[PDF-fullMembers] Response to Setareki Macanawai

[la at visionpacific.org.nz]

Bula vinaka Seta,

 

This is to acknowledge receipt of your email sent to PDF Board members, the
CEO, senior Secretariat staff, and all PDF members' lists, stating your
concerns regarding governance and strategic events for 2025.

 

Your deep connection to this movement is profound and recognised. However,
the content, tone, and broadcasting of your criticisms requires a principled
response to correct several assumptions and ensure clarity and collective
responsibility are upheld..

 

A Time of Leadership Transition and Renewal

 

You formally resigned from the role of PDF CEO in 2024 after 17 years of
service. Since then, PDF is in a phase of strategic reform and renewal,
under a new generation of leadership. The current Board and Secretariat are
fully engaged in reforming PDF's governance and strategic direction. We are
in the final year of the current Strategic Plan, and work is actively
underway-collaboratively with members and partners-to develop a new strategy
that meets the evolving needs of our region. Transitions, by nature, involve
complexity and recalibration.

 

The Board through its constitutional authority appointed a new Chief
Executive Officer, a highly capable vision-impaired woman, to lead PDF
forward. Her appointment is not symbolic, but deliberate. It reflects our
commitment to elevating emerging leadership, including women with
disabilities, and broadening regional ownership of our movement.

 

To that end, your continued interventions in governance matters, especially
from your new role as President of the Fiji Disabled Peoples Federation
(FDPF), raise significant concerns about conflict of interest. By stepping
into that presidency within months of leaving your CEO role at the
Secretariat, the optics-and the reality-suggest that you have not been able
to step away and allow space for growth and independent governance within
both FDPF or PDF. This sends a message, intentional or not, that no one else
is capable without you, even with your support. This is not leadership
development; it is inhibition.

 

Undermining Trust and Governance Through Public Criticism

 

Your choice to mass-mail your criticisms to lists viewable to donors,
funding partners, and other observers is especially troubling. Whatever the
intention, the effect is corrosive, undermining confidence in the new CEO
and her staff who are  working diligently to ensure continuity, reform and
service delivery under considerable constraint. This approach creates an
atmosphere where fear of appearing disloyal to your legacy outweighs honest
discussion. Many will hesitate to challenge your assertions directly, not
because they agree with them, but because they are wary of the polarisation
your interventions may cause. Your influence casts a long shadow, one that
is difficult to speak against, and that stifles rather than nurtures new
leadership.

 

Governance Processes Are Underway 

 

*	The 2025 election timeline is aligned with last year's. The only
shift has been a few weeks, caused by member delays in confirming Voting
Delegates, a constitutional requirement for an eligible election process. 
*	Repeated reminders have been issued by Secretariat staff (on 4 and
23 June, and 18 July). This has been transparent and in line with the
constitution.
*	The Board is meeting this week to approve the election policy,
appoint the Returning Officer, and initiate the formal voting process.
*	Planning for the 2025 Pacific Regional Conference and General Forum
is progressing. Confirmation is pending finalisation of funding agreements.
Until that is secured, we must proceed responsibly and manage costs
cautiously.
*	Regarding constitutional amendments, the Board will ensure the
proper advance notice is met once the General Forum date is confirmed.

 

The Board and CEO are very mindful to act carefully and constitutionally to
ensure the 2025 governance processes are credible, participatory, and
robust.

 

The Question of Legacy and the Way Forward

 

You have served the region and this movement with distinction. That
contribution is appreciated and a legacy to be proud of. However, legacy is
not measured by one's ability to remain central, but by the strength of
those who follow. True leadership, especially after stepping down, includes
the grace to support successors without overshadowing them.

 

The two-year term you now hold as President of FDPF begs the question: What
happens then? Who will be ready to step up, if your presence now has
overshadowed and inhibited current FDPF leaders? These are the patterns our
movement seeks to change.

 

This Pacific Disability Forum was not built by one person. It was built
collectively-by leaders across the Pacific, in all their diversity. Today,
that leadership is coming through: in younger voices, in women, in people
with psychosocial, intellectual, and multiple disabilities, and in the
evolving structures of OPDs throughout the region.

 

Let us not repeat the turmoil experienced by our global partners, including
the International Disability Alliance, where transitions became points of
fracture rather than strength. We have seen how crucial it is to protect new
leadership from the destabilising effects of overreach, no matter how
well-intentioned.

 

This year marks the end of tenure for both Co-chairs after two full terms
who will be stepping down in full respect of the term limits and governance
structures by which we abide. This is the example we must all set. If there
were genuine concerns, a phone call or direct outreach to the Co-chairs
would have been a more respectful and appropriate approach in the first
instance.

 

All Voting Delegates and Full Members are asked to remain focused on
collective progress and not be drawn into personal allegiances. Our movement
must stand on principle-not personalities.

 

Vinaka vaka levu,

 

Co-chairs Jacqueline Garoau and 

Latoa Halatau-Talagi MNZM

For the Board

 

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