National Farmers Union General Secretary, Mahendra Chaudhry is now questioning why the Global Girmit Institute was allegedly given $200,000 to organise the Girmit Conference and this should be investigated however Deputy Prime Minister, Professor Biman Prasad says he will not respond to such verbal defecation from a person who has been convicted for breaching the Exchange Control Act and not declaring AUD$1.5 million kept in overseas bank accounts from collected funds.
Chaudhry says the $200,000 was released to the trustees of the Global Girmit Institute to pay conference expenses including airfares and accommodation for overseas speakers.
Chaudhry alleges that the Global Girmit Council was deregistered in February 2022 for failure to submit its annual returns and audited accounts for five years from its registration in 2017. He says surprisingly, the Institute was re-registered on 23rd February 2023 about the time the international Girmit conference was announced.
The NFU General Secretary says he is calling on Prime Minister Rabuka to carry out a thorough investigation of this entire matter.
Chaudhry also says while a massive $200,000 is spent on organising a conference of limited value, he is flabbergasted that no official programmes have been organized in Ba, Tavua, Ra, Nadi, Sigatoka, Navua, Nausori, Ovalau and Savusavu where vast numbers of the descendants of our Girmitiyas reside.
He is also asking for a full breakdown of the $500,000 to be spent on Girmit celebrations. In his initial response regarding Chaudhry’s statement, Professor Prasad says the government’s focus right now is ensuring that the pride and patriotism generated from this momentous and historic commemoration of Girmit has a lasting effect on our people.
