The i-Taukei Affairs Ministry is happy with the progress made by various provincial councils on filling-in various vacant chiefly titles in villages around the country.

Permanent Secretary for i-Taukei Affairs Naipote Katonitabua says good progress has been made after having consultations with many provinces about the need to fill vacant chiefly titles.

Katonitabua says they will continue to push for the remaining chiefly positions to be filled as these will boost decision making in village communities.

“As I have said this will be an ongoing process and we are glad that other stakeholders are doing their own consultation and in the end, we have got the outcome that we want to achieve and it should be achieved at the end of this financial year.”

Around seventy percent of chiefly titles around the country have been vacant from last year.

The Itaukei Affairs Ministry says they have managed to fill sixty-three positions in the last quarter of 2017.