This is an edited version of Nemani Delaibatiki’s My Say in FBC TV’s 4 the Record programme last night.

 This has been an incredible year. We have achieved so much as a nation in terms of national development and economic progress. But what remains as a blight on us as a people is the unprecedented level of violence and abuse in the home against women and children.

The Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama, has described it as totally unacceptable.

It is a crisis and a national shame. So much so that he has been using public forums to speak out against this scourge on our nation. The victims are the innocent, the weak and the vulnerable.

If you have been regularly watching My Say, you will have noticed that I have repeatedly stressed the importance of the family.

And this is why. The family is a cornerstone or the building block of a nation. It is one of the important cylinders that power our nation. When a family disintegrates because of abuse and violence it weakens the structures that prop up a nation.

The family is the basic organisation of the nation, community and the church. I join our PM is expressing my deep concern about the quality of the lives of our people as husbands and wives and as parents and children.

There is too much of criticism and fault-finding with anger and raised voices. The pressures we feel each day are tremendous. Husbands come home from their employment each day tired and short-tempered. Unfortunately, most of the wives work.

They too face a serious challenge that may be more costly than it is worth. Children are left to seek their own entertainment, and much of it is not good.

We must work at our responsibility as parents as if everything in life counted on it, because in fact everything in life does count on it.

If we fail in our homes, we fail in our lives. No man or woman is truly successful, who has failed in his or her home.

I ask you men, particularly, to pause and take stock of yourselves as husbands, fathers and heads of households.

Pray for guidance, for help, for direction, and then follow the whisperings of the Spirit to guide you in the most serious of all responsibilities, for the consequences of your leadership in your home will be eternal and everlasting.

Then there are elements in our communities who inflict pain and suffering on others with blatant disregard of the sanctity of life and human dignity.

They prey on the young and innocent for instant self-gratification.

The problem requires a concerted effort by faith groups, community leaders, social groups, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders to rid our society of this terrible evil.

Let’s review how we fared this year and let’s learn from our experience. We all agree there is room for improvement in every life.

And we can do it because we are all equal and created in the image of God. We have the potential to rise to the divinity within us because we have his spiritual DNA.

If we live by God’s principles as contained in the holy writs, we must be good people, for we will be generous and kind, thoughtful and tolerant, helpful and outreaching to those in distress.

We can either subdue the divine nature and hide it so that it finds no expression in our lives, or we can bring it to the front and let it shine through all that we do.

I take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year.

Edited by Manasa Kalouniviti

Feedback: nemani.delaibatiki@fijisun.com.fj