Secretary of Communications of the Methodist church in Fiji, Reverend James Bhagwan, says a thanksgiving service the leader of the Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA ), Sitiveni Rabuka, was not organised by the Methodist Church.
Earlier the Prime Minister of Fiji, Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, has accused Rabuka of involving the Methodist church in politics.
He was commenting after a SODELPA thanksgiving service for the party leader took place at the Imanueli Methodist Church in Nadera.
Bainimarama told FijiVilliage “first it was the SVT [Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei] and now it is SODELPA.”
The Methodist Church says that the SODELPA thanksgiving service was not part of its regular core worship service.
Bhagwan said Rabuka did not preach or deliver a sermon but only spoke to the congregation after the service.
He said the Methodist Church allows different groups of people to have their church service at their churches and this was no different.
SVT, sometimes known in English as Fijian Political Party, was a party which dominated politics in the 1990s and was the mainstay of coalition governments from 1992 to 1999.
FijiVillage reported that Bainimarama said this is “1987 all over again.”
And he had repeated his comments about Rabuka, saying that no matter how many times the snake sheds its skin it will always remain a snake.
Rabuka said that this is not 1987, it is 2016 and they are gearing up for change in 2018.
He said he did not organise the party’s thanksgiving service. Rabuka said that he was only invited to the church service and it was a thanksgiving service for the party leader.
He said that he had to respond to the words of welcome which is normal in a church service and he also put the word out about the party as it was a SODELPA church service.
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