Saturday, April 05, 2008

Tui Macuata urges chiefs to sit in the GCC and lead

Tui Macuata urges chiefs to sit in the GCC and lead

Friday, April 04, 2008 - www.fijitimes.com

A CHIEF has urged other chiefs to take the opportunity to sit in the next Great Council of Chiefs meeting so that democracy returns as soon as possible.

Tui Macuata Ratu Aisea Katonivere said chiefs should think of their people and better future for everyone.

"As chiefs we should think of our people and a better future for everyone.

"We want to move on and everyone wants democracy to be restored as soon as and if this is a doorway to it, then why not grab it?" he said.

Ratu Aisea however expressed reservations on the criteria that chiefs who are eligible to join the new look GCC should be installed first.

"For us in Macuata, this title I'm holding we don't go through the installation process, it just passed down to me after my father passed away.

As for the Tui Labasa title, she will be installed and I will be a key figure in that installation process," Ratu Aisea said from his village in Naduri yesterday.

He said not all chiefs were installed because different districts and provinces had their own customs.

GCC taskforce team leader Ratu Josateki Nawalowalo said his team was mindful of the issue and would consider the chiefs who didn't get traditionally installed.

"We will refer to the Native Land Commission records on who is the rightful chief in districts and provinces. I know in some places, the chiefly title is passed down through generations

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