Fiji’s Assistant Foreign Minister Lenora Qereqeretabua has publicly broken ranks with the government, declaring her opposition to a proposed Energy-to-Waste (ETW) facility at Saweni, Vuda and saying she is prepared to risk her job over the issue. Her intervention, made in a blunt social media statement on April 29, raises fresh legal and political questions about the project’s compliance with Fiji’s regional environmental obligations and the transparency of the planning process.
Qereqeretabua, who serves as deputy Speaker and assistant minister for foreign affairs and is a National Federation Party MP, warned the ETW plan could breach the Waigani Convention — a regional treaty aimed at preventing the dumping and movement of hazardous and radioactive waste across the Pacific. She noted Fiji signed the convention in 1995 and ratified it in April 1996, pointing out that those actions legally bound the country well before the convention entered into force in 2001. “The Waigani Convention is clear: Fiji agreed not to become a dumping ground for hazardous waste and to manage its own waste within its borders,” she said.
The assistant minister’s comments underscore concerns that any large-scale waste-processing project must be assessed against Fiji’s long-standing regional commitments rather than treated as optional or outdated. Qereqeretabua also criticised what she described as a lack of transparency around the proposed Saweni facility, asking publicly whether builders for the project had already been identified and calling for clarity on who is driving the proposal.
Her stance has intensified scrutiny of the ETW proposal at a time when waste management is a growing political and environmental challenge across the Pacific. The project, which has been discussed in government circles, would be among the high-profile attempts to convert municipal waste into energy — a concept supporters say can reduce landfill use but which opponents frequently warn can carry pollution and hazardous by-product risks if not properly sited and regulated.
National Federation Party leader and Finance Minister Biman Prasad, responding to Qereqeretabua’s remarks, sought to temper immediate alarm by stressing the government has not given formal approval for the ETW project. In a statement to The Fiji Times, Prasad said the Prime Minister had already made clear no final decision had been taken and that key statutory processes — including a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and land acquisition matters — would be conducted through proper procedures. He added that the government had acknowledged issues raised during consultation and would not ignore stakeholder concerns.
The debate adds a political dimension to the procedural questions. Qereqeretabua said she was acting “at the cost of my job, and with no support from my party,” signalling a rare public divergence from cabinet colleagues on an issue with potential diplomatic as well as environmental ramifications. The incoming statement also referenced that the original Waigani agreement was signed by Sitiveni Rabuka, now prime minister, underlining the continuity of Fiji’s legal obligations across successive administrations.
For now, the government’s insistence that formal approval has not been granted leaves the ETW plan at a critical junction: the outcome of the EIA and transparent disclosure of project partners and technical plans will likely determine whether the proposal proceeds or faces further political and legal resistance. Qereqeretabua’s public challenge makes clear that any move perceived as inconsistent with the Waigani Convention could spark sustained controversy inside Parliament and among Pacific regional environmental advocates.