The Ministry of Housing and Community Development is trying to root out “dishonesty” through its proposed Lot Allocation Policy, said Housing Minister Premila Kumar at a consultation in Lautoka on Saturday.

She said the ministry developed the policy after seeing what had happened at the Housing Authority of Fiji. “We have seen a lot of dishonest people when it came to Housing Authority allocation of lots,” she said.

“One was the people’s dishonesty, declaring they never owned a property, and then they ended up getting two pieces of land. This was through fraud.

“Then we also had Housing Authority staff who entertained such practices, in other words, they did not do justice.”

Mrs Kumar said they needed a policy “that had to be fair to everyone”.

“When we assist an individual through taxpayers’ money for him or her to get a piece of land, that is not public good.

“That is your gain, that is your benefit. That is why we have to be very clear as to how we give this land because we have to be accountable to the taxpayers.”