If the leadership in the vanua is weak, and if traditional leaders are silent, community attempts to maintain law and order will always come to naught.
These were the remarks made by Fiji’s Acting Commissioner of Police Rusiate Tudravu in his opening address at the the Kadavu Provincial Council meeting last Wednesday.
In his address, ACP Tudravu called on the support of the provincial council to help the Force eradicate the illegal cultivation of marijuana.
He said in places where there was a weak display of traditional leadership, there would be lawlessness.
He told the provincial council that in some villages, this illegal plant was planted along village boundaries, and when police officers visit those villages, the headman would suddenly disappear.
ACP Tudravu said there were only a handful of people involved in the illegal cultivation and trade and it was time village elders and leaders speak up, and not be silent on the issue.
