‘We need to make this change’
ADI Meretui Ratunabuabua says she is contesting the 2022 General Election under The People’s Alliance (PA) banner because Fiji needs a change from the status quo and she wants to be a part of that change.
She hails from the village of Vunimoli in Nadi and has maternal links to Qereqere in Nadroga.
Adi Meretui is not new to politics as she stood for the Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) in the 2018 General Election. She is an academic with a real passion for all things Pacific. She took up the post of senior lecturer at the School of Arts, Culture and Design at the Fiji Institute of Technology (now Fiji National University), a post she held for more than 16 years.
She also worked at the Department of Heritage and Arts under the Ministry of Education and is a former director of the Fiji Museum. She was the regional director for Pacific Heritage at the University of the South Pacific and the deputy director for Heritage and Arts in the Fijian Government until she retired in 2017. Adi Meretui said one of the main reasons she chose to stand in this year’s General Election was because Fiji needed change.
“Sixteen years is too long under the dictatorship rule of the current Government.
“I believe in the party members and especially our party leader, Mr Rabuka.”
She said she would advocate for the development and promotion of heritage and arts to highlight the importance of local art and music.
“The creative industries is one of the fastest growing industries and with writers, authors, book authors and even with the media - but they’re not given the recognition when there is so much potential for them.
“And also we saw what happened with the Fiji Airways staff when they were laid off during the pandemic with their contracts and they had no forum for them to bring their issues out.
“We need to have the tripartite forum with the unions, employers and employees.”
Adi Meretui is married with five children and currently resides in Nadi.
“My message for my supporters is we need to make this change. If we don’t make it now then when else are we going to do it – so vote 253 for Adi Meretui Ratunabuabua.”