2018 General Election: 30-year-old votes for the first time

BEING a 30-year-old and voting for the first time is regarded as strange but this was the case for Vaturomulo villager Isoa Vonu.

According to Mr Vonu, he did not vote in the last election because he was sickly and was admitted at the Nadi hospital.

Today, he finally got his chance to cast his vote at the pre-poll exercise held at his village.

“I missed my chance last time but this time I made it sure I would vote today,” Mr Vonu said.

“It felt good to vote today because I can go back home knowing that my vote will count for something positive.”

Being a dalo and yaqona farmer in the village, Mr Vonu said farmers in the area faced a lot of difficulties while travelling to Labasa and Savusavu during rainy weather.

“The road being constructed is good but the other side of the road is still gravelled and we find it difficult to take our produce to the towns,” he said.

“Only once a month I can go to either Labasa or Savusavu and sell my produce.

“Before, if we had to go to Savusavu, we had to walk two to three kilometres to Korotasere Village with our produce to catch the bus.”

He said the bus services in the area started recently with new road development works taking shape in the last three months.

“If we want to hire a carrier, one way cost us $80 to Savusavu. It is very hard and expensive for us.”