Align objectives to Government priorities: Katonitabua
“They need to promote and encourage people to be registered, so that they can perform their duties of voting for the next government,” said the Permanent Secretary of iTaukei Affairs Naipote Katonitabua
Permanent Secretary for iTaukei Affairs Naipote Katonitabua reminded the Roko Tui that the objectives of quarterly meetings needed to be realigned to the priorities of Government. “What we have in our strategic plan and what we have in our annual plans need to be implemented accordingly and in addition there are priorities of government for this year and we will always need their support,” Mr Katonitabua said. Mr Katonitabua was speaking at the opening of the three-day RokoTui first quarterly meeting of 2018 attended by the Roko Tui of the 14 provinces of Fiji at the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) boardroom in Nasese, Suva on Wednesday.
He said this included the programme of consultation that they are working on within government and the inter connectivity programme that they have with other ministry departments. Meanwhile, the RokoTui meeting continues today with presentations from various government departments including the Attorney-General’s Office and Provincial Training Unit.
General Elections:
Mr Katonitabua reminded the Roko Tui of the 14 provinces of Fiji to be apolitical when they are carrying out their duties in villages this year.
He said the RokoTui would attend a briefing hosted by the Supervisor of Elections to discus the roles of the provincial councils, village head men and the district representatives.
Mr Katonitabua said that in an earlier consultation with the Supervisor of Elections he said there were some critical duties and tasks that the village headmen and district reps needed to perform during the registration process for this General Elections right through to the polling dates.
“They need to promote and encourage people to be registered, so that they can perform their duties of voting for the next Government, they need to be apolitical when carrying out their duties,” he said. “And they need to ensure that all voters vote by advising the respective communities to come and participate in their respective venues.” Hosting the RokoTui at the Fijian Elections Office (FEO) on the same day for a special presentation, the Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem said the FEO in its initial planning stages had considered that at all times they needed to use the existing machinery of Government to roll out all of its programmes.
He said this would allow the FEO to be efficient and secondly to prevent any duplication of effort. “Earlier this month we have had a meeting with the PS of iTaukei Affairs to organise a meeting like this, for our teams to meet with the RokoTui and also be expanding these meetings,” Mr Saneem said.