Dear Editor – It is annoying for someone like Makili to condemn land reform experts trying their best to lend us their highly knowledgeable insights during the recent two days land reform summit. In his actual words, Makili asserted, “those experts don’t know anything about customary land.”.
The question is, who is this Makili, anyway?
Just for the record he was not a local environmentalist as always claimed in the media. Though he once worked with environmental NGO in the late 80s, today he was unemployed.
It’s misleading to claim yourself an environmentalist since you are not a qualified environmentalist. May I ask, what year did you get your environmental qualification? Which tertiary institution?
Makili forced his way to become a city councilor once and guess what, he exhausted all he could see as a city councilor.
I can’t believe he got elected for Kukum ward. His own people never elected him in the national and provincial elections simply because they knew who he was.
Recently, he found his way to be Earth Island Institute’s regional director director, advocating for protection of dolphins.
He tactically used dolphin hunting communities to obtain funds from overseas donors. In doing so, he secured funds in the name of those communities such as Fanalei, among others – to stop those dolphins hunting in exchange of promised livelihood projects, which Earth Island Institute will provide through their fundraising drive strategy from donors.
Again, those communities waited for their promised projects worth SBD$50, 000 for each community but Makili was nowhere to be seen the whole of last year. He was reportedly hiding in Titiana, Western Province.
The question is, where is the Earth Island Institute or whatever, now? Where is Makili’s co-director?
After the issue of the dolphin scam projects disappeared, Makili was back in the limelight again – singing another tune to the media. This time round, he was with another new NGO called Indigenous Peoples Biodiversity Network (IPBN).
The strategy trend was Makili survived all his life fiddling among the NGOs as his fundraising tools. Now he will conned his way around indigenous issues such as land and culture as an approach to draw aid donors’ attention. Wow, from environment to dolphin, and now indigenous. What a man!
I warned the people of the country and other international aid donors not to fall for this self-claimed environmentalist.
My advice to you Makili, my people at Fanalei are still waiting for their $50, 000 that your secured from aid donors in their name.
Refer to the land reform summit hosted by some land reform experts around the region including Australia National University (ANU). They deserved to be praised. You owe them an apology. They did a constructive thing for the country.
For you to label them as ‘nothing’ was insulting.
Let alone a secondary school dropped out who never wrote his concerns to the media but always relayed them through journos.
You have no idea what you are talking about. You used indigenous customary as catch words to gain the attention of aid donors. Good try, but not this time, Makili!
It seems that you confused yourself with the purpose of the recent land reform summit.
The recent summit was meant to discuss the pros and cons of the possibility in formulating a land reform program for the country.
Of course, Land issues will remain a challenge for the country until customary lands are protected through registration process.
Land owners will be part of the process later during the consultation stage if a land reform policy is carried out.
Makili, you confused yourself because you had no idea of the purpose of the summit.
Don’t fool yourself by raising issues you don’t even know about. Don’t even raise issues you read in books with no knowledge what they meant.
Jay Zedi
Suva
