STOP dipping into the 'Village Pot'. Kepa wades into 'Kai Vulagi' native Fijians overseas who get lease distribution money into their accounts, others staying in another village, making no contribution to village life

13/9/2017

"Ro Teimumu says it is not right for iTaukei not living in the village or staying in another part of Fiji or overseas, not contributing to the village development but still being paid equal lease money distribution."

"...Ro Teimumu must be corrected. Land lease distribution is not about village development alone. As long as I am the owner of the land, I deserve to be paid my fair share of its proceeds according to the decision of my family. To stop payment of leases to those who live away from the village is to deprive some landowners from their rightful entitlements and benefits." Commentator, "Tomasi" to Fijileaks

“All Mataqali members must have equal access and benefit to the proceeds from the Mataqali land leases.” Bainimarama, May 2013

Heartache
13/9/2017 07:21:09 pm
Tomasi u seem to have an urban middle class view of Fijian land. I started to like yr explanations from points 1 - 3 but started to disagree with you from points 4 onwards. First point I wish to make is the Marama Roko Tui Dreketi has no business raising the issue of Fijian land in a public forum like parliament. It's far too contentious an issue and bound to be misinterpreted and manipulated by propagandists for political agendas like Victor Lal is now doing. Victor has learnt very well from his British masters who devised the principle of "Divide and rule" as a form of political control, They will look for any chinks in the armour of a people to inject their poisonous venom so as to create derision and hatred. He is doing to native Fijians what is being done to the Rohingyas in Myanmar.

From Fijivillage News:

Opposition Leader Ro Teimumu Kepa says she will continue to push to bring back the previous system of iTaukei land lease money distribution.

When questioned by Fijivillage on why she is pushing for the unequal distribution of land lease money where the chief and the heads of the landowning units got more than others, Ro Teimumu says that the Itaukei live in a communal set up and the money is needed for the development of the village.

Ro Teimumu says it is not right for iTaukei not living in the village or staying in another part of Fiji or overseas, not contributing to the village development but still being paid equal lease money distribution.

People have also raised the question on why the chiefs want to continue to remain superior compared to the others in the community when it come to Itaukei land lease distribution.

Ro Teimumu says she does not have any vested interest as she says that she is not a recipient of the land lease money.

She says that the Bainimarama government had implemented the equal lease distribution system without any consultation. Source: Fijivillage News

Fijileaks: Many will be surprised to learn that native Fijians living overseas are collecting CHEQUES from FFP's equal distribution of lease money - whether one is a chief or commoner. If SODELPA "Makes Fiji Free Again", Ro Kepa will cut off lease money being collected by OVERSEAS native Fijians. In 2015, many villagers had raised objection to "Kai Vulagi Native Fijian" members of the land owning unit, who no longer participated in village project contributions, to receiving a share of lease monies in their
BANK ACCOUNTS in Australia, New Zealand, United States, United Kingdom, Tonga, Samoa and wherever they have migrated to from Fiji. Why, many ask, native INFANTS should receive lease money from CRADLE into their bank accounts in CANADA?

Fijileaks: Politics of Land Lease Money has divided native Fijians since Fiji gained independence, and now Ro Kepa has taken it to another level, and is asking whether native Fijians living OVERSEAS (the most vocal SODELPA cheerleaders) should be entitled to share the lease money

The firebrand Apisai Tora

In 1963, the firebrand Apisai Tora had told the voters about exploitation by eastern native Fijian chiefs of the wealth and resources of the western division of Fiji:
"You have been ruled by leaders from other areas who treated you with calculated contempt. Your division is the most important because from it comes the economic lifeblood of the colony. You deserve to be treated as first-class citizens. You must confess that deep inside you there was a longing to see the day when your kinsmen in western Fiji...would rise to become leaders in their own domain and perhaps of the whole Group. The party offers your kinsman who like you come from the humble surroundings of a village, who knows what it is to be ignored by officials, to be discouraged by Rokos and chiefs and strait-jacketed by the system under which you and I live."

In 1987, when one of Tora's kinsman from western Fiji, Dr Timoci Bavadra, became the Prime Minister of Fiji, Tora and others colluded with northerner Sitiveni Rabuka to overthrow the Bavarda government, and paraded placards reading "Bavadra gun, Reddy bullet". Now, the slogan has changed to: 'Bainimarama gun, Khaiyum bullet"

Now, the same regime stooge and former TLTB general manager Alipate Qetaki, who vigorously implemented the equal distribution of land lease money, is rumoured to have applied to stand as candidate for SODELPA. We have no doubt, come election, he will keep a straight face and lie to native Fijians that he was implementing "Khaiyum's land policy"!!!

From Fijileaks archive, 3 April 2015:
Hi Fijileaks, Rajend Naidu has just posted a comment on your blog post, Coup hanger-on Alipate Qetaki replaced at NLTB: What next for Rabuka-Bainimarama henchman - remember he became A-G in Rabuka's post 1987 coup, and resurfaced in same role after the George Speight coup!, and you need to approve it:

This man who was a prime mover and shaker in the racist, violent Rabuka coup of 1987 got me charged under the Official Secrets Act for publishing an article on Social Welfare in Fiji. That article did no citizen of Fiji any harm. In fact many professional people said they came to better understand what the Social Welfare Department was doing even though it was rather poorly resourced. By contrast Alipate Qetaki and his like minded racist colleagues in Rabuka's inner circle and the Taukei Movement did a great deal of harm to thousands of fellow Fiji citizens and to the country.
Has Qetaki been charged for anything? Has he faced justice for his role in the 1987 coup? No, he hasn't. Instead he continued to be rewarded with top posts in the government and other institutions like the NLTB.

