DISTRICT representatives in Ra have been urged to pay up outstanding payments to the province’s non-subvention account.
Council chairman Kiniviliame Salabogi said the issue was discussed at the provincial council meeting on Tuesday.
“The money coming from the Government is our subvention account,” he said.
“That money facilitates all the needs within the provincial office such as the paying of the turaga ni koro, the mata ni tikina and the roko.
“The non-subvention account is money collected by the provincial council but we need to encourage people to give what they’re supposed to give to facilitate the needs that are not addressed by the Government.
“The way forward would be for us to do a collective soli.”
Mr Salabogi said the provincial council was supposed to collect $93,000, however, it only managed to get more than $50,000 in contributions.
“For the remaining amount, we had to encourage all the turaga ni koro and the mata ni tikina to give their outstanding balances before we do another collective soli.”
In terms of business ventures, Mr Salabogi said a coffee initiative was launched last Friday.
“We did have coffee but we needed the market and we’re fortunate that it’s here now.”
Mr Salabogi said a key challenge for the province was its geographical location.
“It’s a big challenge to gather people from all the villages when we want to centralise something within, in order to address these challenges.
“We need money for them to hire their own trucks which will be paid for by the provincial council to attend functions and meetings based on the geographical location of Ra.
