Members of Parliament will now be able to speak in their vernacular language in the House.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad revealed this during his address at the World Hindi Day celebration held at Suva Civic Centre on Tuesday.
He said Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka had agreed on this.
“Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka was recently accorded a welcome ceremony in Parliament,” Prof Prasad said.
“During that welcome ceremony he said that vernacular languages, Hindi and iTaukei would be used once again in the Parliament.”
The use of the vernacular was disallowed in 2014 and this restriction was maintained by the FijiFirst government – despite the argument it would improve the quality of deliberations and participation in parliamentary debates.
On International Mother Language Day last year, Home Affairs Minister Pio Tikoduadua had said the celebration was a sham commitment “by a government that prevents us from speaking our mother languages in the people’s house – Parliament”.
