2014 The GCC – more than just a traditional role. Why the GCC and Chiefs must not be confused: Comments by the illegal Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama in recent days on the GCC and its functions as stated below from FijiVillage cannot go unchallenged. Bainimarama said: ““We’ve been without the Great Council of Chiefs in the last eight years. Nothing has collapsed and the iTaukei we’re still going about our business. You ask the ordinary iTaukei around you. Has anything happened? Has the iTaukei culture gone worse because there has been no Great Council of Chiefs? No! For the simple reason is that we still have our chiefs. “ In making such comments, Bainimarama seems to use the term GCC and chiefs interchangeably. Such an interchangeable use is of course misconceived. The Fijian Affairs Act interprets the term “chief” as: chief means any person enrolled in the principal mataqali of a yavusa in the register of native land owners recorded under the provisions of section 8 of the Native Lands Act.” It then interprets the Great Council of Chiefs as: “Council means the Great Council of Chiefs constituted under the provisions of this Act.” Immediately, to any educated person, the distinction would be apparent in that chief refers to a person enrolled in the mataqali of a yavusa in the register of native landowners and the GCC refers to an entity under the Fijian Affairs Act. Section 3 of the Fijian Affairs Act creates the role of the GCC. It reads: Great Council of Chiefs 3.-(1) There shall be in respect of the Fijian people a council called the Great Council of Chiefs which shall consist of such number of appointed, elected and nominated persons as the Governor-General may by regulation prescribe. (2) It shall be the duty of the Council, in addition to any powers or duties especially conferred upon it, to submit to the Governor-General such recommendations and proposals as it may deem to be for the benefit of the Fijian people, and to consider such questions relating to the good government and well being of the Fijian people as the Governor-General or the Board may from time to time submit to the Council, and to take decisions or make recommendations thereon. (Section substituted by 10 of 1966, s. 4.) Section 3 (2) of the Fijian Affairs Act prescribes the duties or powers of the GCC to make recommendations to the Governor General (now President) recommendations and proposals for the benefit of the Fijian people and to consider, from the GG, any proposal on good government and well being of the Fijian people as the GG or the Fijian Affair Board may from time to time submit. Therefore, the role of the GCC is to make recommendations and consider recommendations on good government and well being of the Fijian people. It is the GCC as a collective group of elected, appointed and nominated persons who make such decisions for the welfare of the Fijian people. The Fijian Affairs Act does not leave such an important duty to individual chiefs or even to the Government; it leaves it to the interaction between the GCC and the Head of State. An important role of the GCC is to act as trustees for the Fijian peoples and landowners as it relates to native land. The Native Land Trust Act (NLTA) provided (until replaced by decree) for the GCC as follows: Constitution of Board 3. -(1) There is hereby established a board of trustees called the Native Land Trust Board which shall consist of - the Governor-General as President, the Minister as Chairman, five Fijian members appointed by the Great Council of Chiefs, three Fijian members appointed by the Fijian Affairs Board from a list of nominees submitted by provincial councils to the Fijian Affairs Board, and not more than two members of any race, appointed by the Governor-General. Section 4 (1) of the NLTA provides for control of native land to be vested with the NLTB. It read: Control of native land vested in Board 4.-(1) The control of all native land shall be vested in the Board and all such land shall be administered by the Board for the benefitit of the Fijians owners. This meant that the GCC, being the majority of the group of members appointed to the NLTB, played an important statutory role in the control and administration of native land for the benefit of the Fijian owners. What Bainimarama has done by decree is removed the GCC’s and the Fijian Affairs Board to nominate the 5 and the 3 respective members to the 12 member board. This was done by amending section 3 of the NLTA by the Native Land Trust Amendment Decree 2010, and the decree provision section 3 reads: Section 3 amended 2. Section 3 of the Native Land Trust Act [Cap. 134] (the Act) is amended by - (a) repealing subsection (1) and replacing with the following- (1) There is hereby established a Board of trustees called the Native Land Trust Board, which shall consist of - (a) the Minister as Chairman; . (b) five members, all of whom must be members of i Taukei land owning units, appointed by the Minister responsible for i Taukei Affairs; (c) three members appointed by the Minister on the recommendation of the i Taukei Affairs Board from a list of nominees submitted by provincial councils to the i Taukei. Affairs Board; and (d) two other members, appointed by the Minister. The (GG) or as is now President, who has always been a member of the NLTB, is no longer a member of the NLTB. He has been removed from the NLTB. All members of the Board are now appointed by the Minister for Fijian Affairs, which is Bainimarama. This means that all appointments to the NLTB are now political appointments who can be removed at the pleasure of the Minister. Herein lies the danger to control and administration of native land. We have seen with the Land Use Decree 2010 that land deposited in the Land Bank cannot be touched by the Fijian landowners for 99 years (s10) and no court challenges (s4) can be entertained against any land in the Land Bank. The Prime Minister decides on how the native land is to be leased (s5) The Land Use Decree 2010 (paclii.org/fj/promu/promu_dec/lud2010103/) prevails over the ALTA and NLTA to the extent of any inconsistency (s9)(1). Clearly, when viewed in context, the GCC had an important role in protecting native land by its representation on the NLTB. With this representation now removed, the NLTB and native lands are at the mercy of Bainimarama as the Fijian Affairs Minister. It is for this reason that he does not want the GCC in the body politic of Fiji as he wants to do as he likes with native land with minimal hassles and no accountability. It is for this reason that he is pushing his lackey chiefs onto the NLTB so that they can rubber stamp his native land plans. It is for this reason, if not any other why the GCC must always be a part of mainstream decision making as it advises and accepts recommendations on the well being of the Fijian people and central to this is the protection and control of Fijian land by the indigenous landowners. It was because of the important role of the GCC that the 1970, 1990 and the 1997 constitutions all recognized and included the GCC at the highest levels of governmenton matters of indigenous governance and oversight. The GCC defines the Fijian people, the customs, the traditions and is central to the collective decision making of the Fijian peoples and indeed the rest of the citizens of Fiji. We must tell Bainimarama that the GCC will always be a part of the Fijian people as their trustees on matters of land, good governance and well being. To do otherwise would mean trusting an unelected dictator to take away native land from the control and administration of indigenous landowners for 99 years. This must simply must not be allowed to happen.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 01:38:52 +0000
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