[Photo: FILE]

For Local Government Minister Maciu Nalumisa, declaring Navua a town is more than a government milestone—it is a personal journey that began at a small vegetable market when he was a child.

Nalumisa grew up in nearby Nakavu village and experienced first-hand the struggles faced by families in Navua.

As a Class Five student in the 1980s, he asked his grandmother if he could sell kavika at the Navua Market.

The Minister recalls it took him about a week to sell all the fruit, an experience he says gave him an early glimpse into the realities of life in Navua.

“When I was growing up in Navua, life was hard. It was a struggle. I was in Class Five in the 1980s when I asked my grandmother if I could sell kavika at the market. It took me about a week to sell everything.”

Decades later, Nalumisa returned to Navua not as a young boy selling fruit, but as the Minister responsible for local government, helping deliver a decision residents had waited years to see.

He says witnessing the town’s transformation makes his childhood struggles all the more meaningful.

“Today, looking at how much Navua has changed, I realise that all the struggles and efforts to develop it into a town were worth it. To have lived through those difficult years and now witness the transformation of Navua is something I will always be grateful for.”

The personal significance of the occasion was also highlighted by the Permanent Secretary for Local Government, Seema Sharma.

Sharma says Nalumisa knows Navua from the ground up – not from government documents, but through its markets, people, and everyday life.

“A young boy from Nakavu who once came to Navua to sell kavika would one day become the Minister responsible for local government and help deliver the decision that finally made Navua a town.”

For Nalumisa, the declaration closes a remarkable chapter—from a young boy earning pocket money at the Navua Market to the Minister helping shape the town’s future, a transformation he says he will always be proud to have been part of.