It’s good to be back.
These were the words of Naitasiri paramount chief, Turaga na Qaranivalu Ratu Inoke Takiveikata at the conclusion of the two-day Great Council of Chiefs meeting at The Lagoon Resort at Pacific Harbour, Deuba, yesterday.
Ratu Inoke was released from prison late last year after he was sentenced by the High Court in Suva in 2011.
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He was found guilty of inciting the November 2000 attempted mutiny at the Queen Elizabeth Barracks in Nabua.
He received a life sentence with a non-parole term of eight years.
Last December, Ratu Inoke received Presidential Pardon from President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere after serving 13 years behind bars.
Speaking to the media for the first time yesterday since his release, Ratu Inoke said it was an emotional moment to be back amidst the reconvening of the first sitting of the GCC since its reinstatement in November 2023, under the auspices of the iTaukei Affairs Act.
“I am so happy and I am grateful to be here and to see the Great Council of Chiefs revived,” Ratu Inoke said.
“In this two-day meeting, I have chosen to be silent and to observe.
It’s been 13 years since I have been imprisoned and I want to know where things have reached and how things have been done in our country,” he said.
When asked on what he thought of the GCC, Ratu Inoke said: “This is the meeting of indigenous people.
This is our institution, this is where we fight for the rights of the iTaukei people.”
He said everything the Bose Levu Vakaturaga, suggested and recommended should be approved and accepted by Government.
“There should be no two ways about it,” he said.
“Thirteen years of being in prison, the GCC was abolished by the previous government.
This is the institution that fights for us, not Parliament. It is the GCC.”
Government is Government
Meanwhile, GCC chair Ratu Viliame Seruvakula when asked if Ratu Inoke’s thoughts were the general consensus of the meeting, he said the GCC could not dictate anything to Government.
“The Government is the Government, it is a Government that was put in place by every citizen of this country and the GCC cannot dictate anything to the Government,” Ratu Viliame said.
“It will have to be a consultation process and we can always raise our concerns to the Government, we all come under the Government.”
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