Government achievements

Timoci Gaunavinaka, Nausori

Front page photos of children swimming to reach school and attend classes in tents are the realities we have been facing for decades before independence in 1970.

Governments led by the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, the late Dr  Timoci Bavadra, Sitiveni Rabuka,  Mahendra Chaudhary, Laisenia  Qarase and the current one of Voreqe Bainimarama faced the same challenges.

Fiji’s population distribution is spread out to the rural areas because of our land ownership system, tradition and culture.

This makes it a real challenge for all governments to build roads, bridges and provide access to clean water and electricity to all our scattered population.

That was the reason the colonial government invented and established the matanitu, yasana and tikina that were never part of the original iTaukei traditional structures.

They were invented solely to simplify governance.

The villages of Navai and Nasoqo in the upper reaches of the Wainimala are now under the Naitasiri administration when they were originally under Ra.

There are dozens of similar examples.

No government has achieved total development and no government ever will.

Even if a government set a 20-year plan to provide road access to all settlements around Fiji and give them clean drinking water and access to electricity, by the time they achieved what they set out to do, there are hundreds more of new scattered settlements and villages that have sprung up each with their new set of demands.

The real challenge then is not for Government, but for each of us citizens to understand and fully comprehend the various limitations we have as a developing nation and what we have achieved.

We cannot live in dream land forever.

Our national income comes from tourism, sugar, textile, agricultural exports, timber, fishery and a few lesser sources.

Our tiny and rugged land mass makes it impossible for us to produce tens of millions of tons of sugar like Queensland.

We do not have a mine that gives us millions of tons of ores like Australia. So we have to live within our means.

But this does not mean that we cannot do anything. The Bainimarama government has done so much in the last four years than any previous Government has ever done.

The people whose lives they have changed value this. In the next four years another set of developments will be done and many of those swimming or crossing rivers today will be taken care of by then.

But when that time comes, there will be another new set of challenges with their own set of demands and keeps rotating.

We cannot do everything all at once overnight but you’ve got to be blind or senile to think that nothing has been done.

MP’s resignation

John Brown, Lautoka

According to media reports FijiFirst Member of Parliament  Balmindar Singh has been asked to resign from Parliament because he has pending charges against him ranging from alleged assault to drunk driving.

Before the last general election one FijiFirst Member of Parliament   was charged for causing death by dangerous driving.

That MP became minister for transport and the court of law acquitted him.

I am no fan of the Honourable  Balmindar Singh but I am sure everyone is innocent until proven guilty by the court of law.

What happens if charges against Honourable Singh are dismissed? Will he be accepted back as a Member of Parliament?

MP’s resignation

Amenatave Yaconisau, Delainavesi

The fate of FijiFirst Member of Parliament Balmindar Singh is a necessary part of the political process, being asked to resign (Fiji Sun 24/1).

This reflects the values held by the party.

They are the servants of the people.

It certainly doesn’t augur well for attempts by the Prime Minister and the FijiFirst party to return to office.

The worrying thing is that he is ignoring the demands of his political superiors.

Feedback:  jyotip@fijisun.com.fj