Fijian Acting Prime Minister & Attorney General attends the funeral for the Late Tui Wainunu.

Acting Prime Minister and Attorney General Hon. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum led a government delegation to the funeral of the Late Tui Wainunu Ratu Orisi Baleitavea. The government delegation was accompanied by Minister for Rural and Maritime Development Hon. Inia Seruiratu his Permanent Secretary Ratu Meleti Bainimarama, Deputy Secretary for I’taukei Affairs Saimoni Waibuta, Deputy Secretary Agriculture, Uraia Waibuta, Commissioner Northern and senior officials from respective ministries in the northern division. Ratu Orisi had been a long serving civil servant and first served with the ministry of forestry and later on as a division planning officer in the Commissioners Northern’s office. He is survived by his wife Asenaca and his children. This morning the government delegation presented its reguregu or traditional presentation accorded in the event of a funeral at the chiefly village of Daria, Bua as family, villagers and loved ones gathered to pay their final respects to their chief, the Tui Wainunu. Ratu Orisi’s casket was later carried by traditional pallbearers from the village hall to the Daria village church where his body was blessed by ministers of the Catholic church of Fiji and Methodist church of Fiji. Ratu Meleti Bainimarama, who served with Ratu Orisi in the Commissioner Northern’s division in presenting the government’s eulogies remembered his long time colleague and work mate, as a man with a big heart who was always ready to go the extra mile in order to fulfill government service. “He was a man full of life and always eager to lend a helping hand, I will always cherish our time together as public servants in the north,” he said. “Since the time of his passing, his memories continued to revisit me in the past few days and I am glad that I am here to come and bury him as part of the government delegation. As Ratu Orisi’s casket was led by warriors through the village, warriors blew conch shells as a traditional sign of respect and mourning for their chief, signaling also the end of an era. He was buried in the traditional burial ground sautabu in his homeland of Wainunu.