The previous government’s decision to abolish the Great Council of Chiefs was like a warning to iTaukei leaders of what can happen if they fail to serve God.
Methodist Church’s Bau Division superintendent Reverend Ilisavani Bosekoviti said this in a sermon delivered at the Ratu Cakobau Memorial Church on Bau Island on Monday.
While speaking at the welcome service for the GCC meeting, he said it would serve the chiefs well to remember this.
“Over the past 16 years, the GCC laid dormant in our midst. If you have to look at it from a spiritual point of view, it was God trying to send a message to the Fijian chiefs,” Mr Bosekoviti said.
“For 16 years, the mouths of chiefs were kept shut, and they were helpless. Our culture and traditions were weakened. The GCC was the only platform where your voices were heard.
“The iTaukei people were helpless. Our voices were not heard.
“And the things that mattered to us — the three confederacies, Kubuna, Burebasaga and Tovata – no one could speak up.
“The GCC, the beating heart of our chiefs, the vanua and iTaukei, and no-one expected it to stop beating for 16 years.”
Mr Bosekoviti said the events of 2006 resulted in people questioning God and asking why they were in that situation.
“We wondered why God had done that to us and if we must look back, He was trying to speak to us. The GCC was taken away from us because God saw that chiefs weren’t abiding by His word and that started to put their wealth and status above Him.
“God made chiefs wander into the wilderness for 16 years so that in the midst of their pain and trying times, they could turn back to Him.”
