Rabuka woes

Amenatave Yaconisau, Delainavesi

I seem to agree with your Fiji Sun-Razor poll (Fiji Sun 02/06) that supporters want SODELPA leader Sitiveni Rabuka to re­sign pending results of his Court case.

I know that SODELPA has branches but who are they to tell him to relinquish his position?

Very unrepresentative! People just can’t break with the past and the men seem to be intertwined with modern politics.

Representatives represent individuals with their thoughts in a competitive party system especially a party of nationalists.

Municipality issue

Suresh Chand, Nadi

I think many pedestrians continue to lose their lives largely because of no foot­paths on our roads.

We all know that footpaths or sidewalks reduce crash risk by separating vehicles and pedestrians.

Pedestrians are often forced onto the road because of the inadequate footpath space, parked cars and poor footpath sur­faces.

Parking on the footpath is illegal and must be stopped at all costs.

A footpath next to the road helps in pre­venting and minimising pedestrian crash­es and loss of lives too.

I know in the rural areas footpaths are often not provided, but in the urban areas, raised footpaths are often part of the road cross-section.

The benefits of footpaths are:

• Increased safety for pedestrians.
• Improves accessibility for pedestri­ans.
• May help to increase walking as a mode of transport (environmental benefits and reduced traffic conges­tion).
• Walking can improve health and fit­ness.

I would like to quote the Mayor of City of New York, Michael R. Bloomberg:

“New York City has been at the forefront of efforts to fight obesity and ensure that our residents have the tools and resources they need to lead healthy lives. One of the best ways to maintain a healthy weight is through regular exercise, and the results of this sidewalk study will help commu­nities design an urban environment that encourages more people to stay active,”. Unquote. Before I conclude, I would like to urge the Nadi Town Council to work on footpaths which have been missing for a long time in the town boundary.

I don’t think a single street in the Nadi town boundary is complete with a foot­path and this is sad.

I don’t think you can leave the municipal boundary in its present state forever.

Please think about diverting funds re­ceived from rates every year towards up­grading the much-needed infrastructure.

Grog residue

Sukha Singh, Labasa

I would like to know why a grog dealer is buying grog residue for $25 a kg.

So please be careful when buying pound­ed grog.

Right to information

Rajesh Lal, Lautoka

I believe it’s time for the Fijian Compe­tition and Consumer Commission to pub­lish the names of those traders who are cheating consumers so that innocent peo­ple will not be deceived. It’s long overdue that such traders should be heavily fined or suspension of business licence to serve as a lesson to other traders.

This nation deserves the right to infor­mation.

The onus is now on the Fijian Competi­tion and Consumer Commission unless there is any blockage from any minister. Transparency is at stake.

Cobwebs in our minds

Arvind Mani, Nadi

When we lived in the US, we had an office cleaning business on the side to supple­ment our income.

There was one office that was infested with spiders.

You could clean the office and remove the cobwebs and the next morning, it would seem like the cobwebs were never removed.

We would clean the office on Sunday night and the office manager, a grumpy old lady, would call the next morning to complain about the cobwebs.

She just was a very unhappy woman. It seems all she did was to think what to complain about.

She reminds me of the Opposition par­ties who, undoubtedly, are bitter that the Bainimarama Government is doing many things right and is winning accolades from Fijians for all they continue to do.

The Opposition has embarked on a hys­terical mission to come up with frivolous and laughable accusations among their dwindling supporters.

However, their inability to sustain their allegations has put them in an awkward and lame position.

Will they ever deviate from these old and tired bouts of bitterness and try putting forward a progressive programme for a better way of governing this country?

They remind me of the young couple who had moved into a new neighbourhood.

The next morning while they were eat­ing breakfast, the young woman saw her neighbour hanging the washing outside.

“That laundry is not very clean; she doesn’t know how to wash correctly. May­be she needs better laundry soap.” Her husband looked on, remaining silent.

Every time her neighbour hung her washing out to dry, the young woman made the same comments.

A month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband, “Look, she’s finally learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this.”

The husband replied, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”

And so it is with life… and politics. What we see when watching others depends on the clarity of the window through which we look.

And the Opposition, like the Office Man­ager, cannot see beyond the cobwebs in their minds.

Feedback: jyotip@fijisun.com.fj