5 Comments

Tomasi

13/9/2017 05:56:11 pm

Again, on the topic of native land, let me please make the following points:
1. Native land is private family property which belongs to the various groups of families all over Fiji. The operative words here are private, family, and property.
2. NLTB was an integral part of the British colonial administration’s agenda of securing and maintaining socio-economic and political control over the natives of Fiji. The operative words here are colonial, control .
3. By gaining control over the land, education, judiciary and other institutions of government, the British colonial rulers were able to again effective control over the whole of Fiji, its development agenda, thrust and its future.
4. Because native lands are private family properties, and because the natives have now become educated, native lands should really be controlled by the families themselves, under oversight by proper authorities.
5. Native lands do not belong to the Fijian Government, nor should they be controlled by it. Rather, Government must now consider ways of reverting control back to the native Fijian families who rightfully should be making the decisions about what properly belongs to them.
6. These decisions about who gets what and how much from the land should be family decisions and no party or outside body including the Fijian Government should feel they have any right at all about making that decision. It is strictly a family decision and must be respected as such.
7. Ro Teimumu must be corrected. Land lease distribution is not about village development alone. As long as I am the owner of the land, I deserve to be paid my fair share of its proceeds according to the decision of my family. To stop payment of leases to those who live away from the village is to deprive some landowners from their rightful entitlements and benefits.
8. NLTB can be an organization working in tandem with native Fijian families to provide information, legal, administrative and other vital services for the benefit of natives, tenants and the whole nation. But it must not perceive itself as the owner of native lands, neither a post-colonial instrument of exploitation, subservience and control.
9. The NLTB and the Government must focus on other vital development issues to promote the interests of all Fijians. But it must not do so by marginalizing the proper and legitimate role of the native landowners and by imposing arbitrary laws and regulations that impede or constrain the productive use and control of native land by their owners.
10. The day native land is in the legal and total control by their proper owners, Fiji will experience a radical boost in development, wealth creation and sharing, economic prosperity and political stability.
11. Native land landowners are Fijians first and owners second. They are wonderful kind and loving people. They have been sharing their land with all and sundry since the settlers first came. Imagine when you give more wealth to the most kind and caring people on earth. You can only expect a general improvement of life across all groups because that tremendous wealth will be shared and all will be much better off. Isn’t that what Fiji and all Fijians are looking for?
Vinaka.

BReal4Sodelpa

13/9/2017 09:48:20 pm

Isa... Diaspora and remittance are avenues for strength not alienation. Overseas Fijians too are struggling, at times doing long shifts, putting bread on the table, educating our kids and paying our taxes. But the needs of our loved ones at home are never far from our minds. Come weddings, funerals and cyclones, we go the long way and help out. We accommodate perpetual visitors from Fiji, for long periods of time in our small houses, Fiji style.

That talk of Marama - is the talk of greed.

We may not need those small tokens of land revenue from our lands in Fiji. But those are our rights as the owners of the land in Fiji despite our ‘present’ choice of residence. We may if (and only if) we choose, to donate that revenue back to the people of our villages. But that’s our discretion. And that’s the democracy of cultural liberation of Bainimarama that appeals to the modern Fijian. Those land revenues are also the rights of our next generations, to do, as they please – the discretion of that charity is on them.

Equitable is equitable. The Chiefs like Marama and Chaudhary must retire - as even Rabuka will tell you that – Now, just go and ask him!

Heartache

13/9/2017 07:21:09 pm

Tomasi u seem to have an urban middle class view of Fijian land. I started to like yr explanations from points 1 - 3 but started to disagree with you from points 4 onwards. First point I wish to make is the Marama Roko Tui Dreketi has no business raising the issue of Fijian land in a public forum like parliament. It's far too contentious an issue and bound to be misinterpreted and manipulated by propagandists for political agendas like Victor Lal is now doing. Victor has learnt very well from his British masters who devised the principle of "Divide and rule" as a form of political control, They will look for any chinks in the armour of a people to inject their poisonous venom so as to create derision and hatred. He is doing to native Fijians what is being done to the Rohingyas in Myanmar.

Heartburn

13/9/2017 08:33:48 pm

Isa, Heartache, why attack Victor Lal when it is Ro Marama Kepa who wants you and your family overseas to stop getting those fat cheques into your accounts. Gosh, how many of are you in the family. It looks like those donations to SODELPA from overseas native Fijians are our village money which are recycled as coming from you as donations. I am not a Bainimarama supporter but fully support the Marama on this issue, whether it was raised in Parliament or in a Public Forum

Alibaba

14/9/2017 08:44:40 am

In my opinion SODELPA lost the election yesterday. ASK must have been rubbing his hands in glee yesterday as Kepa and the rest of the dumb ass morons in SODELPA just made his job of winning easier. This is the same rhetoric that cost SODELPA the last election. The management of this party is so far away from the pulse of the young itaukei. Does Kepa honestly think that people who are now receiving a good chunk of lease money would be willing to give that up. How dumb can one person really be. I hate FF and will still root for a SODELPA/NFP coalition but it does look more and more like at least SODELPA is its own worst enemy. I really hope Mr. NARUBE and his party offer more than these morons and make for a genuine alternative to SODELPA.

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.