Province doesnt want to learn about Constitution

Issue No: 712; 29 April 2001

 
The Ra Provincial Council does not want educational booklets on the 1997 Constitution distributed in Ra.

The media reports that Ra Provincial Council chairman, Peni Waqanicakau as saying that the Council has directed that the Citizens Constitutional Forum not be allowed in the province to distribute the booklets. The media quoted him as saying: "We don't agree with what they are doing and we have already stated out support for the military and the Great Council of Chiefs". He also stated: "What they [CCF] are doing will only escalate violence in the nation and we have had enough".

The booklets, written in local languages, are easy to understand documents on the Constitution.

The attitude of persons like Waqanicakau are illustrations of how some ethnic Fijians want their subjects to remain ignorant and subservient. Analysts believe that such attitude is what will eventually erode the significance of the chiefly system and institutions like the provincial councils.

 

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