Concerns are mounting over plans to pursue pinnacle extraction on Banaba, with the Rabi District Council of Social Services (Rabi DCOSS) warning that the proposal is being used as a “quick fix” to address financial losses linked to the long-running mismanagement of the Banaban Trust Fund (BTF).
The Banaban Trust Fund scandal, which contributed to the dissolution of the Rabi Council of Leaders in Fiji in 2013, continues to cast a shadow over Banaban governance and financial accountability.
Critics now argue that rather than addressing the root causes of the crisis, current leaders are seeking to exploit Banaba’s remaining natural resources to cover losses arising from corruption and poor management.
Rabi Administrator Iakoba Karutake has reportedly stated that he has received a mandate from all four villages on Rabi Island to pursue pinnacle extraction on Banaba, the Banaban people’s ancestral homeland in Kiribati.
However, Rabi DCOSS member Tangiria Iareta has challenged both the legitimacy of the consultation process and the rationale behind the proposal.
“We question the process through which the Rabi Administrator claims to have obtained these mandates. The consultations appear to have been conducted as an afterthought, rather than through a transparent and informed decision-making process,” Iareta said.
Rae from the Banaban Human Rights Defenders’ Network stated that: “For the Rabi Administrator to frame pinnacle extraction as a solution to the current Banaban Trust Fund crisis is deeply concerning. It reflects an outdated, colonial-era mindset that treats resource extraction as the answer to governance failures. Such an approach is neither sustainable nor responsible.”
Rae argued that priority should instead be given to investigating and addressing the corruption and governance issues that contributed to the fund’s financial decline.
“Rather than looking to Banaba’s resources as a quick fix, leaders should focus on accountability, transparency, and addressing the corruption issues at the heart of the Banaban Trust Fund crisis.”
In fact, the people on Rabi Island are still waiting for the Rabi Administrator to comply with orders from the High Court from 31 December 2025.
As a “public office” under the law, the Rabi Administrator was ordered to supply documents including audit documentation for the Banaban Trust Fund by the end of January.
Despite the High Court ruling that these must be supplied in compliance with the right to access information (Section 25) under the Constitution, the Rabi Administrator is over four months late.
Further concerns have also been raised regarding the Rabi Administrator’s engagement with mining interests.
According to opponents of the proposal, multiple mining-related agreements have been signed since 2023 without the free, prior, and informed consent of Banaban landowners and community members. Several of these actions are currently being challenged
on Rabi.
The controversy has reignited debate over the future of Banaba, the rights of Banaban people to determine the use of their ancestral lands, and the need for greater transparency in decisions affecting the community’s environmental, cultural, and economic future.
