Not a single girmitiya nor their descendants have taken a single millimetre of land in Fiji - AG

Not a single girmitiya nor their descendants have taken a single millimetre of land in Fiji.

This was stressed in parliament today by Minister for Economy and Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum after some SODELPA parliamentarians said that the Land Use Act and Land Bank is unfair to the iTaukei.

These comments were made when parliament debated the Report of the Public Accounts Committee on Performance Audits for the year ended 31st December 2014 (Volume 2).

Sayed-Khaiyum says the Opposition should not come to parliament trying to depict the Land Use Act in a demonic way or that the government is undermining people’s rights.

He says today 92 percent of the land is owned by the iTaukei and is protected under the 2013 Constitution.

Sayed-Khaiyum says parliamentarians should have a level of intellectual honesty because they not only have to present history but the current affairs in the right light.

He also talked about a meeting he had with the Opposition Leader Sitiveni Rabuka when Rabuka was Prime Minister.

Sayed-Khaiyum says he was doing his thesis and the meeting was arranged by his father who was a member of parliament at the time. 

Opposition Leader Sitiveni Rabuka says the iTaukei are not landowners but are trustees of the land.

SODELPA President and parliamentarian, Ro Filipe Tuisawau then claimed a lot of the constitutional and legal framework in this country is imposed.

SODELPA President and parliamentarian, Ro Filipe Tuisawau [Photo:Parliament of the Republic of Fiji]

ADVERTISEMENT