Funding for the institute has been frozen since 1998 due to failure to provide audited reports. For more than 18 months, there have been unsuccessful attempts to call a general meeting or provide audited accounts. Director of Information Eliki Bomani said the ministry was willing to assist the institute, but FIMA needed to come up with a solution to its financial mess. The auditor-general's report is expected to be released soon. The Fiji Times editorial of October 4 called for FIMA to sort out its affairs before being critical of anyone as long as doubts were hanging over its activities.
Journalists have a duty to uncover and highlight misdeeds.
It is therefore imperative that their house be put in order first. Some former executives are reportedly under investigation over alleged mismanagement of funds and running of the institute. Former president Asaeli Lave, chief photographer of the Fiji Times, said he wasn't sure what the people were being investigated for. We needed to meet the previous president and treasurer since no audit was available, but they never turned up. Lack of cooperation between FJI and the regional Journalism Programme at the University of the South Pacific which has produced about 30 degree and diploma graduates since 1996.