Parmesh Chand’s decision to join politics, despite being a novice, was influenced by a desire to reach out and serve all people, and be part of a driving force for change.
The former permanent secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office and The People’s Alliance party candidate said people were crying out for better leadership.
“In fact, they are weeping for better leadership and they’re looking for credible people to be part of a new team,” he said.
“I can see there is a momentum for change. I want to be part of that momentum which will lead to a change. I looked at the people in our team in People’s Alliance and I saw a depth of experience, diversity and backgrounds of people.
“I got moved by that because here’s a team, which is by far best qualified in terms of diversity and qualifications and experience. And it can run government any day. Me, having worked in government for a number of years and in particular, at permanent secretary level for 12 years, I see the team which is in People’s Alliance party being able to deliver the goods they’re promising.”
Mr Chand, who splits his time between Ba and Nadi, said the fact that the country was largely governed for the past 16 years by the same people was a very significant factor in people’s minds.
“Within that party, there are ministers and backbenchers you never hear, apart from them shouting and accompanying these two people and their voices in Parliament. So obviously, there is a silent group behind them.
“They were elected to come in and represent the voices of people and we never hear them talking objectively in Parliament. So I think people are telling us, really, there’s only two people in government, nobody else is there.
“People are also saying that their voices on the ground are not heard. The mechanisms which allowed their voices to be heard have not been restored. Obviously, a number of those mechanisms went as part of the transition in 2006, but they were to be reinstated following election, of a constitutional government.
“This government has backtracked on a number of those promises. People also feel not empowered, they feel they are being watched. They feel that they are being monitored. Therefore, that creates an atmosphere of fear.”
Mr Chand said there had been increasing poverty at rural level due to the effects of climate change, the effects of Covid and a declining sugar industry which have all compounded the woes of people in terms of their daily struggles, together with the rising cost of living.
“People in rural areas find it very difficult to survive on buying imported goods which have escalated astronomically in prices. There are deteriorating conditions of infrastructure. In fact, many of the roads in rural areas have gone narrower because they are not maintained in terms of edges and drainage.
“They are not properly looked after. It’s not that every road needs to be tar sealed but they need to be properly graded and properly looked after. And there are deteriorating health conditions, particularly in health centres.
“People wait for hours to get services and there are frequent water cuts, frequent blackouts by way of electricity outages. So there’s all these problems we see being compounded every day.”
