafua Campus in Samoa, Emalus Campus in Vanuatu, the Republic of the Marshall Islands campus in Majuro and the Solomon Islands campus in Honiara as well as campuses throughout Fiji.

These groups carried signs reading “We stand with Pal”, calling out “Stand down Winston” in order to make way for demands for “good governance”.

These waves of international solidarity and support from across the region were testimony to the idea that what happens at USP has widespread implications beyond Fiji.

Caught between the old and new
Interviewing students from a range of countries and disciplines, we learned more about their experience at the USP. We were particularly interested to learn about how they feel being caught between these two paths represented by the old and new orders of governance at the USP.

These are the voices of the @UniSouthPacific members:

Alafua Campus in Samoa, Emalus in Vanuatu, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Solomon Islands all show #solidarity and support for @pal_vcp. #USPSaga @UspsaEC @USPEmaluscampus @UspAlafua @USPSA2 @USPEmaluscampus pic.twitter.com/wn9rg934kK

— AustralianStudents_USP (@AustralianStud3) June 16, 2020

We were also interested to learn about the importance of USP for international students.
Last week, we conducted some surveys with Australian students and alumni about the benefits they attributed to their time at the USP. The findings of the survey found that Australian students benefitted from new career opportunities, new research opportunities, new friends and networks and new skills and abilities as well as a deeper awareness of the Pacific.

Student E spoke of the USP’s strong capacity for “geospatial sciences, remote sensing” and drone capabilities.

Student A spoke about meeting “incredible new friends”, learning about “Pacific values and politics” through immersion on campus. Student O emphasised how by participating in a range of “classes and extracurriculars” they found the potential for collaborative research opportunities.

The perspective of Australian students and communities, whose taxes eventually flow via foreign aid assistance into the USP budget, are in a unique position.

We often become more concerned about how our contributions to the USP budget are spent or misspent. We question the wisdom of continued investment.

Australia will invest $84 million over the next six years to the University of the South Pacific.

This was announced by the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison at USP yesterday.https://t.co/OZJwWst9CK pic.twitter.com/qoephrUzBf

— Fiji Sun (@sun_fiji) January 18, 2019

During a trip to USP before the covid-19 pandemic, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Australia would invest $84 million over the next six years to the University of the South Pacific.

Letter to Australian High Commission
During the USP Saga and the “trial” of vice-chancellor Ahluwalia, the Australian Students of USP drafted a letter to the Australian High Commission to voice our concerns about the events unfolding at the USP.

We, the #Australian #students of @UniSouthPacific, express our collective concerns with recent events at the USP: specifically the recent and illegal suspension of #ViceChancellor @pal_vcp

Together, we have drafted this letter to: @uniSouthpacific @AusHCFJ @IBIupdate #USPSaga pic.twitter.com/JikUXH63uf

— AustralianStudents_USP (@AustralianStud3) June 10, 2020

Not long after the High Commission released a statement from the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. The statement made in light of the BDO Report and the USP Saga have highlighted that the Australian government’s donor assistance would be influenced by progress towards demonstrating good governance, transparency and accountability.

USP sits at a crossroads between good governance of the future represented by professor  Ahluwalia and the old regime represented by pro-vice chancellor Thompson.

When asked about how they view the future of relations between Australia and the Pacific, the students involved in the survey all viewed USP as having an important role.

Students E and A both spoke of the powerful role of USP in supporting people-to-people links and cultural and educational exchange programmes.

Student O stressed the importance of accessibility both in terms of logistics and finances.

This point is especially pertinent when it comes to accountable and transparent management of budgets so that funds are going towards student’s access and education rather than being circulated and siphoned through senior executive circles of power.
Speaking to a range of local students, it is clear that there have been a number of changes between the old order of the previous USP vice-chancellor’s administration and the current administration.

According to Student C, under the old order students were widely “discouraged and even punished for asking questions or even saying hello” to the previous vice-chancellor if they happened to see him on campus.

‘A real Pal’
In contrast, “I have found the current vice-chancellor Ahluwalia to be incredibly approachable, a good listener and open to questions and constructive feedback… a real Pal,” said student M.

These seemingly small interactions, in the last year, are symptomatic of a wider shift towards a less top-down hierarchical system.

This is a departure from the past when the students served the executive. Instead, as vice-chancellor Pal Ahluwalia has said, “I am here to serve and listen to the students.”

Imagine the potential of the future generations in the Pacific if the students are elevated and empowered rather than being seen as mere numbers to be extracted from.

This shift towards empowering students is threatened by a small and elite group. Members of the elite are often political appointees, well-connected to government. These members of the USP Council and other levels of senior executive governance represent a more “subverted” influence of government.

More recently, government interventions have been less subtle. Examples include the deployment of police to monitor peaceful gatherings at the USP Laucala Campus as well as ongoing investigations which have been linked to accusations of police harassment and intimidation of staff and students at the public gatherings.

In perhaps the most direct violation of USP Council procedures, the Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum attended the USP Council Meeting held on October 13, despite the fact he is not a member of the USP Council.

Unexpected interference of the AG
Through the unexpected interference of the AG, the meeting was stalled and little progress could be made to move towards recommendations made in light of the BDO Report.

This most recent direct intervention of the government in USP affairs leads many to ask whether the USP can truly become a university representative of the South Pacific or whether it will remain a “University of FijiFirst”.

Throughout the Pacific region, students, alumni, staff, partner organisations and government donors are watching the USP at this crucial juncture. It is a crossroads in which USP may turn towards the path of good governance as symbolised by vice-chancellor Ahluwalia.

On the other side, there is a slippery slope scenario in which the USP may turn down the other path representing the old feudal regimes where funding disappeared, or funded the corrupt elite, without transparency and accountability.

The future of USP still hangs in the balance and could go down either of these two paths. Furthermore, these choices could be made either through due process in alignment with the university’s constitution or through coercion in which the USP would be, yet again, hijacked by higher powers.

Regardless of how events continue to unfold, one point has been made clear: the world is watching.

This article is contributed by the Australian subgroup of the University of the South Pacific’s international students.

Attempts to remove the University of the South Pacific pro-chancellor and one of its council’s committee chairperson – both of Fiji – were thwarted yesterday when the USP Council special meeting ran out of time.

Fiji’s five-member delegation led by its Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum were accused of stalling the deliberation of the council when it met via zoom.

Council interim chair Lionel Aingmea, who is also President of Nauru, adjourned the meeting at 4.30pm Fiji time as a number of council members had exited the zoom platform.

• READ MORE: ‘I’m staying with USP’, says Thompson
• Other USP saga reports

A council member who spoke to Islands Business on the condition of anonymity says Fiji’s AG made several attempts to introduce motions that were not on the meeting agenda.

This included a motion for the USP Council to reopen investigations into its Vice-Chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

He also proposed to table a letter, the content of which he did not disclose.

After much opposition from several council members, some of whom questioned the non-adherence to meeting protocol or convention, both Fiji’s motions were put to the vote and defeated.

Lunch break needed a vote
Even the decision to adjourn the meeting for lunch had to be voted upon.

The only successful motion passed by the council yesterday was the vote to adopt the agenda that President Aingmea had submitted (and not the one Fiji proposed), and the election of Professor Pat Walsh, representative of the New Zealand government to the USP Council, as the new deputy chair.

He replaces Tongan accountant Aloma Johansson, whom Fiji had nominated to have her term renewed.

The abrupt adjournment of today’s meeting meant that controversial Fiji government reps in the council of Winston Thompson and Mahmood Khan would stay.

The next meeting is now scheduled for mid-November.

Samisoni Pareti is editor of the regional news magazine Islands Business.

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.