A dialogue Forum on the state of the sugar industry has now been cancelled by Police.
Organized by Dialogue Fiji, the multi-stakeholder event was to have taken place from tomorrow until Saturday at the Pearl South Pacific Resort in Pacific Harbour.
This was the third forum organized by Dialogue Fiji which included National Federation Party leader Dr Biman Prasad, SODELPA Leader Sitiveni Rabuka and Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry.
The organizers were notified of the cancellation of the meeting this afternoon.
“We just received advice from Police around 1pm today that we could not proceed with convening this dialogue because we required a permit so that came as a surprise to us because we’ve been convening dialogues of this nature for some years now and never before in the past have we been required to acquire a permit so consequently we’ve had to postpone the event and we’ve advised our delegates we’ll be now lodging an application for a permit and we’re hopeful we will get the required approval to proceed with the dialogue” said Nilesh Lal – Executive Director Dialogue Fiji
Several panelists who are well versed with the sugar industry were invited to share their views, this also included the Permanent Secretary for Sugar Yogesh Karan.
The multi-stakeholder event was focused on the challenges faced in the sector and share experiences on how to move the industry forward.
“We’re very disappointed however we respect the statutory requirements and we’ll abide by it of course we would have appreciated if we had got an earlier notice but we’ll put in our application. Given the fact we’re very transparent about our agenda, dialogue Fiji has been over the years creating this space for engagement between diverse stakeholders in the Fijian society because we believe that when people are able to talk to each other , they’re able to collectively deliberate on issues then they’re able to come up with sustainable issues” said Lal
Meanwhile, the National Federation Party has raised concern on the cancellation of the meeting.
Party Leader Dr Biman Prasad said the forum was an opportunity to discuss important issues relating to the sugar industry.
“It is quite sad and disappointing that you have a government which wants to celebrate the constitution day and on the same day, the police tells this particular NGO Pacific Dialogue which was going to organize a private meeting, a meeting through proper invitation to invite and get together stakeholders in the sugar industry to talk about the future of the industry”
“The police have no basis even under the Public Order Amendment Decree which is a draconian decree , they do not have any right to declare a private meeting through an invitation by an NGO to discuss an important issue facing the country. I think the Prime Minister, the Attorney General and the Police Commissioner must come out and explain why this meeting has been cancelled”
The Fiji Police Force has this afternoon only confirmed they did inform the organizers of Dialogue Fiji Forum that there would be a need for them to have a permit before they would be permitted to hold their event.
Dialogue Fiji said they have not been required to get a permit for the other public forums they’ve held recently.
Pending approval via a permit, organizers are hopeful to hold the forum soon.