‘Bill not a threat to indigenous rights’

Listen to this article:

Mosese Bulitavu outside Parliament. Picture: FILE/JONA KONATACI.

Outspoken Opposition MP Mosese Bulitavu told Parliament many of those who signed the petition against Bill No.17 did so without knowing what was in the petition.

He said most people did not even understand the petition.

Mr Bulitavu, who spoke in support of the Bill, said he had to clarify this again with those who called him.

“Just a few days ago I visited a few villages. They called me to clarify the petition going around and most of them had signed without even knowing what is in the petition, not understanding the petition,” he said.

Mr Bulitavu said the amendment to the Bill was not a threat to indigenous rights, but was just an administrative matter.

“I went and spent about two hours to try to clarify to them that this is not a threat to their indigenous rights, but it is just an administrative matter that this amendment calls for.

“The other thing to take note of too is the risk of any title that is in breach which will now fall on to the bank.

“It will not fall on to the iTLTB because the bank will do their own assessment on whether it is a good title or a good security or a bank security. They will do their own assessment on that and no bank would want to take a security where there are some breaches.

“In some cases when there is a sale, the sale price will cater for those arrears and some of the law firms they are undertaking with TLTB used to do so that they can clear that and after the loan is approved. But this will fast-track and facilitate all that.”

Array
(
    [post_type] => post
    [post_status] => publish
    [orderby] => date
    [order] => DESC
    [update_post_term_cache] => 
    [update_post_meta_cache] => 
    [cache_results] => 
    [category__in] => 1
    [posts_per_page] => 4
    [offset] => 0
    [no_found_rows] => 1
    [date_query] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [after] => Array
                        (
                            [year] => 2023
                            [month] => 12
                            [day] => 28
                        )

                    [inclusive] => 1
                )

        )

)

No Posts found for specific category