Ganesh Chand

Dr. Ganeshwar Chand
Member of House of Representatives (Fiji) Lautoka City Indian Communal Constituency
In office 1999–2006
Preceded by	None (new constitution)
Succeeded by	Jai Gawander
Minister for Local Government, State Planning, and Housing (Fiji)
In office 1999–2000
Personal details
Political party	Fiji Labour Party
Profession	Academic

Dr. Ganeshwar Chand, better known as Ganesh Chand, is a Fijian academic and former politician of Indian descent. He is a founder of the University of Fiji and serves as a Trustee of the Fiji Institute of Applied Studies and as Editor of Fijian Studies: A Journal of Contemporary Fiji (source).

From 1999 to 2006, Chand represented the Lautoka City Indian Communal Constituency, one of 19 reserved for Indo-Fijians, having won for the seat for the Fiji Labour Party (FLP) in the parliamentary elections of 1999 and 2001. He was Minister for Local Government, State Planning, and Housing in the government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, in 1999 and 2000.

On 19 May 2000, He was among the 43 members of the People's Coalition Government, led by Mahendra Chaudhry, taken hostage by George Speight and his band of rebel Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) soldiers from the Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit. He was released on 13 July 2000 after 56 days of captivity.

Chand was considered one of the more moderate members of the FLP, and spoke against the practice of using the "fear factor" to attract votes. He also made headlines on 21 November 2005, when he spoke of the positive aspects of the government's budget, and praised the government for implementing some of the Opposition's recommendations. He added that the budget was the best of all the government's bad budgets.

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