Implications of the draft Rotuma Bills
OPPOSITION to the draft Rotuma Bills was not to detract the question of unity but it was a matter of identity, explained the adviser to the Council of Rotuma, Dr John Fatiaki in an interview with Islands Business. The Rotuma Bills, respectively the lands act and the Rotuma Act have been a much heated subject in the country, given the friction between the people of Rotuma – who are not in support of the draft legislation, and the government of the day.
Fatiaki says that the definition of Rotuma reduces rotumans to what they used to own – area wise. Hence, areas to do with the governance of the island was one of the major tipping point for Rotumans. “Now we have been under the government of Fiji but the lands act and the rotuma act have been unique,” said Fatiaki.
“The lands is a legislation that govern the island and define transactions in relation to land, it defines the perimeters of the island. And that has been in place for 45 and 89 years respectively,” he said. Quick Background
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