Fiji chiefs assert control of affairs

BA – The formation of a non-governmental organisation set up by a group of influential chiefs in the Ba Province of Fiji has stirred the ire of Ba Provincial Council chairman, Ratu Tevita Momedonu, who claims the group is “ill-advised”.

He said the group’s action would cause problems for the country’s largest province.

The new NGO, set up as a trust, was announced at its inaugural meeting in Lautoka last week (Bose Ni Momo ni Yasana Ko Ba), with spokesman and Tui Nawaka, Ratu Asaeli Driu, alleging that government control of their provincial councils and appointments had spurred the 15 chiefs to form a separate organisation.

Ratu Asaeli said the new NGO was designed to protect the interests of the people of the province.

“Today we are moving away from that and we want to establish a body that is outside of the Ba provincial council.”

He said the establishment of the group would not hinder Ba council operations.

“We just want to work on our own and have control of our own affairs..”

But Ba Provincial Council chairman Ratu Tevita labelled the comments as absurd and called for a retraction.

“It contradicts the purpose and responsibilities of the provincial councils, as stipulated under the iTaukei Affairs Act, and in this instance, it is the Ba Provincial Council that is affected,” Ratu Tevita said.

“The predecessors of the members of this organisation must be turning in their graves for what their successors are trying to do in the province now,” he noted, adding that the province’s solidarity and cohesion would be badly shaken with the NGO’s set-up.

He said the NGO should limit its responsibilities to vanua commitments and traditional obligations and not commercial enterprises, and urged them to “come back into the fold.”

Sweeping criticism aside, Ratu Asaeli said the NGO would forge into both commercial interests and traditional commitments.

“This NGO has nothing to with the provincial council,” he said.

“We are based on the vanua and formed because of Government control of provincial councils and agendas. It’s a government body now and we have had to just accept the changes. But the NGO is for us, and there has been positive feedback from the people,” Ratu Asaeli said.