Letters: To The GCC

Dear GCC,

With relation to indigenous affairs and to the welfare of Fiji as your first nation and with all due respect to you, our first minds and indigenous leaders, I make this request.

Could you consider solutions to the follow­ing grave issues that are plaguing our com­munities, towns and cities and are becoming a high risk to the happiness and peace of your future, our future, and to the future of those to come. And I ask:

1. Why are our prisons filled mostly with in­digenous law breakers?
2. Why are the majority of our street kids indigenous?
3. Why are you resource rich but cash poor?
4. Why do you not entertain changes to your indigenous culture, yet you allow a coup cul­ture to overshadow us?
5. Why is it that I have witnessed children as young as two years old getting physically abused by their parents and relatives and it’s ok? Doesn’t this fuel them into being hardened criminals? What has happened to the power of words as counsel and building blocks?

6. Why is domestic violence on the rise?
7. Why is crime on the increase and why are the crimes being committed becoming in­creasingly violent?
8. Why do we have so many school dropouts?
9. Why do we have such a high incidence of teenage pregnancy?
10. Why do we have so many single mothers?
11. Why do we have low exam pass rates and a lack of basic skills?
12. Why are we still plagued with yaqona and alcohol abuse and the issues that come with it?
13. Why have we almost reached a critical point of no-return with drug abuse and its related problems?
14. Why is respect on the down?
15. Why aren’t you utilising your many acres of barren land, beautiful beaches, cas­cading waterfalls and virgin forests to bring in more tourists and earn foreign exchange?
16. Why is it that you are not interested in helping to pay off our national debt when this is your first nation and you are resource rich?
17. Why can’t you farm your lands and be the leader of exports?
18. Why do trusted church pastors abuse their female church members?
19. Why are you not controlling the over commercialisation of your qoliqoli’s and showing you care about the future genera­tions by devising a plan whereby our ocean resources are sustainable?

You have been gifted with an iTaukei sea­sonal calendar from your ancestors, why do you not use it?

20. Why can’t you look after something as invaluable as rubbish for in so doing you will learn to look after what is valuable to you?
21. Why aren’t you fully aware of funding that is available to you for development?
22. Why don’t you check on the needs of your multi-ethnic brothers and sisters including the occupants of the islands of Kioa and Rabi whom you have allowed to live among you?
23. Why does it feel like you are not the won­derful hosts that you once were? Have you grown tired of entertaining your visitors?

Finally, I wish to request if you could allow your indigenous women the freedom to vote for women so that together we can increase the percentage of women in our parliament so that all women and children (who are our future) can be well represented.

Being of part indigenous descent I wish to say, you have been gifted with discernment and mana.

If you don’t have it, you must pray for it, for it is imperative that you have the spirit of discernment and the wisdom you need to be the leaders that you have been chosen to be!

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