As we celebrate the golden jubilee of our independence, many of us have reflected on our journey as a people of these beautiful islands.
I have heard of the first 50 years of our independence compared to the biblical Joseph’s public management in Egypt of seven good years followed by seven bad years.
Someone recently pointed out that we have enjoyed many good years followed by 14 years of injustice.
The Government will, of course, strongly refute this comparison and say that their 14 years have not all been bad years.
To back this up, they may point to the many years of consecutive economic growth, technological progress like the e-ticketing, more scholarships, and free bus fares to school children and the elderly.
But the performance of a country cannot be measured by technological progress.
It cannot be measured by the growth of GDP alone.
It cannot be measured by the number of scholarships given.
Most of all, it cannot be measured by what Government says. The country’s performance must be measured by the people.
And I am not referring to the rich people.
On the contrary, I am referring to the ordinary people.
We must find out from the ordinary people what the last 14 years have been like for them.
We all know that most ordinary people are not concerned about our debt explosion.
They are not concerned about the rising debt guarantees.
These are extremely important but, the people simply do not know what these mean.
The young people may not be concerned about dictatorship.
They are probably not concerned whether or not nepotism is rising.
What ordinary people are concerned about is the basic necessities of everyday living.
So, what is happening to the ordinary people’s livelihoods?
A broad measure of livelihood is the poverty level. Poverty is measured in many ways.
The universally understood measure is to calculate the money that a person needs for basic living.
This is called the poverty line. Poverty is the proportion of the total population that are receiving income below the poverty line.
According to the 2017 census, nearly 300,000 people were living in poverty before COVID-19. In my estimation, the crisis has pushed an additional 100,000 people below the poverty line.
This means that on my estimate close to half a million people in Fiji live around the poverty line.
Despite our many advantages, Fiji has plummeted to near the bottom of the poverty ladder in the Pacific.
This is injustice number one.
We can also measure the welfare of the people by surveys.
Recently, a survey on people’s livelihoods done by NGOs arrived at these major findings :
- Rising food insecurity;
- Token interventions by the Government;
- No access to clean and safe water supply even for settlements close to Suva;
- Poor maintenance of schools;
- Poor health facilities and services;
- The vulnerable are being left behind; and
- People had no idea what the government COVID-19 assistance measures were.
I am not saying the above. The people are.
The survey was done independently. The findings are free from government’s propaganda or manipulation.
I consider this type of information very credible. From the results of the survey, you can gauge for yourself the success of this Government.
Have the last 14 years been kind to the ordinary people?
I believe that the conclusion is loud and clear.
The benefits of this much touted Bainimarama boom appear not to have reached the ordinary people.
This is injustice number two. If this money is not reaching the ordinary people, where is it going?
My answer is short and simple. It is making the rich people richer.
All along, this Government has been favoring the rich more than the poor people.
This is injustice number two.
If this money is not reaching the ordinary people, where is it going?
My answer is short and simple. It is making the rich people richer.
All along, this Government has been favoring the rich more than the poor people.
This is injustice number three.
Let me give you one good example.
The Fiji First Party (FFP) raked in $7.5 million in donations in recent years.
The amount in a small country as Fiji is significant and unprecedented.
We estimate that the families of the large business people that are donating tons of cash to FFP hold about 70 per cent of Fiji’s wealth.
To donate is their prerogative. Businesses will do everything to protect their assets which they have built up over many years through sweat, blood and tears. I do not blame them one bit.
But that is only one side of the coin. In return, Government policy benefits the rich business community.
It appears that the rich are getting richer while most people wallow in deepening poverty and suffering.
The Minister for the Economy unashamedly rammed this injustice down our throats in the 2020-2021 Budget.
Although revenue was falling steeply, the Minister for the Economy chose to give away taxes to benefit businesses while throwing crumbs at the people suffering from this crisis.
As the government runs out of cash, it’s the people that bear the brunt of the poor health and education
services.
A review of many of the Government policies will reveal the FFP’s strategies to win the elections through the nationalbudget at any cost.
These political expenditures will make repaying our monstrous debt very difficult.
Our future generation will shoulder the heavy cost for a very long time.
This is injustice number four. One of the government’s core responsibilities is to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor.
The main instrument for this redistribution of wealth is the national budget.
But the Government has deliberately chosen to do the opposite.
In doing so, it has demonstrated that it is not interested in the welfare of the people but in getting relected at the next elections.
This is injustice number five. As a result, the gap between the poor and the rich is widening. We just need to look around us.
The poor are clearly being left behind. The crisis has made their struggles worse. The sad part is that our
Government who should be looking out for the poor is looking at the wrong end of the income spectrum. It is using the taxpayer’s money to make the rich, richer.
This is injustice number six. My prayer is for us to say that enough is enough before it is too late. We must pull the country back from the brink of financial disaster.
We must force the Government to account. The opposition parties must unite and fight these grave injustices on the people.
Ultimately, the responsibility for action rest, not with the politicians, but with the people. We have an important choice to make.
Mark my word this Government will change its tune as we near 2022. It will throw propaganda in our
faces. It will throw money at the people.
It will brainwash (vesu mona) our youth. But we must show this Government that we are not fools.
We have suffered greatly from the last 14 years of injustices.
For our sake and the sake of our next generations, we must make the right choice come 2022.
- Savenaca Narube is the former RBF governor and Unity Fiji Party leader. The views expressed are his and does not reflect the views of this newspaper
