The President of the National Federation Party Tupou Draunidalo made a plea to the Indo Fijian community and other communities to take their support away from the Prime Minister and the government as she says that there is a real need to protect the rights of the i-Taukei.
Draunidalo made the call during the party’s meeting over the weekend.
She says every effort should be made to ensure that the FijiFirst does not come back into power after the 2018 general elections.
Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama had earlier stressed that taking away the Great Council of Chiefs does not mean that the chiefs do not exist. He says the chiefly system will always exist and only the GCC which was the colonial setup, has been removed.
Bainimarama also says i-Taukei rights and land are well protected in the constitution.
He had earlier said that not a single inch of i‑Taukei land has been lost under the Bainimarama led government prior to the 2014 election, under the constitution or under the FijiFirst Government.
Bainimarama has also stressed that equal distribution of the Itaukei land lease money will continue.
60 percent of the landowning unit also have to agree to deposit Itaukei land in the Land Bank.
Meanwhile NFP’s Faizal Koya also raised concern that some schools and houses in Ra are still not fixed after Cyclone Winston.
Bainimarama had said last week that he is concerned about the students still studying in tents and families yet to rebuild their houses after Tropical Cyclone Winston.
Bainimarama says this is due to the shortage of hardware items in the country and they are waiting for supplies to arrive from Australia and New Zealand.
He says that hopes are high that all schools will be repaired by December as the contractors are on stand-by to rebuild all the affected schools.
Bainimarama stresses that all this needs to be finished quickly.
