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SPORTS OPINION

EXCLUSIVE 117-year-old register of indigenous Fijians enters electronic age

VKB
VKB

goes
goes

digital
digital

by Mereseini Marau-Totoka These officers would work closely with the access by the officers at the ministry,
VKB team at the ministry’s headquarters including easy access by the indigenous
in Nasova located in Fiji’s capital Suva. community from their respective pro-
AFTER more than 100 years of physically Instead of coming all the way to the VKB vincial offices and possibly, putting the
recording and maintaining a book register office in Nasova, anyone who wishes to register online so it could be accessed by
of men and women who were fathered access their Vola ni Kawa (genealogy) can indigenous Fijians from anywhere in the
by an indigenous Fijian and born in Fiji go to their respective provincial council to world.
or elsewhere, thanks to the revolutionary check their records. They can obtain print The move towards digitalisation was
work of the ministry of indigenous affairs, outs too. Katonitabua said the same could also important to protect the indigenous
this registry is now available electronically. be done if one wishes to register a new Fijian register.
This is true for at least five out of the member of their family or de-register a In book form, its physical condition
14 provinces in Fiji. These five -- Tailevu, deceased member. has deteriorated from years of manual
Rewa, Serua, Namosi and Lau – piloted The team in Suva would be looking after handling.
the digitalisation of the indigenous Fijian what his ministry termed as the ‘cleansing Computerisation also complements the
register, commonly referred to as the VKB, process’- where new members are added work of a number of government entities
acronym of its Fijian title, Vola ni Kawa and deceased members are deleted from that normally rely on the VKB like the
Bula. the register. Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages
To date around 624,000 indigenous Katonitabua said a few officers from at the Ministry of Justice as well as the
Fijians have been recorded digitally. his ministry were trained by IT consul- statistic unit of the Ministry of Health.
VKB officers at the Ministry of iTaukei tants- India based- Yalamanchilli Software Very importantly and more sensitively,
(indigenous) Affairs will continue to Exports Limited - to handle the back and the process will also assist the iTaukei
manually update these registers daily to front end of the computerisation project. Lands Trust Board (formerly known as
ensure accuracy of records. In a nutshell, Yalamanchilli had developed the VKB the Native Land Trust Board) in facilitating
the data entry process includes scanning computer system in February 2014. and implementing the Bainimarama Gov-
and uploading of the registers, catalogu- “At the moment we are piloting this ernment’s equal lease distribution policy
ing, verification of data entered and final process known as the VKB roll out in five for all indigenous landowners.
approval. provinces- Tailevu, Rewa, Serua, Namosi Previous governments had landowning
Ministry of iTaukei Affairs Permanent and Lau,” the Permanent Secretary said chiefs getting a sizeable slice of the lease
Secretary Naipote Katonitabua said the from his Suva office. money.
roll out programme of the computerisation “Those clerical officers have undergone
of the VKB officially known as the Native two weeks of training on how to handle History of VKB
Register of Lands began in August 2017 this process and by the end of January Out of the six available registers which
- the beginning of the new fiscal year and 2018, we hope to complete our roll out contain vital records for indigenous Fijians,
expected to be completed by the end of with the rest of the provinces.” the Native Register of Land or VKB is the
January 2018. Given that this register has been around most significant.
Katonitabua who is the head of the for some 117 years, there was a need to
VKB computerisation steering committee store them digitally, the senior government
said his ministry has recruited 13 clerical officer said. Continued overleaf
officers who would be posted to the 14 Computerisation includes capturing all web link:
provincial councils to man the VKB Unit. VKB records in a digital system for easy www.islandsbusiness.com

16 Islands Business, January 2018