GCC part of Fiji's coup problem, priest tells FTRC
Fr Sigarara recalled how villagers in the North told him they seized a police station on their chief’s orders.
Thursday 29 October 2026 | 08:00
From left: Fiji Truth and Reconciliation Commission (FTRC) chairperson, Commissioner Joaquim Da Fonseca, Catholic priest Fr Ioane Sigarara, Minister for Women, Children, Social Protection and Cohesion Sashi Kiran, FTRC Commissioners Rajendra Dass and Jiutasa Vosikata.
Photo: Kaneta Naimatau
Catholic priest Father Ioane Sigarara told the FTRC that the Great Council of Chiefs “has been part of the problem” in Fiji’s coups, and that church leaders’ silence was “deafening”.
The Caritas Fiji president and former soldier spoke at the hearing at De Vos on the Park in Suva yesterday.
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Chiefs
“They’ve led our people down a very dark road, and we’re still trying to claw our way out of it,” he said.
Fr Sigarara said villagers in the North told him they seized a police station on their chief’s orders.
“Our chiefs and our leaders have a lot to answer for,” he said.
He said chiefs still had a place in the nation’s future, but should do “serious soulsearching”.
Churches
He said church leaders took long to find courage in 1987 and 2000.
“The silence was deafening at first,” he said, adding that early statements were “really watered down”.
Fr Sigarara said he opposed the 1987 coup “then and to this very day”, even though most Fijians, including religious people, backed it.
Healing
He said unresolved trauma passed down generations may help explain drug addiction and the HIV crisis.
“A lot of it is tied to trauma,” he said.
He said he loved iTaukei people and had faith in them. The Great Council of Chiefs was abolished in 2012 and restored in 2023.
