Kumar: Agreement to regulate festivals
THE Festival Regulations Workshop will serve as a key part of governance agreements for the conduct of town and city festivals across Fiji.
“With the transparency issue, we have seen that there is lack of appropriate turnover of committee management, we have seen that the committee members have remained the same over the years and we need to bring about fresh ideas, new people into the community so that there can be some changes,” said Local Government Minister, Premila Kumar.
She said festival regulations would allow more innovations and creativity during a festival event week.
“We currently cannot have festivals because of COVID restrictions but now that the vaccines are coming out, there might be some consideration towards that but moving forward, all the festivals will be based on the new regulations.
“Once the committee members understand what these regulations are all about, they will be able to conform to its requirements more quickly.”
Tavua and Rakiraki town councils special administrator, Luke Mataiciwa said the regulation would be beneficial as it would regulate the organisation of any festival.
“The new regulation will lead to consistency in the organising of festivals, transparency and accountability which is required for all,” he said.
The workshop was attended by various festival committee members, members of municipal councils and special administrators from across Fiji.