Epeli Ganilau Quotes

To all the families out there without their fathers they must remember that our eternal Father in heaven will be there for us at all times and we should celebrate because of that.

I am making a very personal commitment myself. This is a war I am not accustomed to but it is a global war and we are in a global army, fighting against a global enemy - HIV/AIDS.

For too long, we have allowed fear to dictate our politics and suspicions, to shape how we perceive other communities.

Temples have been desecrated, places of worship are destroyed, all in the prejudice view that one religion is the true one and others are not.

When we leave out people on the grounds of ethnicity we limit our options. As such, we become poorer because we are not making optimum use of our human resources, thereby depriving us of the returns and full benefit of our capabilities.

The danger … is that unscrupulous politicians have continued to preach their racially divided visions for Fiji.

To share responsibility with the people of the province should be, in my view, the proudest bequest of a chief to his people.

If this is neglected, any effort at development will fail, because factions will emerge with their own form of protest that would drive underground anyone seeking help. This will endanger whatever development has taken place.

Government seems unaware that the more race-based measures it tries to put in place the faster that time bomb burns to detonation point.

As a country, we have not started to see how much we can achieve as a nation and we will not have any idea of our strength if we continue to deny ourselves the opportunity to come together as one people. We have not been able to pool the resources and talent of our people and exploit them for our common good. It will continue to evade us if we continue to stress our ethnicity and group differences.

I would like to make the point that we cannot undo the past but we can learn from it, and we cannot predict the future but we can shape and build it.

There are daily acts of violence to the general public and in all levels of government we have witnessed corrupt practices of bribery, extortion, misuse of public funds, abuse of office and all the pervasive singling out of one race. But in reality, to use it as an excuse so that a select few will benefit in wealth and position.

It (2006) will be the year of rebuilding and reclaiming the lost confidence, the lost spirit and the lost soul of our beloved country.

No nation would refuse to fight an invading army because some expert argued it would be cheaper to invest in defenses against future invasions. It is not a matter of prioritising lives now over lives tomorrow.

We must move with speed to mobilise all sectors of society in a stepped-up drive against HIV/AIDS, accelerating the pace to halt the virus before the Pacific's window of opportunity slams shut.