WAINUNU district representative Peni Matawalu says government officials are there to serve the people, not to defend themselves when told they are wrong.
His comments follow a Facebook post by Forestry Minister Alitia Bainivalu yesterday attacking a Fiji Times report on ministry delays in meeting the Wainunu landowners in Labasa.
Defending The Fiji Times yesterday, Mr Matawalu said the minister had failed to acknowledge the concerns raised by villagers during the visit.
“For the minister to become defensive is not welcome. They should address concerns raised by the villagers, rather than trying to correct the newspaper,” he said.
The issue blew up after a Fiji Times online video yesterday showed the landowners waiting to be received at the ministry’s Northern Division office at Macuata House in Labasa.
In her Facebook post, Ms Bainivalu said the landowners were welcomed, led into a conference room, and attended to by the acting Principal Forestry Officer.
“The Fiji Times reported that no senior staff of the ministry received the landowners. This is absolutely false,” she said.
“For a national newspaper to deliberately ignore the facts and mislead the public is unacceptable.
Ms Bainivalu said the report did not just insult the ministry but also disrespected the landowners who made the effort to be heard.
But, backing The Fiji Times yesterday, Mr Matawalu said the ministry’s response highlights a broader issue of government officials failing to genuinely listen to the concerns of rural communities.
“No government officials waited for the landowners yesterday,” he said. “Only the reporters were waiting there when we came into the Ministry of Forestry office.”
Fiji Times editor-in-chief Fred Wesley said it was unfortunate that the minister had attacked the newspaper in her response.
“Our journalist was there. He waited with the landowners. He took a video of what happened. It wasn’t the acting Principal Forestry Officer who was there to meet the landowners, it was a security guard,” Mr Wesley said.
“The officer Uraia Racule eventually met them after the security officer at Macuata House came out to greet them and to talk to the staff in the office about the landowners’ presence.
“The landowners and our journalist had waited for around 20 minutes before anything happened, and their presence acknowledged. And they waited again for another 10 minutes before Mr Racule was able to meet the landowners.
“I was also briefed that the landowners revealed they had written three letters to the Divisional Forestry Officer in the last year asking for a meeting without a response.
“They eventually made the trip up to Labasa to try and meet him personally.
“I understand the minister would be concerned that her ministry did not look good. But we reported the facts. The minister has dragged in The Fiji Times to cop flak for something that we correctly reported.
“I believe one of the reasons the landowners were finally seen was because our first video went up on our digital portals showing the lack of response from the Forestry Department.
“One of our jobs as the news media is to hold the Government accountable for its actions and, in this case, its lack of action. As Mr Matawalu says, the Government is supposed to serve the people and if it is taking the Government a year to respond to the people, then something is clearly wrong and it is our job to raise it.”
