Rewa is a
province
A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of
Fiji
Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
. With a land area of 272 square kilometers (the smallest of Fiji's provinces), it includes the
capital
Capital and its variations may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital
** List of national capitals
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter
Econom ...
city of
Suva
Suva (, ) is the Capital city, capital and the most populous city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rew ...
(but not most of Suva's suburbs) and is in two parts — one including part of Suva's hinterland to the west and a noncontiguous area to the east, separated from the rest of Rewa by
Naitasiri Province
Naitasiri is one of the 14 provinces of Fiji and one of eight located on Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island. It is located in Central Division.
Geography and infrastructure
Naitasiri covers an area of , and occupies the area mostly to the north ...
. The province had a population of 108,016 at the 2017
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
, making it Fiji's third most populous.
For political and traditional reasons, Rewa is a powerful province. It is the hinterland of the national capital and the heart of the
Burebasaga Confederacy, one of three traditional
chiefly hierarchies. The ''
Roko Tui Dreketi
The ''Roko Tui Dreketi'' is the title of the Paramount Chief of Fiji's Rewa Province and of the Burebasaga Confederacy, to which Rewa belongs.
Details on the title
This title is considered the second most senior in Fiji's House of Chiefs. The ...
'', or Paramount Chief of Rewa, is the head Burebasaga. The last two holders of the title have been women:
Ro Lady Lala Mara (1931-2004), the wife of Fiji's longtime
prime minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
and
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, and her sister and successor,
Ro Teimumu Kepa
RO or Ro may refer to:
Businesses and organizations
* Ro (company), an American telehealth company
* Royal Ordnance, a British armaments manufacturer
* TAROM, a Romanian airline, IATA airline code RO
Places
* Rø, Denmark
* Ro, Emilia-Romagn ...
, who was
Minister of Education in the government of
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Qarase (2001-2006). In 2014, she led the
Social Democratic Liberal Party
The Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) is a Fijian political party. The party was formed in January 2013 after the dissolution of the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua.
History
Party foundation
In January 2013 Fiji's military regime p ...
(SoDelPa) in the
parliamentary election
A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...
, the first since the
military coup
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...
of 2006, and served as
Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...
from 2014 to 2018.
Rewa is governed by a
Provincial Council. For a period in the early 2000s, the chairmanship was vacant, and the Council decided not to fill it until the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed.
When these pri ...
could be changed to allow
parliamentarians to hold national and provincial office simultaneously, thereby allowing their Paramount Chief, Ro Teimumu Kepa, to take the position. In the interim,
Pita Tagicakiverata
Pita ( or ; ) or pitta (British English), also known as Arabic bread (, ), as Lebanese bread and as kmaj (from the Persian ''kumaj''), is a family of yeast- leavened round flatbreads baked from wheat flour, common in the Mediterranean, Levant ...
served as acting chairman.
Administrative Divisions
The province is divided into four Tikinas:
References
{{Authority control
Rewa
Rewa