National Federation Party Leader, Professor Biman Prasad says it is unfortunate that consensus, goodwill, dialogue and bipartisanship are missing from our national political landscape.
While paying tribute to the founding fathers of Fiji, Prasad says they believe it is time to re-dedicate ourselves to One Nation, One Destiny just as we did 50 years ago.
He says this fundamental principle of national leadership has now become an absolute necessity given the dark and uncertain times we face as a nation reeling from the effects of economic downturn and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NFP Leader says we should all remember the giant strides made by our country’s founding fathers and to hold true to the spirit of unity and understanding of our independence because freedom, hope and glory is still ours if we grasp it.
Prasad says as we celebrate 50 years of our independent history, it must not be forgotten that it was the NFP’s founding father and Leader of the Opposition Ambalal Dahyabhai Patel (A D Patel) and his successor Siddiq Moidin Koya, together with the Chief Minister and later the first Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, who put aside their deep personal and political differences to give Fiji true nationhood and sovereignty.
Prasad says they have always achieved solutions to our national problems, which to many people may have seemed insurmountable, through genuine dialogue, goodwill, consensus and bipartisanship.
He went to say that a thriving sugar industry that was Fiji’s economic mainstay for 30 years of our independent history and will still remain vitally important to the livelihood of some 200,000 of our people and the 1997 Constitution are a few but perfect examples of what can be achieved by working together.
The NFP Leader says we should also not forget the 14-year period of our independent history during which we were under military rule due to 4 military coups since 1987 – 1987 to 1992; 2000 to 2001; and 2006 to 2014.
Prasad says ten years after the first political upheaval, it took painstaking negotiations, perseverance, consensus building and dialogue between NFP Leader Jai Ram Reddy and the then Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka to restore equality, dignity and justice through the 1997 Constitution, which was abrogated in April 2009 by the military regime.
He also says people should not also forget that the most important symbol of our nation following Fiji being granted its Instruments of Independence, our noble banner blue flag, would have been changed had it not been for the widespread opposition of our citizens.
