In an interview with Fijilive, the former commander of the land force said to fully blame the military for political upheavals is wrong.
“I believe that coups are not wholly the fault of the military. There’s always a collusion between the military and the civilian elite, those in power,” he said.
“To fully blame the military is wrong. If you look at the history of how coups have been conducted in Fiji, there’s a strong civilian political influence in all of them, so the military is not wholly at fault.”
Baledrokadroka added that politicians should take “a strong hard look at themselves.”
“I know that a lot of politicians were going up to the camp prior to the 2006 coup, in collusion with the military,” he said.
Asked whether we can put an end to coups he said, “Coups are as old as sin. It’s here to stay. You cannot eradicate it. It just seems to be the nature of government and if you have the military involved, you will always have this cycle.”
Baledrokadroka was suspended from the military in Jan. 2006, 11 months prior to the Dec. 5 takeover.
He resigned in May 2007 after an investigation against him for allegations that he conspired against military chief Frank Bainimarama was dropped.
