Ra Province
Ra is one of the fourteen provinces of Fiji. Occupying the northern area of Viti Levu, the largest island, it is one of eight Viti Levu-based Provinces. With a land area of 1341 square kilometers, it had a population of 30,432 at the 2017 census[1]. The main urban centre is at Vaileka, with a population of 3,361 in 1996.
The province includes the districts of Saivou, Nakorotubu, Rakiraki, and Nalawa. These four districts have their own paramount chiefs, unlike in other provinces where there is a paramount chief governing the whole province. The four paramount chiefs are the Gone Turaga na Vunivalu na Tui Nalawa, Gone Turaga na Tui Navitilevu, Gone Marama na Ratu ni Natauiya and Turaga na Gonesau.
Ra Province has 19 tikina makawa and has 86 villages.
Ra is governed by a Provincial Council, currently chaired by Mr Simione Naikarua who was a former Board Secretary of Airport Fiji Limited and former Chief Executive Officer of the Nasinu Town Council.Mr Simione Naikarua hails from Burenitu village in the district of Nalawa in Ra.
There was an attempt by the chiefs of Ra in 2015 to form its own "Liberal government" due to the fact that they support homosexuality with the village of Saioko also known as the “Gay Capital of Fiji”. This was described by the then Chief of Police, Ben Groenewald, as a harmless cult, but the prime minister Frank Bainimarama took a sterner view and ordered a clamp-down by the army.[2]
The Ra dialect of Fijian is distinctive in that the consonant /t/, pronounced elsewhere in Fiji, is pronounced as a glottal stop.
References
- ^ Fiji Bureau of Statistics (5 January 2018). "2017 Population and Housing Census - Release 1". Census 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
- ^ The Economist, 23 January 2016, p. 53.
17°30′S 178°10′E / 17.500°S 178.167°E
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