(Emeritus Professor Crosbie Walsh pioneered development studies in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, including a distinguished career at the University of the South Pacific in Suva. He has also worked as a journalist. He publishes the respected blog Fiji: The Way It Was, Is and Can Be, where the following first appeared) Ro Teimumu’s address to SODELPA’s AGM at the weekend should inform voters about the party’s priorities and intentions. It was a long speech, some 3,800-odd words, of which most (nearly 70 percent) was about how the Bainimarama government was supposedly threatening to take away iTaukei land. Of the other topics, what is claimed as “the shocking spread of poverty and unemployment, the decline of government services and infrastructure and the crippling cost of living” far less was said. She had 28 words on unemployment, 83 on health (half of which was about the Navau woman who unfortunately lost her baby), 25 words on the economic damage allegedly caused by the Bainimarama government and wage stagnation, and three words about the spread of poverty. Government’s Look North policy was called “a farce and a failure” written off in 14 words, and 271 words were reserved for the rising cost of living, as illustrated in Mick Beddoes’ survey of food prices — up 86% from 2006, not the previously claimed figure of 60%. LAND On land she was quite specific on what SODELPA would do if in government: the old multiple constitutional and legislative protections on land, Senate and the Great Council of Chiefs would be restored, the NLTB would be given its old powers, and the direct payment of all lease money to the land-owning mataqali would be “reviewed”. The Bainimarama government’s Land Use Decree and the Land Bank would be abolished. REAL ISSUE She did not, however, address the really burning issue on land which is its use, not its ownership. A thriving Fijian economy needs much greater use of land by iTaukei villagers, the restoration of non-renewed leases (that contributed to the massive exodus of dispossessed Indo-Fijians tenants, an increase in peri-urban shanty town dwellings and a drop in sugar and other agricultural production), and fair agricultural and non-agricultural leases for lessor and lessee. PROMISE On all the other issues Ro Teimumu only spoke in generalities, but promised specific policies once the party’s manifesto is released. Meanwhile, she called on members to rally and unite for truth and justice, for work and food on the table, to choose democracy over dictatorship, before concluding, “Thank you for listening and may God bless us all.” [email protected] fijisun.fj/?p=220276 POLITICS – What Ro Teimumu didn’t say | Fijisun.fj -(Emeritus Professor Crosbie Walsh pioneered development studies in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, including a distinguished career at the University of the South Pacific in Suva. He has... FIJISUN.COM.FJ
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 08:42:22 +0000
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