22 Sep 2009

Fiji chiefly meeting house gets name change

12:59 pm on 22 September 2009

The multi-million dollar meeting house built as a home for Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs is now likely to be officially called just Meeting House, Vale ni Bose.

The new venue in Suva is due to be officially opened this Friday, however the GCC itself has been suspended since 2007.

But a former Chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs, Sitiveni Rabuka, says he believes the body will be formed again at some stage:

"It is still in the Fijian Affairs Act, although the members have not been appointed, the council is a living council it is provided for in the Fijian Affairs act and I have no doubt it will come back into being."

After its dissolution, the interim regime brought in new membership criteria for the GCC.

Sitiveni Rabuka, who has previously called for the abolition of the chiefly system, says the Council in the future will solely provide advice to the government on indigenous affairs.