FijiFirst Leader Voreqe Bainimarama has stressed that iTaukei land will not be transferred to state or freehold land.
Bainimarama said this is protected under the 2013 constitution.
He was responding to the comments made by a well known local party representative who was speaking in the US who said that the Great Council of Chiefs and the Senate have been taken away.
SODELPA representative Laisenia Qarase has been campaigning in the US over the past few weeks.
Bainimarama told about 100 people in a campaign meeting in Raiwaqa that although the GCC and the Senate were in place, they did not know when the itaukei land in Momi and Denarau was transferred to freehold land by the former SDL and SVT led governments.
Bainimarama said he could not believe when Qarase admitted that the land in Momi and Denarau has been transferred with the knowledge of the landowners.
Bainimarama said the SDL government should have stopped the deal.
He added after the incident was highlighted, a decree was brought in by his government in 2012 to stop the transfer of the itaukei land to state and then freehold land.
Under the 2013 constitution, the ownership of the all itaukei land shall remain with the customary owners of that land and itaukei land shall not be permanently alienated whether by sale, grant, transfer or exchange, except to the state for public purposes.
It also states that any itaukei land acquired by the State for public purpose after the commencement of the constitution or under any written law shall revert to the customary owners if the land is no longer required by the State.
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