Everyday people

On FT it’s great to read articles and letters that depress what’s on the heart of everyday Fiji people.

From the USP tug of war, to bure maca wai in Naivikinikini settlement, to some good news, such as the new sea walls in Tailevu and road repair demands on our Suva roads, much is reported by FT. Thank you sir.

Mr Hazelman calls for “common sense” regardless of academic stature, as does Mr Natano of Pacific Islands Forum chair.

Parents making kids sell roti, or coconuts is appalling too.

What is our government leadership doing about all of these problems?

Surely ministers need to take responsibility to ensure that:

1. Living without water regularly never happens in this country any more, despite Peni Shute of WAF claiming they “will respond when we are ready”? What on Earth does that mean for thirsty kids and unhygienic settlements that exist for years with such water issues? How was this ever approved in the first place?;

2. That any parent caught forcing their child to work the streets under 16 years of age, needs to face the full brunt of our law, and be penalised appropriately. It’s a crime that must be halted to stop all forms of child labour;

3. School must start ASAP;

4. Government needs to urgently make ‘3’ happen, for the future of all our kids’ education in Fiji.

This comes before the university woes. They are big enough to sort themselves out and use their multiple collective brains;

5. I believe the USP council needs to sort out their own governance immediately; and its financial situation with accountable public transparency to all its stakeholders, including students and membership countries.

Also I believe USP needs to think of accountability globally and sustainably, not just regionally — for its own sake — or it’s in danger of becoming a backwater regional university without integrity or reputation. It doesn’t take scholarship to realise their messes are of international concern. Do they want to continue to wash their dirty laundry in public? Too late — they already are; and

6. And as Emosi Bale correctly says, we do not call ourselves “second class citizens” not to any neighbouring countries — who need us as much as we need them.

Otherwise why would they invest so much in us as the hub of their necessary Pacific link in the world?

Fiji needs to stand on her two feet and be all we are created to be.

Stand firm stand strong — “Kia kaha” irrespective of what any neighbours think.

That is what makes us who we are, our own self determining people.

Like any other free nation.

JEAN HELAN HATCH

Suva