Members of the public are intelligent enough to assess for themselves how a government is performing.
Deputy Prime Minister Professor Biman Prasad said this on The Lens @177 this week, when asked on his party’s plans to attract voters who had supported FijiFirst in the previous elections.
Prof Prasad said when people voted sometimes, they did so based on propaganda.
He also claimed Fiji had “big propaganda, fear, and intimidation” before the 2022 election.
“Everybody, particularly our Indo-Fijian voters, were told by elements within the FijiFirst campaign, that your social welfare, your land, your scholarships will be gone and everything will be discriminatory,” he said.
Prof Prasad said the people had realised, after the Coalition came into power, that nothing of the sort had happened.
“In fact, it is improved. We’ve got a much better, meritorious scholarship scheme. Social welfare was increased. School students continued with the pathway of free education.
“On top of that, we provided two tranches of $200 each at the beginning of the school, sugar price went up over $100, minimum wage has gone to $5 from April 1.
“What we’re getting from the people is that the people are extremely happy with this Government.
“Of course, you have a small group who will have differences of opinion and that’s fine. But I think that the people are much more intelligent.
“They are able to assess, they can see what’s happening and they see that this is a Government which is not about going out there on a popularity contest.”
Prof Prasad said there were still issues to fix, such as healthcare, infrastructure, and roads, and these were things people wanted to be improved as soon as possible.
“These are issues that people complain about, they want things to be done, but that doesn’t mean that they are not with us.
“In fact, I think our support as a Government has definitely increased significantly in the last 18 months.”
