Empowering chiefs to make real decisions can lift people out of poverty, says Member of Parliament, Lynda Tabuya.
In her budget response in Parliament, Ms Tabuya said empowering the vanua and iTaukei structures meant enabling them to actively shape decisions that affected lives in the provinces.
“This is the path to true grassroots empowerment,” Ms Tabuya said.
“I ask the honourable Prime Minister to consider the proposal of bringing about real change in empowering those who lead in our provinces, including our chiefs, to be empowered with more than just an advisory role, but actually making decisions that truly lift our people out of poverty.”
She said Fiji could learn from China, which has lifted close to 100 million people out of poverty by strengthening its provincial leadership.
“Many have visited China and seen the firsthand economic activity within the provinces using their resources and thriving culture tourism, which ensures preservation and young people being involved.
“China has alleviated poverty of close to a hundred-million people by empowering their provinces.
“They have opened up their provinces to foreign investment and streamlined land laws to be more investment friendly.”
She said empowering provinces with direct national budget investment would benefit iTaukei, Indo-Fijians, Rotumans, Chinese, and all Fijians living within them.
“When we focus on the local solutions with direct investments from our national budgets, our provinces can fund the shared priorities by all — iTaukei, Indo-Fijian, Rotuman, Chinese, all Fijians who live within the province.”
