Ministry of Waterways
Tukai Lagonilakeba, Nadi
As is the norm for Dan Urai he immediately wrote a sarcastic one paragraph letter soon after Dr.Mahendra Reddy won his court case late February this year and was appointed the Minister for Waterways.
Urai wrote; From Minister for Education to now Waterways, what is next? This new government ministry is visionary and will contribute positively to our country’s economy, health, safety and security for all Fijians.
It protects agriculture and food security and the livelihoods of its nationals. It complements businesses, whether tourism, commercial or an industrial development.
It is smart and conforms to international best practices and it complies with our country’s UN COP23 presidency by our PM Voreqe Bainimarama in Bonn, Germany. No past government, including Urai’s former FLP government, ever dared implement such a very crucial ministry to safeguard what we are now paying the price for.
They all badly lacked the political will to positively make the necessary changes or simply put they were not futuristic neither smart nor visionary, but were so engrossed in dirty politics of the past with absolutely the wrong national priorities.
Dr Reddy is an academic, highly qualified and comes from a very humble ordinary and hardworking sugarcane farming Fijian family from Nawaicoba, Yako, where he was born and bred before his departure to study locally and offshore. He is an agricultural economist by profession and a reformist.
I believe Waterways cannot be given to a better qualified individual as Dr Reddy. His PHD speaks volumes of the passion of this very likeable Fijian individual which perhaps Dan - with his single Diploma in Electrical Trade from the old Derrick Institute in Samabula - has much to learn from.
The Minister for Waterways represents the livelihood of the 800,000+ Fijians with the economic stability of this country as opposed to Urai’s representation of a meagre 10,000 union members through FTUC.
Early this week he again wrote to ask Government if there is enough budget in the Waterways Ministry to necessarily equip it to deal with flash flooding throughout the country post TC Josie and Cyclone Keni.
It is great to note that Dan has now come to his senses to acknowledge endorsement and appreciation for the very important role the Ministry of Waterways play in the ongoing development of our country.
It is still a new government department Dan, but I am sure the Minister for Economy and our determined government will give it special consideration and allocate Dr Reddy’s Waterways Ministry a whopping $250+ million in our nation’s 2018-2019 National Budget to professionally attain and employ the necessary international expertise to immediately deal with this big national undertaking throughout Viti Levu and Vanua Levu in the main rural and urban centres, including all informal and farming settlements.
Perhaps Government would like to take advantage and apply for the billions of dollars available through the Climate Change Secretariat of the COP23 Presidency Office in Bonn, Germany.
The whole country’s waterways desperately require Government’s urgent attention and something very drastic needs to be done straight away.
Our country’s waterways is a national security issue to be very precise.