8 Jul 2009

Defying regime, Fiji Methodists remain on track for August conference

1:17 pm on 8 July 2009

The General Secretary of Fiji's Methodist Church, the Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu, says its members are still expecting the annual conference to go ahead at this stage.

The Reverend Waqairatu says a meeting between the President of the church and the interim Prime Minister was confirmed for next week before the Commodore left for Vanuatu.

But he says until then, the message to church members remains the same:

"The annual conference according to the resolution of 2008 that it will still hold its meeting and its festival and that is the resolution that remains intact and we will still be waiting for the result of the dialogue between the President and the interim Prime Minister."

The Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu confirms a police officer informed the Methodist church that it should have a permit for its regular committee meetings.

But he said the church told the officer they had never been required to obtain a permit before.

The government spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Neumi Leweni, has repeated that as far as the interim regime is concerned, the annual conference is postponed indefinitely