Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama says he will not allow anything that will take us back, not the Great Council of Chiefs, or any other body that will take us backwards, because together, the Government is taking the nation forward.
While making a statement on Nai Lalakai on the state broadcaster, Radio Fiji One, Bainimarama says with our borders open and tourists arriving in droves, the shouts of his opponents have turned to whispers.
He says now that the opponents have run out of ammo on the pandemic, they are going back to their usual playbook: Weaponising iTaukei issues.
The Prime Minister says his opponents are afraid because the recovery is advancing and the success is making them irrelevant.
Bainimarama says the opponents are afraid because they see how the Government has and will continue to advance initiatives that benefit all Fijians, including the iTaukei.
He says this is why the iTaukei administration's current shape and form must be improved, and he will get this done. Bainimarama says work on reviewing the Provincial Councils, Tikina Councils and Village Councils has already started.
He says he wants these councils to contribute to the betterment of the iTaukei as a cohesive network.
Bainimarama says it is important for him to state that these councils represent the collective voice of the iTaukei, not an elite body like the GCC, which is why he states emphatically that the GCC will not come back.
The Prime Minister says since the GCC's inception, it has unconsciously supported the marginalisation of the vast majority of the iTaukei.
He also says the iTaukei are not marginalised to the extent that many indigenous populations have been around the world, and they are proud people, who own their land and who shape their own destiny.
Bainimarama says the iTaukei still own 91 percent of the land and he raises the question on what have we done to show for it.
He says this is where institutions such as the GCC had failed us over the years.
The Prime Minister says they should have carried out land reforms to benefit the iTaukei many years ago.
He says the iTaukei Affairs Act, iTaukei Lands Act, and iTaukei Lands Trust Act remain archaic because since their promulgation, the GCC had generally refused to budge.
Bainimarama says the current lease distribution system, which his Government put in place, now responds better to the landowners’ needs.
He says landowners in the West have benefitted the most from this lease distribution system and they will continue to benefit unless they decide to support those who will bring back the GCC.
Bainimarama then says that he has one warning for the people : support those people to your detriment, they came to your doorstep and asked you to destroy yourself, that is what they did, and they will do it again.
The Prime Minister says be very careful of these wolves in sheep's clothing.
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