The talks were organized yesterday as a last attempt to persuade the interim Prime Minister Commodore Bainimarama to change his mind.
But the Church's General Secretary, the Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu, says there was no movement from the interim Prime Minister:
"He did not allow conference to take place as well as the singing festival, the choir festival, as well as other meetings like the standing committee meeting, the anuuanl meeting, the quarterly meeting, the leaders meeting and other meetings whihc should take place in the circuit arena, they should all have to have permits."
It was confirmed by the statement from the interim Prime Minister Office yesterday in which Commodore Bainimarama said he had asked the President of the Methodist Church, Reverend Ame Tugawe to remove church executives like Reverends Manasa Lasaro and Tomasi Kanailagi if they want the church conference to go ahead in the coming years, Fijivillage.com reported.
While announcing the final cancellation of the conference for this year, Bainimarama has also stressed that the conference will not go ahead in 2010 and in the coming years if the church continues to have people with a political agenda.
Permit applications can only be made to the Commissioner of Police and the Reverend Waqairatu says a letter has already been sent to request a permit for a meeting this Friday.
Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported that Methodists in Fiji numbers over 200,000 in a population of less than one million.
About 80 per cent of Fiji's indigenous people are members of the Methodist Church. With 90 per cent of the military being indigenous Fijians this has led to some speculation as to the extent of support Commodore Bainimarama has from within his own ranks for banning the Methodist Conference.
New Methodist Church endorsed by the regime worries the Methodists:
Meanwhile, a new denomination named New Methodist Church has popped up causing worry to the established Fiji Methodist Church.
RNI also said, other denominations, including the recently created New Methodist Church, will be allowed to hold conferences in August, though the established Methodist church is banned from doing the same.
Besides, RNI reported that the established Methodist Church in Fiji is worried by the messages being preached by the so-called New Methodist Church.
The new Christian movement was established by Atu Vulaono, who is a brother of the Police Commissioner, from whom the established Methodist church is seeking a permission to hold its annual conference.
RNI said, the Commissioner, Commodore Esala Teleni, has been driving a new religious focus in the police force with a Christian Anti-Crime Crusade.
Meanwhile, the General Secretary of Fiji's Methodist Church, the Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu, says concerns about the new movement start with its name:
"They call themselves new methodists but the justification but the justification for using the name is a big question as well as the characteristic of their preaching and the way they recruited their people to become ministers, it is totally, it brings some serious questions about how this new domination operates itself."
The Reverend Waqairatu says the way the new denomination works hand in hand with police raises further questions and they would like to hold discussions with the commissioner.
The established Methodist church is facing a 5-year ban on holding an annual 'Bose Ke Voti' conference, church's major annual event. It often features a big choir competition and it is where the church raises a good deal of money for its operations and ongoing activities. Last year, the conference netted the church more than 1.6 million U.S. dollars.
The ban was widely condemned by Methodist partner churches in Oceania including Australia's Uniting Church, Tonga Methodists in New Zealand, Fiji's Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy (ECREA); they all have called upon the Fiji regime to allow Fiji's Methodist Church to hold the annual conference 'Bose Ko Viti'
The Church has not informed of the ban imposed on them to its members officially hoping that the military regime will recant the ban, but as the last effort failed, it says, it will inform them with barely a month left before a very important annual event in August.
The military ruler on 1 July announced that it will have a new constitution in 2013 that scraps the ethnic-based system introduced in 1997, according to BBC news.
Unveiling his "roadmap" for a return to democracy, Commodore Frank Bainimarama said elections would be held in 2014.
The ban on the Methodists' annual conference is likely to stay until 2014.