We are into the second week of the New Year.

This year 2018 is crucial for us as a nation because we will be having our general elections, which will decide the path that Fiji will take.

From December 2006, we have embarked on a journey of one nation and one people as we worked towards rebuilding a new Fiji.

There were many tough decisions made as the country went away from those colonial legislations and structures, which we had been incubated for many decades. These had led to racial divide, huge reliance on hand-outs, lack of infrastructural developments, low standard of living, high school dropouts, unemployment, deteriorating health services, poor economic growth, and the list goes on. It was more of the rich getting richer while the poor got poorer.               

Many that didn’t share that vision and have lost out have moved overseas. However, they have not made it there either and in their frustrations have continuously or almost on a daily basis criticised and ridiculed every progressive move we make towards a modern State.

They have used social media as the vehicle to air their dirty laundry.

In their acts of desperation, they’ve many times gone overboard with false allegations against those in authority even without providing any real evidence to back their opinion. Although saddened by their situation of hopelessness, we should not rest on our laurels, but to forge ahead in the fight of moving our beloved nation forward.             

Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama also highlighted this during his speech at the Ramleela programme in Sigatoka on Saturday night.

“We will be holding our national elections later this year, and, as we have seen before, we will again be confronted with old forces that seek to divide us and hold us back from our journey into the future,” he said.

“Again, we must reject that backward way of thinking. Again, we must choose progress over prejudice and dirty politics. And again, we must renew our commitment to one another, as Fijians and as men and women dedicated to the betterment of our nation.”

Mr Bainimarama said we must continue our work to make our country a better, safer and more inclusive nation. He reiterated the importance for us to continue the sound financial management and planning that has carried our economy to success.

As citizens of this nation, we have a duty to open doors of opportunity for our young people, through free education, subsidised bus fares for school children, and more funding towards scholarship programmes.

Not only that, we must also continue our work to create a more knowledge-based society, one that reward individuals on the basis of merit, and merit alone. And we must continue to hold our great belief in what our nation can carry out, as we strive to make every year an even better year to be a Fijian.

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