Professor Wadan Narsey asks critical questions about the transparency of the 2014 Fiji Budget and the wisdom of selling off public assets that are money makers.

Full details, click here:> http://narseyonfiji.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/2690/

REMEMBER THIS WHEN YOU VOTE IN 2014

With a simple trick, the humble spud can be made into a battery, so could potato powered homes catch on?

Mashed, boiled, baked or fried? You probably have a preference for your potatoes. Haim Rabinowitch, however, likes his spuds “hacked”.

For the past few years, researcher Rabinowitch and colleagues have been pushing the idea of “potato power” to deliver energy to people cut off from electricity grids. Hook up a spud to a couple of cheap metal plates, wires and LED bulbs, they argue, and it could provide lighting to remote towns and villages around the world.

They’ve also discovered a simple but ingenious trick to make potatoes particularly good at producing energy. “A single potato can power enough LED lamps for a room for 40 days,” claims Rabinowitch, who is based at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The idea may seem absurd, yet it is rooted in sound science. Still, Rabinowitch and his team have discovered that actually launching potato power in the real world is much more complex than it first appears.

While Rabinowitch and team have found a way to make potatoes produce more power than usual, the basic principles are taught in high school science classes, to demonstrate how batteries work. Continue reading →

CAN HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF ?

November 2007 Canada’s Prime Minister Harper announced a third-party independent inquiry to review the dealings between Schreiber and Mulroney Ethic’s Committee Mandate

Conclusions?
Executive Summary: Air Canada – a Crown Corporation owned by taxpayers – purchased 34 Airbuses for $1.8 billion from Airbus Industries. Allegations that the Prime Minister and Cabinet members received bribes for choosing Airbus over other carriers. Submissions made to the House of Commons Ethics Committee initiated on November 30, 2007 Mulroney appears before the committee once and then withdraws citing investigation not necessary Oliphant Comission Mandate Resources Division of Findings Conclusions and Reception at Public Themes Questions Specifically prevented the commissioner from “expressing any conclusion or recommendation regarding the civil or criminal liability of any person or organization.” “Certain Allegations Respecting Business and Financial Dealings Between Karlheinz Schreiber and the R.H Brian Mulroney” Conducted over a period of two years Cost of $16 million dollars

1. Factual Inquiry
Mulroney entered into agreement while R.H Mulroney was an MP but not as PM
2. Policy Findings and Recommendations
Business and financial dealings were inappropriate considering R.H Mulroney was an MP and failure to disclose dealings and payments Due to mandate set out by PM Harper, Oliphant was “careful not to use language that would even hint at such a finding” that R.H Mulroney should be liable in Criminal or Civil Law Mixed public reception – corruption and inappropriate behaviour exposed but without punishment More tax payer money spent without substantive result Accountability Appearance of Justice Quotes from the Report “Why, then, was there a need for such secrecy? The answer is that Mr. Mulroney wanted to conceal the fact that he had received money from Mr. Schreiber”

The former PM “failed to live up to the standard of conduct that he himself adopted”

“The reason Mr. Schreiber made the payments in cash and Mr. Mulroney accepted them in cash was that both wanted to conceal the fact that the transactions had occurred between them” 17 Questions Posed 150,000 documents submitted.

Give industrial hemp a chance, it is a 9 month crop that does not need fertilizers or pesticides, actually enriches the soil and can be used for thousands of products including building houses.

Learn more by clicking this link: http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/11/09/hemp-something-all-homes-should-be-made-of-scotland-community-begins-sustainable-housing-project/#_

Maligning the “old politicians”
Professor Wadan Narsey
November  2013

Since 2006, it has become a popular pastime for every Tom, Dick, and Harry to malign the “bad old politicians” of Fiji, and this trend will no doubt become a frenzy as “new politicians” offer themselves.

Many who write thus to the media are perhaps too young or ignorant to know what the “old politicians” did or did not do, compared to the new politicians.

But one does not expect the same song from Sir James Ah Koy, himself an “old politician” who personally benefited from the political largesse of several “old politicians” and Prime Ministers of Fiji (and received a knighthood from PNG “old politicians”).

Of course, such a message about “bad old politicians” is useful propaganda for a government which strangely contains a couple of “old politicians” (like Bole and Kubuabola), yet still claims it is the “first” government to do anything worthwhile for Fiji.

Nevertheless, it is the solemn responsibility of the older generation to set the record straight about what the old politicians did or did not do, compared to what the new politicians are doing.

It is also useful for future voters  to examine the political record of “old politicians” like Ah Koy, who was once a Minister of Finance in Rabuka’s Government, and who is offering himself up again as a “new” politician.

Ah Koy as “new politician”?
Some political historians might scratch their heads at how Ah Koy once entered Parliament as a Chinese “General” voter, then later managed to get elected as an indigenous “Fijian” MP for Kadavu, then rediscovered his Chinese roots to become Ambassador to China, and is now offering himself as a “born-again” new politician, ready to serve in Commodore Bainimarama’s Party-to-be.

Economic historians with nothing better to do, may scratch their heads as to how and why Ah Koy was appointed in the first place as Minister of Finance in Rabuka’s SVT Government, replacing a performing Mr Vunibobo.

But all economic historians (and future voters) must examine Ah Koy’s performance as Minister of Finance, and especially his disastrous decision to create the ATH telecommunication super monopoly, in order to sell Government’s shares to Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) at the inflated price of $253 million, thereby “coincidentally” covering the cost of the National Bank of Fiji (NBF) disaster.   Continue reading →

The Fiji government ( Which means Attorney General and Tourism Minister, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum ) is still waiting for One Hundred Sands Limited to give their response on what it is doing in relation to the proposed casino just outside Denarau Island.

The $290 million hotel, casino and convention centre was supposed to open this month however construction work is yet to start.

Attorney General and Tourism Minister, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said the US$100,000 thousand US dollars per month penalty is in force and the government is waiting for the explanation.

Attorney General and Tourism Minister, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum did not confirm how much money had actually been received. (What a surprise)

When he receives it perhaps he can use some to wash the egg off his face from being Claunched.