Property rights are sacred. Every competent government and policymaker in the world understands that they must not be tampered with lightly.
One of the cornerstones of any modern society is the security of property rights. People must be able to trust that what they legally own today will not be taken away tomorrow by the stroke of a ministerial pen. Property law is sacrosanct for a reason.
It gives citizens the confidence to invest, to build small businesses, to take loans, and to plan for their families. Once governments begin to undermine or destroy the value of legally owned property, they shake the very foundation on which economic activity rests.
This is why the government’s move to ban the sale of taxi permits is not a small administrative change. It is a direct attack on the security of people’s legally recognised property. It tells ordinary Fijians that the State can declare something an asset one day and turn it into worthless paper the next. That is a dangerous path for any country to take.
To appreciate how misguided this move is, we must go back to 2018. Before that year, selling taxi permits was illegal on paper. Yet everyone in Fiji knows that sales still happened. People bought permits quietly. They made under the table payments. They drafted informal agreements and took big risks because the law forced them into the shadows. The ban did not stop sales., but only made them opaque and unsafe.
The 2018 reform fixed that. It brought transparency to a system that had long been informal. Transfers were legalised, ownership records became transparent and the State collected stamp duty. Contracts could be enforced. Most importantly, banks could finally recognise taxi permits as lawful, transferable assets. This allowed families to borrow money, upgrade vehicles, grow small taxi businesses, and stabilise their income. Legalising transfers did not create a market. It merely formalised one that already existed. It was one of those policy decisions that actually improved fairness, transparency, and economic opportunity.
Families made decisions based on that certainty. They invested their savings, sold livestock, mortgaged homes, withdrew FNPF savings, and took bank loans to invest into taxi businesses. They trusted the framework created by the government.
Now the State wants to criminalise the sale of permits again. This is not a policy correction, but rather a policy reversal that destroys the value of thousands of families’ investments. It punishes those who followed the law and respected the system. It forces future transactions back into the shadows. It repeats the mistakes of the past while adding new ones.
The economic consequences will be severe. Taxi permits currently hold real market value. In many cases they sit as collateral on bank loan books. Remove transferability and the value of those permits collapses overnight. Banks will treat the loans as unsecured. They will demand additional security from borrowers. Many families will not be able to provide it. Defaults will increase, and vehicles will be repossessed. Households already struggling with the cost of living will face pressure created entirely by government policy.
Banks themselves will react strongly. No financial institution can operate with confidence when the government destroys an asset class that they have already lent against. It sends a terrible message to investors and small business owners. If the State can wipe out the value of taxi permits today, what stops it from devaluing other forms of property tomorrow. This is how a climate of fear replaces a climate of investment.
What makes this even worse is the manner in which the government is pushing the change. A policy that affects rights, livelihoods, and thousands of families has been rushed without meaningful consultation.
The taxi industry should not be opposed to reform. Every sector needs review, however reform must not come at the cost of fairness, stability, and basic decency. If the government believes non-transferable permits are the future, then let that rule apply to new permits, not existing ones. Grandfather the rights that families invested in. Do not punish citizens for following the law.
The heart of the issue is simple. A government that undermines property rights undermines confidence in the entire economy. This proposed ban erases asset value created by the State, destabilises households, threatens bank portfolios, and drags Fiji back to the informal practices that the 2018 reform had solved.
Policy should build trust, not destroy it. Fiji deserves far better from those who govern it.
NILESH LAL is the executive director of Dialogue Fiji and a political scientist specialising in governance, electoral systems, and democratic institutions in Fiji. He writes frequently on public policy, law, and political reform. The views expressed in this article are his and do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper.
Families invested their savings, sold livestock, mortgaged homes, withdrew FNPF savings, and took bank loans to invest into taxi businesses.. Picture: JONACANI LALAKOBAU
