DEFENCE Minister Pio Tikoduadua says being part of the Coalition Government for the past two and a half years has not been an easy journey.
He made this comment while speaking to 200 members present at the National Federation Party Ra branch annual general meeting in Rakiraki yesterday.
“It’s not easy running a country like Fiji from an authoritarian leadership and now through a democratic government like we have for the past two years,” he said.
“And with the media that is here today, I want the media to hear that and report that.
“That when you talk about democracy, you don’t talk about the things that feel and sound good to you.
“Because it means that people now have the privilege to speak their mind freely and with responsibility.
“And we have been part of that journey; we are big enough to take pressure.
“But I want to reassure you with this commitment today, NFP in the house today, I want to assure Rakiraki and the people of Ra, Fiji in general, NFP is here and committed to staying, to make sure that we do not go back to authoritarian or one-man rule.
“I want to remind you of that because a lot of us are forgetting this very quickly.”
He said people have forgotten about the one man or two man rule.
“Because we take our strength from you and that is why a party like NFP will be here for a very long time.
“And so right now we are going through an interesting period, I call it interesting because it is all part of the process of governance.
“So what do we ask of you, we ask that you stand with us.
“Stand with us and we want you to talk to us, because the situation has changed dramatically from 2022.
“This is not 2022, two and a half years from 2022, it is not December, 2022 when we came into power.
“It was different, so which means we are going through now a different period.”
Mr Tikoduadua emphasised the party needed to adapt to stay relevant.
“Otherwise we will get lost in this traffic and there is a lot of traffic going on.
“We have enemies, and many are in the Opposition who try to challenge us.
“But we need to be able to abide and stand by the principles for which we exist.
“And this party needs to continue to stand for because if you lapse on this, very easily other forms of government can come into power.
“But you must not allow this to happen.”
