Ponipate Lesavua
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Ponipate Tawase Lesavua is a Fijian politician, who leads the Party of National Unity, which draws most of its support from Ba Province in the West of the country. The former Police officer is an outspoken politician, who has championed what he sees as the interests of western Fiji. He has endorsed calls for a return to the former system of customary justice, in force during the colonial era, under which convicted offenders would be returned to their villages not only for punishment but also for counselling and correction, according to the Fiji Times (17 March 2006).
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[edit] Political career
Lesavua won the Ba East Fijian communal constituency in the House of Representatives in the 1999 general election, as a candidate of the Party of National Unity (PANU), which he subsequently led in Parliament. Some major political realignments followed the failed coup d'état of May 2000, and in the general election of 2001, he was defeated by the United Fiji Party (SDL) candidate, Epeli Seavula. He was subsequently appointed to the Senate, however, by Opposition Leader Mahendra Chaudhry, despite his not being member of Chaudhry's Labour Party, and served from 2001 to 2006.
Lesavua changed his political affiliation twice during 2005. On 7 September 2005, Lesavua announced that he had joined the Labour Party and had applied for the party's nomination for either his old seat, or the Northwest Urban Fijian communal constituency, for the election scheduled for mid-2006. Following the merger of PANU with the Protector of Fiji Party to form the People's National Party, he had quit the latter party on principle, he said, in the wake of its decision to join the Grand Coalition Initiative Group, a coalition of ethnic Fijian parties.
Citing public demand, Lesavua announced on 25 November 2005 that he had decided to relaunch PANU, and would be filing within one week the necessary documents to reregister the defunct party. There was no immediate word on why he had decided not to follow through with his earlier announced decision to stand for the FLP. He confirmed on 11 January 2006 that PANU had been reregistered.
[edit] Recent controversies
Lesavua is a controversial politician who has a reputation for speaking his mind bluntly. On 25 August 2005, he strongly criticized some of his fellow-Senators for making what he said were racist remarks against Indo-Fijians, and said that it was his "gut feeling" that Senator Apisai Tora, who was accused by the Military Commander, Commodore Frank Bainimarama of having been party to an attempt to depose President Ratu Josefa Iloilo in 2000, was not the only Senator involved.
[edit] Clash with Cakobau
On 29 August, he sparked an uproar when he told fellow-Senator Adi Litia Cakobau to "shut her mouth" and refrain for talking about issues pertaining to the sugar industry. He said that the absence of a significant sugar industry in Bau gave Cakobau, a high-ranking Bauan chief, nothing in Bau to be proud of. He also attacked Senator Ratu Josaia Rayawa of Rewa Province, saying that many people in Rewa were living in lean-to houses.
For these comments, Lesavua was rebuked by his own high chief and fellow-Senator Ratu Apisai Naevo, the Paramount Chief of Nadi. Naevo said that Lesavua had hurt the people of the Kubuna and Burebasaga Confederacies, to which Bau and Rewa respectively belong. Naevo said that he fully supported Lesavua's denunciation of the refusal of government assistance to 400 Fijian landowners, but insisted that the attack on Cakobau and Rayawa was uncalled for. Meanwhile, Chairman Josefa Seruilagilagi of the Tailevu Provincial Council said that land in the east should not be compared to land in the west, which is leased to cane farmers. Tailevu land, he said, supported a dairy industry. Lesavua is from the west.
[edit] Attacking child prostitution
On 26 September 2005, Lesavua alleged that many schoolgirls, especially in urban areas, were working as prostitutes. Their clients included businessmen and other public figures, he told the Fiji Village news service. He called for greater police involvement to eradicate the problem, rather than leaving it to school principals to deal with students engaged in prostitution.
[edit] 2006 election
It was announced on 12 March 2006 that Lesavua would contest his old Ba East constituency in the parliamentary election scheduled for 6-13 May. He lost to the United Fiji Party (SDL) candidate, Paulo Ralulu, by a 2-1 margin, however, and said subsequently that his party's alignment with the FLP had cost him support among indigenous Fijians.
In what Lesavua claimed was a breach of promise on the part of FLP leader Mahendra Chaudhry, Lesavua was not reappointed to the Senate following the elections.
