Lala Mara - Controversies Following Her Death

Controversies Following Her Death

Adi Lala's death, only three months after that of her husband, was announced in Suva on July 20, 2004. No immediate cause of death was given. Allegations were subsequently made in Parliament, however, that she had suffered a fatal heart attack after hearing the distressing news that her son-in-law, Ratu Epeli Ganilau, was to be dismissed as Chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs, which was "the last straw" after her husband's death three months earlier. Senator James Ah Koy claimed on the floor of the Senate to have received the information from sources close to Adi Lala's family, and charged the Qarase government with responsibility for her death because of its involvement in Ganilau's sacking. His comments drew a strong rebuke from the Chairman of the Kadavu Provincial Council, which Ah Koy represents in the Senate. Ratu Joe Nawalowalo called his speech "gutter material" which "belittled" the close relationship Adi Lala had enjoyed with the province.