THE Parliament Bus program has been commended by the senior citizens on the island of Rotuma because it is the first time for most of them to learn different roles of the Standing Committees, the Members of Parliament and how laws are made.
A statement issued by the Parliament Civic Education and Media Unit said the program had been made possible through the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pacific Office in Fiji, under its Fiji Parliament Support Project II, funded by the governments of Australia and New Zealand.
Valesi Fagamanuo, 76, of Noa’tau Village in Rotuma said the visit by the outreach team to the island last week was not only beneficial to the school students but also to the senior citizens because they still voted, like any other Fijian voter.
“I am old and this is the first time for me to even know about the operations of Parliament. We never knew anything about Parliament. Before, all we did was vote and that’s it, but now we know about the importance of Parliament,” Ms Fagamanuo said.
Another villager Luisa Semesi, 72, of Pepjei Village said the program was timely because FIji was now preparing for the 2018 General Elections.
