The facts behind the itaukei land issues

Cool Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Bismillah arRahman arRahim.

My fellow Fijians ....  as many of you know, I have been  traipsing around the countryside hallucinating on the draft constifusion and enjoying being immersed in native tradition. MINFO has also been busy filming me for my TV series .

Although the roadtrip was hard, it has given me an agreeable  taste for what a politicians life would be like.

Vunidawa was the hardest place so far on my road trip (pictured) as I had to work the crowd hard for there were blank looks aplenty in this particular session. Quite vexing in fact.

Because the Fijian mujrimun had laid mats down for me, I felt I had to remove my shoes which I customarily do not do, as this is reserved for worship in my mosque only.

However my wife the Adi Lady Marama Ela said rather sweetly that in this media snap, I look like a cool cat on a hot tin roof. Ma sha’ Allah.

The Lauan

Unsurprising that Qarase, just a Lauan commoner and criminal, criticized me for walking upright in front of my fellow autochthons. Qarase needs to understand that we are no longer in the ape age, and as Attorney General it is my prerogative . Holistically speaking following the general principles of Shar’iah, I am only honoring the tradition, but I don’t hold it as holy. In Sha ‘ Allah.

Notwithstanding I see no difference between the natives from Naisoso or from colo . We are all equal. There is no religion, race or culture anymore in Fiji . The sooner this is entrenched in the constitution, the better. As PM Bai reminds us, he is simply irrelevant.

What Qarase said

But I digress. Back to the land which many people are making an issue out of. It is not an issue at all.

First and foremost - all native lands are guaranteed, and rights of all native landowners you must understand are considered collective national rights.

FACT ONE :

My Land Use Decree and Land Use Regulations makes landowner approval necessary for leases issued under its powers, so landowners must agree to their land being signed into PM's Land Bank.

This is democratic and ensures itaukei rights to agree are entrenched.

Once the land is in the bank, PM Bai and I can do what we like with it and grant any amount of time on the leases ( ie we can give it to who we like and for any fee we like) and the landowners are not able to tell us what to do with the land.

If we think it would be beneficial for the economy to offer land at low rent to a Chinese company who wants to build a factory for ethanol, this is our prerogative.

FACT TWO :

Me at Constifusion workshop

Once the land is in our Land bank, as government of the day, we are the only ones best placed to make the best comme il faut decisions on behalf of our native Fijians (lets face it they usually take forever to decide things to do with land matters).

The State holds all the power in the lease relationships.

I have given myself and PM Bai a vast array of powers and we can exercise these with impunity because there is no judicial oversight.

In other words, landowners cannot go to court to ask us to cease and desist , and no court is allowed to hear any court appeals.

To totally ensure this , we have forbidden the judiciary to hear any of these actions ... ie totally banned by decree. Subhanalla.

The reason is simple - we cannot have any interruption to any lease of any land (s 15(1) of the Decree).

After all, by giving the land to us ,we are looking after the best interests of the Landowners and their people, and any court actions are simply a waste of resources and our time.

FACT THREE :

Ditto above for any tenants on the land. Plus we can cancel any lease at any time , and tenants will not be able to challenge our decisions in court, as the courts are banned from hearing any cases related to Land Use regulations.

FACT FOUR :

In the interests of the good of the country, I have also written into the Land Use Regulations that any future changes to these will NOT need the approval of PM Bai's hand-picked members of Parliament.

This means that the Land Use Decree gives PM Bai (as Minister of Lands) the complete authority and power to make new laws without the approval of Parliament.

FACT FIVE :

iTauikei owners will be paid a “Premium” when leases are first signed. This premium is required to be paid to the government by the tenant up-front before the lease is granted.

 Land Premiums

To show that we are a benevolent government we have thoughtfully paid these to the landowners, BUT note that we are not required to do this. For example if we need the money for something else (like a road to benefit village access to town, this will be diverted to pay for this)

FACT SIX :

In the interests of democracy for the masses, PM Bai and I have cut the Chiefs right out of the process.

Five landowners have to be appointed as Trustees for any landowning group. They are elected by 60% of the landowners but PM Bai and I can refuse any elected landowner if we do not approve (say because they are Methodists or a member of the FLP or SODELPA). If at any time we do not have a liking for any of the trustees, we can also remove them.

Just to be clear all these facts can be accessed here at this study .

This should clear up any misunderstandings by any of the native insurgents. Masha Allah.

Have a fantastic weekend.

Lomlom, namaste bin-binbinaka
Aiyarse