Rabuka’s recant and reform; new constitution

Speight of Violence 7

With good looks and an elegant turn of phrase that successfully camouflaged his underlying message, Rabuka was a political celebrity. His sexual antics had a certain legendary quality about them. In 1 994 a row broke out in the Fiji press after a journalist proclaimed her affair with Rabuka. He admitted it and told his caucus that his wife and pastor had forgiven him. Just before the 1999 elections, after an open-air sex incident labelled the Fiji Golf Club 'Kama Sutra', Rabuka denied he was the male participant but then went on to say 'I'm a carnal man.' And then there was another journalist who had a child by him and he paid only a modest maintenance for the boy after being dragged all the way through the courts and DNA testing. In a more sophisticated society this would perhaps have gone unnoticed or unmentioned but Rabuka was forever on about God and morality - he even admitted to saying a prayer following each transgression outside marriage.

Rabuka's political legacy, other than two constitutions, was a high level of corruption. The National Bank of Fiji (NBF) collapsed in 1995 with debts in excess of $220 million, owed by politicians and Fiji chiefs who had used it as a cash cow and did not repay loans. Only a few incidental players were ever arrested over it and much of the money was written off. A journalist at the time who played a key role in revealing the names of illicit beneficiaries was one Josefa (Joe) Nata, who would go on to a key role in the 2000 coup.