A MOTION to refer a petition on the village bylaws was defeated in Parliament on Wednesday amid heated exchanges on the issue.
The motion, moved by Opposition member Niko Nawaikula, was for a petition of 400 signatures opposing the village bylaws to be referred to the relative standing committee for further discussion.
Mr Nawaikula said 400 individuals from different areas in Fiji had signed the petition.
He said that bylaws were already present in the Fijian Affairs Act, Volume 7, enacted by Colonial Governments.
He said there were laws in the iTaukei Affairs Criminal Offences Code that were similar to the proposed village bylaws.
“So those are the village bylaws that are already there and you ask the question, what this one is for?
“That is something we need to look at.
“So for some odd reasons, these new bylaws are coming in and it does not even repeal what is already there and you have two sets of laws running side by side. That needs to be looked at.”
Mr Nawaikula acknowledged that Fiji needed village bylaws, but added that people did not want them in their present proposed form
But Prime Minister and iTaukei Affairs Minister Voreqe Bainimarama dismissed Mr Nawaikula’s claims.
He called the petition a ‘bus stand petition’, referring to the manner in which Mr Nawaikula gathered signatures at the bus stand.
“He is talking about the Fijian Acts of 1966, this team is going out to clarify those Acts.
“The bylaws that were put in by the Colonial Government did not take on board that people had cars, people had trucks, people were driving, people are now driving buses, buses go through villages and it restricts the iTaukei in their setting.
“This team is going out to clarify those issues and those bylaws that were put in place by the Colonial Government, and for his information and also those on the other side of the House, this had been mooted by those in villages and provinces.”
