14 PROVINCES, ONE PEOPLE: REJECT THE POLITICS OF DIVISION

I strongly endorse the message expressed recently by Dovi Mataitini on Facebook. Provincialism must be challenged before it deepens resentment, divides our people, and distracts us from the real work of improving lives across all 14 provinces of Fiji.

As someone from Cakaudrove and Tovata, I reject any suggestion that provincial origin should become grounds for suspicion, jealousy, or discrimination. Equally, I would reject such treatment of anyone from any province or confederacy. No community should carry collective blame for the actions of individual leaders, and no person should be judged or excluded because of where they were born. We can be proud of where we come from without diminishing others.

Our provincial identities reflect our history, culture, chiefly relationships, and responsibilities to one another. They should be a source of belonging, service, and cooperation. When pride turns into claims of superiority, or resentment toward another province, we weaken the very bonds that hold us together as a nation.

Leadership should be judged by integrity, competence, fairness, and results. Being from Cakaudrove, Lau, Ba, Nadroga, or any other province neither guarantees good leadership nor makes someone unworthy of office. Every leader deserves fair scrutiny. Kinship must never excuse failure, and provincial origin must never replace evidence as the basis for judgement.

At the same time, we must distinguish between divisive provincial rhetoric and legitimate concerns about exclusion. Citizens have every right to question appointments, demand transparent processes, and challenge unequal access to resources or opportunities. Such concerns deserve honest answers and practical solutions. Ignoring them only allows frustration and resentment to grow.

The answer is not provincial rivalry. The answer is fairness, inclusion, and development that reaches every province and every community.

All 14 provinces must have a voice in Fiji’s future. Within those provinces, women, young people, remote villages, and communities that are too often overlooked must also be heard. Development must be measured not by announcements, but by funded programmes, completed projects, and tangible improvements in people’s lives.

Our energy should be focused on securing better roads, reliable transport, clean water, quality education, accessible healthcare, digital connectivity, and sustainable livelihoods. We must also ensure that our land, marine resources, and economic opportunities create lasting benefits for future generations. Provincial division only makes these challenges harder to address. It creates opportunities for political actors to turn communities against one another for short-term advantage. We should reject every attempt to mobilise support through fear, grievance, or the claim that another province is somehow the enemy.

Those of us from Cakaudrove and Tovata have a particular responsibility to champion fairness, recognise leadership and achievement wherever it is found, support opportunities for others, and hold our own leaders accountable to the same standards we expect of everyone else. Our strength has always come from what we can collectively achieve together.

Let us value every province, respect every community, and ensure that development reaches them all. Let us hold leaders accountable for their decisions and results. Let us reject collective blame and embrace our shared future as one people.

Fourteen provinces. One people. Shared dignity. Shared responsibility. Shared progress.