Lautoka Market
Harry Prasad, Lautoka
With reference to one Wise’s letter regarding the cleanliness of Lautoka Market, let me correct him.
The Lautoka Market is always clean because if you ever go there at five in the morning, you will see the hardworking cleaners cleaning the outside and bus stand every day.
In my observation, the vendors do throw rubbish everywhere and expect the hard working cleaners to clean up.
Lautoka City has been winning the clean city award for sometime and they are doing a great job in keeping the town clean.
I request Wise to accompany me on an all-expenses paid trip to see other markets around Fiji, to see for himself before saying that Lautoka is the dirtiest market.
By the way Allen Lockington do you even know where the rubbish from Nadi Market is dumped at before commenting? I feel these two gentleman need to get their priorities right to qualify their statement. Don’t generalise.
An absolute mismatch
Pranil Ram, Nadi
Judging the result from this year’s World Rugby Pacific challenge, makes me wonder how our Fijian Warriors Rugby team was totally unmatched and unchallenged right from the start of the tournament till the final.
Even in the final, the Fijian Warriors seemed like they accounted for Samoa A easily and a 36 nil score line is a testimony for this. Is it that we were just too good for these other teams?
Even a Rugby 7s final of recent times has not got a score like this. Even some of the tackles I have been watching over television surely warrants not a few matches but rather few weeks’ suspension.
Surely the credibility of the whole tournament is in question. Probably that’s why Argentina pampers and Canada A pulled out and chose to participate in another tournament.
Are teams just bringing in their make shift squad assembled just few days before the start of the tournament?
My plea to World Rugby and Fiji Rugby Union, please can we see that in future we have quality oppositions to play against.
Expanding the tournament by bringing in more teams will do no good, when we do not have quality oppositions to play against and measure our performance.
Pray for Mere
Pramesh Sharma , Suva
I was appalled to read in the Fiji Sun over the last few days with the graphic details of how a 14-year-old innocent girl was raped and murdered.
It is absolutely sad and shocking.
It concerns any individual that in the absence of a Court process, the Police has provided detailed report to the media of how the poor innocent little girl was murdered and in detail how she was raped.
This is not what a victim’s parent would expect.
It is further concerning that the Fiji Sun has continued to run this story again and again with the graphic details of this heinous crime with total disregard to how the family would be feeling. The whole of Fiji is sympathising with the family of little Mere Ailevu and certainly there are silent prayers being said asking for comfort towards the family.
There is a lot of very angry people who are very concerned about this incident in our beautiful country.
I urge the media to be sensitive to the information they publish in the interest of the sensitivity and the manner the family of innocent little Mere will feel.
I applaud the Commissioner of Police for dedicating maximum resources to identify and bring to justice those that are involved. I request that the Commissioner reviews the information the media cell provides to the media for publication.
A simple information as a girl was raped and murdered, investigations are underway, should suffice.
At least the family will not have to deal with graphic details of how their loved ones were treated through the media.
I pray for little Mere and her family at this very difficult time.
Amalgamated Laws
Timoci Gaunavinaka, Nausori.
With all due respect to Alipate Qetaki’s views and Amenatave Yaconisau’s support on wastage of resources on Government’s intention of amalgamating all Laws and process to be followed, I beg to differ.
In 2004, I was invited to make a presentation to government cabinet chaired by the then prime minister Laisenia Qarase himself and attended by all his ministers in regard to the Fiji Wetlands Working Group proposition for Fiji to rectify the Ramsar Convention.
I was accompanied by the then director of Environment Epeli Nasome and Minister Pio Wong.
In my presentation, I stated that one of the challenges faced by Fiji is the structure of our laws.
There are so many overlaps and to put it in simple terms, it’s a mess.
Today, if we consider mangrove areas for example, they come under the jurisdiction of the Lands Act because they are below the high water mark.
But this same mangroves are the “kanakana” and “qoliqoli” of various mataqali (sub-clan) and yavusa (clan) and is demarcated and controlled by the Native Land and Fisheries Commission under the iTaukei Affairs Act.
If someone wants to catch crabs or fish in this same mangrove area for commercial purpose, then that is covered in the Fisheries Act.
If you want to log the same mangroves to sell them as firewood, then that is covered in the Forests Act.
Since these mangroves have rivers and meanders they are therefore also covered in the Rivers and Stream Act.
If a major development is to be carried out in this same mangrove area, then an Environment Impact Assessment in accordance with the Environment Management Act is to be carried out.
This is just an example and there are dozens more of such overlaps in the laws of Fiji.
This overlaps and intertwining legislations are the main causes of bureaucratic bottlenecks in governance.
A process that should take just a week, end up taking a few months because various ministries have to be consulted since the issue is covered in their legislation.
In reading the final report produced by these various ministries after all the consultations and etc, you will notice that a University of the South Pacific or Fiji National University graduate with one year field experience could have easily wrote that report in a couple of days.
At the end, it is the people of Fiji who suffers.
This eventually slows our development and progress as a nation.
This problem we face is also faced by other countries including developed nations and some of them are worse than ours.
So let us not think that there is a perfect “World Standard” benchmark for synchronising laws out there.
We must produce one that is custom-designed to our needs.
Many of our laws have been reviewed and some still yet to, but what we need is for the whole laws of Fiji to be restructured in such a way that they synchronise with one another with minimum or no overlaps and is workable practically.
If our current Government can achieve that, it will be the greatest legal achievement in our history as a sovereign nation.
FEA subsidy
Nirbhay Singh, Labasa
Fiji Electricity Authority’s clarification is sought where in the bill it states that you ought not to exceed on daily usage of 3.12units and will not qualify even if you are within limit.
Under domestic category, it only states not exceeding 95kWh and nothing more.
How would a consumer know where to draw the line and monitor usage when only a bigger picture reference is give as 95kWh.
This is misleading information as far as your billing tariff category at the back of bill details outline.
Your urgent clarification is sought in this regard.