Mother files lawsuit
SOMETHING is fundamentally wrong in a country when a mother can’t get her son’s body from the State authorities after the son died suddenly in prison purportedly during a walk. She now has to resort to a lawsuit to retrieve her son’s body to give him a burial with dignity (‘Navalny’s mother files lawsuit’ FT 23/2).
The withholding of the body only raises suspicion of foul play in the death of the Opposition leader Alexei Navalny who was President Putin’s most vocal critics.
I believe all pro-democracy and freedom loving people of Russia smell a rat in this case.
RAJEND NAIDU
Sydney, Australia
Martintar's abnormalities
ALONG the Queen's Rd in Martintar, Nadi after our eight nightclubs close at 1am, a regular audio disturbance, rather abnormal yelling, shouting and screaming is definitely indicative this is not caused by over indulgence of alcohol.
Could this be a side effect of some drugs taken or intravenously adsorbed into the human body? Some specialist might like to throw light on this abnormal behaviour.
This is not human.
It is sad, shameful and disgusting, hearing from a distance, our very own human beings behave degradingly. Sa dua na madua levu.
I plead with the Fiji Police Force and Line Minister responsible to immediately strengthen Namaka Police with all the manpower and professionals needed to do their work efficiently.
As law abiding citizens, thousands of Martintar residents need nothing less. Police K9 unit is a necessary pre-requisite, in my view to curb this dangerous drug culture.
RONNIE CHANG
Martintar, Nadi
Development project
CHANNELLING development requests and project proposals through the proper and appropriate administrative channels, will only augur well for the successful achievement of the vision and missions of our national development plans.
The proposed new national development plan is no exception.
Experiences in the recent past show that development project proposals, are often not scrutinized and vetted by the appropriate line bodies, set up for that very purpose.
For instance, projects initiated at the village/settlement level, don't often get vetted by the district and divisional/provincial authorities, as they should be, before they are discussed and processed at the national / ministerial, or even at the prime minister's level. Planning is all about the strategic programming of thoroughly processed projects for funding and implementation.
When these well laid-out government procedures, are bypassed or overlooked, things often go awry; projects jump the queue; budgeting is affected; and completion timelines for the programed projects, are missed. The system can only be effective and useful, if the proper processes are always and diligently followed by those in authority. Sometimes, shortcuts are made maybe for political expediency, or just to fulfill a request made following a site visit.
If the requested project is not already in the system for processing, it has to come in at the ground level and join the queue and be vetted accordingly up the line, until its implementation. I really hope that in the proposed new development plan, this crucial vetting process, remains the foundation of the funding and implementation of requested development projects.
EDWARD BLAKELOCK Admiral Circle, Pacific Harbour
No deductions for cane farmers
THE Minister for Sugar announced that Fiji Sugar Corporation will not make any deductions before Diwali to assist cane farmers celebrate the festival.
Whoever is writing speeches for the minister will soon make him look like the proverbial King without clothes for he does not understand a bit about what he is being advised about.
Does the minister know that not all cane farmers are poor, that not all cane farmers celebrate Diwali and that the cost of a traditional Diwali prayer is less than $200 which almost all farmers save for anyway?
The buying of fire crackers, new clothes, new pots and pans, new jewellery and big parties are commercial dimensions and have no significance to the festival.
A deduction deferred is still a debt payable in future so the announcement really has a political angle and not a genuine effort to help farmers.
If the Government is so concerned about helping farmers, take a positive approach and reduce costs or increase subsidies for transport and fertilizers.
The farmers are much wiser now and don't buy-in cheap gambles.
AJAI KUMAR
Nadi
Body of knowledge
AS a resident of Votualevu, Nadi for the past 20 plus years, I'm shocked to learn about the high number of students who still cannot find a school to continue with their secondary school education.
For example let's look at the greater Votualevu community which has fast developed into a thriving business community which resulted in internal migration of fellow Fijians from other urban and rural areas.
In Votualevu alone, it has only two secondary schools namely Votualevu College and Maharishi Secondary School.
These two schools cannot cater the current population of secondary school students within Votualevu and its nearby areas.
The only solution I can see is build more classrooms from Year 9 to Year 13 and Government to assign more teachers to teach in these additional classes or issue a quota on the number of students according to their ethnicity.
We are depriving our younger Fijians from increasing their body of knowledge!
JIOJI M CAKACAKA Carreras, Votualevu, Nadi
The wait continues!
LIKE thousands of other voters, I'm eagerly awaiting the result of the pending independent audit into the infamous 2022 elections glitch which is hanging like a 'black cloud' over the Fijian Elections Office since 2022.
The former supervisor of elections, Mohammed Saneem, has since resigned and the acting Supervisor of Elections, Ana Mataiciwa, has work to do.
There should be an urgent inquiry into the infamous glitch as soon as possible.
I believe the glitch had the potential to change the outcome of the 2022 General Elections, hence the need for an independent forensic audit to establish what transpired.
The continuous debate about the glitch has to some extent eroded public and stakeholder trust in the FEO, and the earlier the outcome is presented in public, the better it will be in terms of credibility and authenticity for the FEO.
To FEO and the powers concerned, please let's speed up the glitch issue.
I hope there will be no more glitch in future. The 2022 glitch was scary!
RAJNESH ISHWAR LINGAM Nadawa, Nasinu