Ro Filipe: Government using ‘bulldozing’ tactics

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Ro Filipe Tuisawau. Picture: FT FILE

Opposition MP Ro Filipe Tuisawau yesterday attacked the Government for undermining iTaukei institutions, saying the “bulldozing” of Bill 17 was a clear example.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Ro Filipe said the Government saw cultural institutions such as the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) as “threats which undermine the State”.

“The removal of the GCC is to remove the head of the itaukei ni vanua from the socio-legal political structures, disabling a legally effective voice and body of consultation independent of the State and the political parties of Parliament,” he said.

“This is clearly demonstrated at the TLTB (iTaukei Land Trust Board) which has now become an arm of politicians who are running the Government,” he said.

“Today Bill 17 clearly demonstrates that the State is in control of TLTB and not the native landowners.

“We gained independence in 1970 but the sad fact today is that the Taukei ni Vanua Kei Viti are now effectively ruled by a coloniser which is the State created by the usurpers of 2006 and who continue to control Fiji today.

“We have become prisoners and colonised in our land by the State and its parasitic political-legal frameworks imposed by coup in 2006 and under the 2013 Constitution,” Ro Filipe said.

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