MPs Have Time To Reflect If They Served All Fijians Well
When Parliament sat for the last time this week, it was not only an emotional session, but also an opportune time of reflection for the 51 Members ofParliament. This was the first time when our parliamentarians were not divided by provincial or ethnic lines. And why not? Since they were all voted on the lines of one constituency. They were not voted in based on their ethnicity. But ethnicity, race, religion still crept in. We had parliamentarians reading out names of Muslim Fijians. Such a shame. We had parliamentarians lying outright in Parliament. We had parliamentarians, who only and only talked about the town they came from, the province they came from and issues affecting “their” people only. When we implemented one constituency, the ideology behind it was to promote oneness, it was to promote unity as Fijians. A noble thought that Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama believed would get our politicians thinking of Fiji and not of their religion, their province or their race. Did it work? Unfortunately those in Opposition did not let it work. Unfortunately, they could not see past their province, they could not see past race and most unfortunately they could not see past religion. This will be remembered when the same politicians from the Opposition go around asking for votes. We will have a second go after elections. Maybe it will be a time for reflection. But, it has to come down to the Fijian people to choose what they want.
A noble thought that Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama believed would get our politicians thinking of Fiji and not of their religion, their province or their race.