Over six thousand chiefly customary positions remain unfilled, according to Permanent Secretary for iTaukei Affairs Pita Tagicakirewa.
Currently, about 47 percent of these positions have been filled over the past several years, leaving more than half of these roles vacant for a long time.
Tagicakirewa noted that without leadership in the vanua, social issues are likely to rise.
“There are over 6,000 chiefly customary positions that are vacant. The occupancy rate for the past several years has been around 47 percent, which means more than half of the chiefly positions and customary roles have been vacant for a long time,” said Tagicakirewa.
“If leadership is lacking in the vanua, naturally we expect these problems to arise,” he added.
The Ministry is now working to strengthen Vanua Leadership and Vanua governance by deploying officers from the iTaukei Lands and Fisheries Commission to visit various provinces.
“To strengthen vanua leadership and governance, the iTaukei Land and Fisheries Commission is visiting the provinces. They have visited Rewa and recently returned from Cakaudrove, Bua, and Macuata to fill all the vacant chiefly and customary positions,” Tagicakirewa said.
He mentioned that the success rate of these visits has been high, reaching 80 percent.
“Every village will be visited and consulted. It has been this way for several years, but now they are going down to the villages. Currently, they are in Serua doing the same work. Once this is completed, we will train our Vanua leaders on the importance of their roles, something that has been lacking,” he said.
Tagicakirewa added that the Bose Vanua will be strengthened, particularly in addressing the growing issues of drugs and HIV/AIDS.
The Ministry aims to visit five provinces by the end of the year.