Why A Businessman Gave Up His NZ Citizenship to Return to Fiji
Praveen Kumar said last night that he was so impressed with the FijiFirst Government that he gave up his New Zealand citizenship.
Mr Kumar, 51, a businessman from Yako, Nadi, said he was touched by the work done by FijiFirst.
“I left Fiji 30 years ago, but I am a still die-hard son of Nadi,” he said.
“Personally, I was a citizen of two countries, New Zealand and Australia, and just because of FijiFirst, I dropped my New Zealand citizenship and became a Fijian citizen again.”
He was speaking at a meeting attended by FijiFirst general secretary Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum at Votualevu College in Nadi last night.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum told more than 350 people that what FijiFirst was doing for the people of Fiji were Godly acts.
He said this was after a young man from SODELPA asked him, “all of this what you are saying is good except, but where is God”?
“Before the last elections, people like Qarase and them, put up a video on Youtube saying that if you vote for this Constitution, if you vote for Bainimarama, you won’t be able to pray to Jesus Christ,” he said.
“Has anybody stopped going to Jesus Christ, has anybody stopped anybody from going to church? No.
“I said to this young man, ‘God is here and in fact the things that we are doing by helping the poor people, the disabled people, that’s actually a Godly act, that’s what God tells us to do.”
Meanwhile, Church pastor Conan Hatch acknowledged the FijiFirst party for bringing in the Tertiary Education Loan Scheme (TELS), which allowed him to not worry about forking out money for his son’s education.
“Previously, we would have had to pay for his education, but he is almost completing his degree. He has got one or two more units left. He managed to complete most of it through the TELS programme,” he said.
“I just want to thank FijiFirst, you guys are doing a splendid job.
“My mother-in-law is iTaukei, but she used to be paid $3.50 when she got her lease payment. Under this new government she gets much more.
“Thank you for all that you’ve done to bring our country forward to this point of time. It’s equal distribution now, so thank you very much.”
Edited by Epineri Vula
Feedback: nicolette.chambers@fijisun.com.fj
