Rabuka Moves into Official Residence
Four months after Sitiveni Rabuka was sworn in as Prime Minister, he has finally moved to the PM’s official residence.
Until recently, his predecessor, Voreqe Bainimarama was occupying the residence. It is located at 70 Ratu Sukuna Road, Suva.
Prior to this, Mr Rabuka had resided at his private residence at Namadi Heights.
Mr Bainimarama vacated the state-owned residence at Muanikau Road on Friday, March 10.
Traditionally, the official residency would have been vacated soon after a new Prime Minister was sworn-in.
In earlier media reports, Mr Bainimarama was still occupying the residence after the formation of the new coalition Government between Mr Rabuka’s The People’s Alliance, National Federation Party (NFP), and SODELPA.
While announcing the news on his personal Facebook page, Mr Rabuka said: “Tonight, my family will be spending our first night in the Prime Minister’s official residence at 70 Ratu Sukuna Road. “Our Donu home in Namadi Heights has been good to us, but the call of the nation means we have to relocate to the home provided for the Head of Government. “Before settling in for the night, we were honoured to host the Nasinu Circuit Senior Pastor, the Reverend Isireli Kacimaiwai who prayed and blessed the residence. “I’m glad Talatala Kacimaiwai did the honours because he has been with me and the party I lead, The People’s Alliance, through thick and thin.”
The residence used to be the official residence of the Chief Justice until the previous government decided to make it the PM’s residence. “The real official residence of the Prime Minister is actually next door,” Mr Rabuka said.
“It was built during my first time as Prime Minister from 1992 to 1999. We were a small family then, and we spent some happy days there.” Mr Rabuka said the residence had fallen into disrepair and once the financial situation of the economy improved, there would be funds available to give it a facelift.
“But that’s for the future. As for now, 70 Ratu Sukuna Road is home,” he said.