Opposition parliamentarian Ro Filipe Tuisawau was labelled “an extremely bitter man and extremist” and “a hypocrite” by Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum during the debate on Miscellaneous Services allocation in the 2022-2023 budget in Parliament last week.
Ro Filipe spoke in support of a motion by National Federation Party MP Pio Tikoduadua for the Fijian Broadcasting Corporation’s Public Service Broadcast television allocation to be reduced by $3 million.
Ro Filipe said the FBC took a loan from the Fiji Development Bank and has been run using public funds for the last few years.
He asked when the FBC would be run as a business because it continued to be subsidised with public funds.
Ro Filipe also asked for an explanation on the monetary value of the services it provided and why the services were not tendered out.
In response, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said he felt compelled to respond because “he (Ro Filipe) is actually a hypocrite”.
“He has sat on the committee when Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) appeared before it,” the Attorney-General said.
“He knows full well, the value of air time that we get for public service broadcast — worth over $20 million.”
The A-G also said Ro Filipe was well aware that only FBC transmitted using the amplitude modulation (AM) signal.
“Despite knowing those facts, all of you here are harping on about the same thing even though the facts are staring in your face because you see this as some kind of political tool. That’s what you are doing.”
