The interim membership of Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs pose for a photo after the reinstatement of the premier indigenous institution on Bau Island. 24 May 2023 Photo: RNZ Pacific / Kelvin Anthony
Representatives of the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) will gather for their first meeting this year in Pacific Harbour over the next two days and a new chairperson is expected to be appointed.
Ahead of the meeting, Pacific traditional leaders from Samoa, Tonga, Hawai'i and New Zealand, are in the country meeting on Bau Island at the invitation of high chief the Kubuna confederacy Ratu Epenisa Cakobau.
Last week, iTaukei Affairs Minister Ifereimi Vasu said there will be three representatives each from the 14 provinces as well as from Rotuma.
Vasu is expected to release more details on the agenda on Tuesday afternoon at a news conference.
The GCC is regarded as the apex of traditional Fijian leadership. It has also been accused of being a racist institution promoting indigenous supremacy in the past.
It was discarded by the former prime minister Frank Bainimarama following his 2006 military coup.
In November last year, Parliament had passed a law to reinstate the GCC - when 28 MPs voted for the iTaukei Affairs (Amendment) Bill 2023, 22 voted against it, 3 did not vote and 1 abstained.
This month, the Cabinet approved the iTaukei Affairs (GCC) Regulations 2024 two weeks ago to "ensure that the objectives of Bose Levu Vakaturaga (GCC) are met".
"The people's call for an independent, apolitical and inclusive institution that is relevant to the needs and aspirations of iTaukei society have been fully heeded by this coalition government. This now brings Fiji in step with the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples 2007," the GCC review team leader Ratu Jone Baledrokadroka told RNZ Pacific at the time.
The council will be independent and politically neutral and its main role is to look after the good governance and wellbeing of the iTaukei people, according to Indigenous Affiars Ministry permanent secretary Pita Tagicakirewa.
The ministry has confirmed that bills the government wants to take before Parliament will be discussed by the GCC first before being referred to Cabinet and eventually Parliament.