Tupou confused about

Land Bank

Timoci Gaunavinaka, Nausori

HOPE leader and president Tupou Drau­nidalo should do her research properly be­fore answering questions on TV and mis­leading people.

On the question about the Land Bank, she stated that all iTaukei who deposit their land with the land bank will have their land locked up for 99 years.

But in fact the land bank can lease land for as short as three months, one year, five years, 15 years and so on. The maximum possible term is 99 years.

The “Survivor” series that was shot in Fiji leased over 10 acres of land via the Land Bank for just three months and paid landowners over $30,000. There are cur­rently those who are leasing for 5 years, 15 years and so forth depending on what pur­pose the lease is for.

The Land Bank is today assisting iTaukei land owners with limited land to buy back their land that have been converted to Freehold during the colonial era.

Unlike TLTB, the Land Bank paid land­owners the current market value for their land which is much higher than the TLTB rates.

To get a Lease Title from TLTB takes about 12 months. Investors with multi-mil­lion dollars to invest cannot wait that long. The clause in the Land Bank lease giving no option for landowners to take the inves­tors to court is done to attract investors and safeguard their interest.

There is more than a hundred cases in Police records over the years where NLTB / TLTB leases were illegally road-blocked by landowners because of various griev­ances. Many investors have lost millions of dollars in such processes. That clause is therefore made to ensure that landowners seek all legal advice before committing to such agreements.

The bulk of landowners who have their land leased under the Land Bank are en­joying the proceeds of their lease today. There are even candidates standing for the NFP and SODELPA in this year’s General Election whose lands or those of their cli­ents are deposited at the Land Bank.

Ms Draunidalo said that she will remove the Land Bank and all the good work they have done to our kawa iTaukei if she wins the election.

What has she done for our kawa iTaukei compared to the Land Bank ?

School letterhead use

Savenaca Vakaliwaliwa, Suva

The excuse given by the Votualevu Public School manager, who said that he was not responsible and that his letter was typed on the school letterhead was the work of the school typist, does not make sense (FS 15/10).

His excuse and reasoning would only be genuine if the typist signed off the letter forging his signature or she used a signa­ture stamp belonging to the manager.

Minus the letterhead, the manager’s com­munity letter was okay, signing on behalf of the FijiFirst Party, which he is associ­ated with.

I guess he must have signed off the letter, got it printed and handed it out to students, without thinking or realising that his let­ter is on the school letterhead.

Politics aside, even if parents and guard­ians whose sons and daughters attend school in the area did not vote for the PM or the FijiFirst Party, they would still flock in by the numbers, not only to see and meet the Prime Minister but to ask questions re­garding the free school fees and other mat­ters that concern them.

So if parents only got notified through this so-called FijiFirst letter on a school letterhead, then I guess it has served its desired purpose, and I believe no parent is complaining.

It is water under the bridge now and I know that this mistake will not happen again in future.

Candidate vetting

Dharmendra Kumar, Suva

I’m shocked as to how the National Fed­eration party vetted their candidates for the 2018 General Election.

A few were disqualified because they had criminal convictions.

Imagine if the Fijian Elections Office did not have stringent vetting policies in place.

On the one hand NFP leader Biman Pras­ad has a dream to become the next Prime minister of Fiji and yet his vetting is not full-proof.

Is this the type of leader Fiji wants?

Election chances

Sukha Singh, Labasa

There are 230 contestants for 51 seats. Every contestant has a 4.5 per cent chance to win,but with one constituency and how well-known you are your chances can in­crease or decrease .

Remember you can be in the same party but you all are contesting against each other. So far, no contestant has bothered to e- mail me for my vote.

I was in the elections once and I can tell you that it is the hardest thing to go and ask for votes.

FLP’s freedom of expression

Rahul Chand, Suva

Funny how Fiji Labour Party’s Aman Ravindra-Singh professes freedom of ex­pression but blocked me from his Face­book account when I pointed out some bitter truth. Truth is always a bitter pill to swallow.

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