DEPUTY Prime Minister Professor Biman Prasad has hit back at Opposition Leader Inia Seruiratu’s claims that the recent appointments of former FijiFirst MPs to Cabinet will add pressure on Fijian taxpayers.
Mr Seruiratu said the recent appointment of Sachida Nand and Shalen Kumar on top of the existing oversized Cabinet was a reckless move that demonstrated how far the Coalition Government has drifted from the realities faced by ordinary Fijians.
“Each additional ministerial position brings significant costs from salaries and allowances to vehicles, officers and staffing,” said Mr Seruiratu in a statement.
Refuting this, Prof Prasad said Mr Seruiratu had increasingly become known as someone who made wild generalisations.
“Again he makes wild generalisations about cost of living, inflation and our fiscal situation and in particular our financial position,” he said.
“The two additional assistant ministers does not mean new ministries or new permanent secretaries.
“These assistant ministers are to existing ministries and any additional cost will be born by the ministries from their existing budget.
“The additional salaries cost of both assistant ministers would amount to $60,000 per year plus some minimum additional cost of vehicles and operating costs.”
He said in Parliament last week he had presented statistics on inflation which showed declining inflation rates over the past seven months.
“I also gave clear statistics on our debt to GDP ratio which we brought down to less then 80 per cent from 90 per cent which we inherited from his FijiFirst government.”
Mr Seruiratu had criticised the Coalition which was now operating with 23 ministers and 14 assistant ministers alongside three non-ministerial members on the Government benches.
“This means 93 per cent of Cabinet, equivalent to 37 ministers and assistant ministers form part of the executive while a mere 7 per cent, just three members are left to focus on legislative responsibilities,” he said.
“Such an imbalance fundamentally undermines parliamentary democracy and erodes the essential checks and balances between the executive and the legislature.”
