Miss Fiji representative drama deepens as secretariat backs Ailava Samuels

In an interesting twist in the Miss Fiji representative drama, the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant secretariat has stood by the confirmation of Ailava Samuels as Fiji’s official representative to the regional competition.

The confirmation comes amid differing public statements from Government ministers over Cabinet decisions linked to funding support for national pageant events.

The pageant committee said it had received written confirmation from the secretariat formally recognising Ms Samuels as Fiji’s registered representative to the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant.

In a statement, the committee said it had deferred to the Minister for Local Government and Housing, Maciu Nalumisa, who it said instructed the committee to proceed with Ms Samuels as Fiji’s representative.

The committee said comments by Acting Prime Minister and Acting Minister for Local Government Filimoni Vosarogo differed from the position of Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and Mr Nalumisa, who jointly presented the Cabinet paper related to the pageant for approval.

According to the committee, the Cabinet paper confirmed that Government would not interfere in the operational decisions of independent pageant organisations, including the selection and appointment of representatives to regional and international pageants.

It said those decisions were governed by the rules, licensing arrangements and affiliations of the organising bodies.

The committee warned that any attempt to remove Fiji’s registered representative could result in the country being left without representation at the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant.

It added that following Mr Vosarogo’s statement, Mr Nalumisa had further instructed the committee to disregard the comments and continue preparations for the pageant.