No Deadline To Submissions On Village By-laws: Ministry
Katonitabua says a lot of consultations are still to be done
Permanent Secretary for iTaukei Affairs, Naipote Katonitabua, says there is no deadline to submissions on proposed village by-laws.
He said a lot of consultations were still to be done.
He made the remarks when he addressed the Kadavu Provincial Council meeting at Studio 6 in Suva yesterday.
He said they had received submissions from individuals and religious, and women’s groups.
“Right now we are consolidating all the recommendations that have been made. We will await Government decisions on the way forward regarding the village-by-laws,” Mr Katonitabua said.
Challenges faced
Mr Katonitabua said the 14 provincial council meetings had supported the villageby-laws.
The only challenge they faced was from those who lived in urban areas. “Once we collect those, we will make some recommendations to Government,” Mr Katonitabua said.
“There will be a lot of recommendations for consultation. This is still the first round and we need more consultation on the ground,” he said.
He said, “We will await the Government’s decision, since there are a lot of discussions to be done with different ministries and departments.”
Village Profiling
Meanwhile, the Kadavu Provincial Council has endorsed funding for a village profiling exercise. The exercise will collect information that will go into a database that will be used for development purposes. Roko Tui Kadavu, Kiti Raibevu, said financial literacy of families and individuals would be part of the survey.
“We are going to carry out our village profiling exercise in the next financial year that is from August to July next year, 2018,” Mr Raibevu said.
“Our village profiling is also incorporated with our business plan. So the budget for the Kadavu provincial council, village profiling has been budgeted according to the business plan.
“The plan now is, when we go back to Kadavu, we will set a platform to include the different district representatives, village headman, and the provincial council staff.” He said, they would also get some advice from the Government departments and ministries serving in the Kadavu province.
Police report
Police are concerned about the number of people from Kadavu, who are still planting and selling marijuana.
Sea walls
Nabukelevu district representative, Anare Naveiyalayalati, said that the district seriously needed sea walls because of the risisng sea level.
He said they needed the sea wall to protect their villages because they did not have any other place to relocate to.
Kadavu women
Kadavu Women’s Association is in the process of setting up a $1.5 million conference complex project.
This is in its three-year strategic plan.