About 1,125 Tabua have gone overseas in the last 5 years - Waibuta

The Ministry of iTaukei Affairs is concerned about the trade of Tabua over the past years and they are working on making legislation to control the trade of this important cultural artefact as more Tabua are going overseas and the emergence of Tabua replicas.

While speaking at the Tabua Symposium at the Novotel Hotel in Lami, Deputy Secretary for iTaukei Affairs Saimoni Waibuta says the annual export quota of Tabua is 225 and in the last 5 years about 1,125 Tabua have gone overseas.

He says this quota is exhausted year in and year out.

Waibuta says having completed a wide phase of consultation with the Vanua, the Ministry has seen some issues raised by the 14 provinces that include more Tabua in circulation abroad than in the country, the information gap between the main institution responsible for the monitoring of Tabua movements in and out of the country, the lack of baseline information for villages and individuals which continues to be a challenge for them, Tabua replicas that are currently in circulation and this is expected to gain more momentum should the current trend continue and the high cost of Tabua.

The Deputy Secretary says these issues have prompted the Ministry to look into the possibility of being given the exclusive licence to operate a Tabua Shop and to regulate the price of Tabua.

He adds the need to protect and respect these cultural values that are accorded to this artefact in the iTaukei communities are more daunting now than ever before.

Waibuta says the Ministry is mandated to safeguard and protect the iTaukei way of life and its culture and traditions.

He highlighted that in this two-day symposium, people will be informed on how this traditional artefact has been stripped of its values as a cultural symbol for the iTaukei communities.