POLITICIANS, POVERTY and PAY RISE: For several months, it has been rammed down our throats (including the Baledrokadroka-Leung GGC Report) that vast majority of i-Taukei are living below the POVERY line.
*Yet, out of the 40 MPs who voted for hefty pay rises, 34 were i-Taukei Members of Parliament. Six Indo-Fijian MPs voted with them, including the multi-millionaire Labasa businessmen Charan Jeath Singh.
*Two Paramount Chiefs - the President and the Speaker - stand to reap financial windfall (Speaker even official residence) while their i-Taukei subjects are allegedly drowning in POVERTY, with Indo-Fijians being blamed for their alleged miserable financial plight.
*We have been saying for the last four decades that the real culprits responsible for i-Taukeis' financial plight are their CHIEFS, ELITE THIEVES and OTHERS. Welcome to the new 34 i-Taukei Greedy Thieves.
HURRAH. PAP, SODELPA and FFP MPs combine to fill their pockets while the poor are struggling to put food on the table...and NFP is trying to hoodwink us by pretending to be objecting to the pay rises. In fact, one of its Ministers Agni Deo Singh - Minister for Employment - abstained from voting.
*Another, FFP MP Alvick Marahaj, having signed off on the pay rise report, did NOT vote - bloody hypocrite trying to cover his 'arse' from public outrage.
*Another FFP MP and signatory to the pay rise report, Mosese Bulitavu voted for the whopping pay increases while Poor living in POVERTY.
*FFP MP Parveen Bala did not vote but was present in Parliament.
*Opposition FFP leader Inia Seruirtau in a rambling speech tried to justify the pay increase for himself and other MPs by claiming that, 'Some have mortgages, we have relatives, we have commitments to our churches, and these are all facts of life'.
*Fijileaks to Seruiratu: The Fijians of all races are not here to endorse your pay rise, so you can contribute to your church, or assist you to financially help your bloody 'kerekere' relatives.
*The biggest liar of all is Sitiveni Rabuka, who claimed he was 'happy that his salary was going down'.
*He was on $263,000 but it has been bumped up to $320,000
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BORN AGAIN, Niko Nawaikula. Even the convicted swindler who was jailed for fiddling with his parliamentary allowances, has condemned the hefty pay rises for President, Speaker, Prime Minister, Ministers and Assistant Ministers
 MPS SALARY INCREASE - UNFAIR, UNJUST, UNNECESSARY- OUR PRIORITY IS THE POOR & NOT MPS Suva 23.5.24 Statement by SWN Advocasy On Increase Of MPs Salary. Fiji Village has just reported massive 138% increases across the board for our MPs. Fiji Village reports - " The Parliamentary Emoluments Committee has recommended; increase in the President’s pay by $55,000, increase in Assistant Ministers’ pay from $90,000 to $120,000, increase in the Leader of Opposition’s pay from $120,000 to $200,000, increase in the pay of Members of Parliament from $50,000 to $95,000 . SWN Advocasy is of view the increases are utterly preposterous, absurd and ridiculous. It is unfair, unjust and unnecessary. 30% of our population live below the poverty line. They cant put food on the table. They are the ones that our MPs should concentrate on. Not themselves. |  |
I meet the poor all the time as I travel by bus.I just came back from Vanua Levu by boat on economy class. There was this single Mother struggling to keep her brood of 4 children on the bare floor of the ship.
I doubt our MPs can see the poor and the ordinary from their tinted cars.
But $55K increase for the President, $30K increase for assistant Ministers, $80K increase for the leader of Opposition & $45K increase for a sitting member of Parliament are totally unwarranted.
And what achievements can our MPs boast to deserve this. The coalition manifesto state as a target the repeal/review of Constitution. This has not been achieved.
The coalition manifesto indicate as a target the repeal of all anti taukei laws. This has not been achieved. In 2014 the FFP government fooled the public by passing hefty increases just before passing the 2013 Constitution so they gave the excuse its already part of the law.
The Coalition Government is no different in that sense from the FFP Government in putting its interest and members Pocket before National Interest and the interest of the poor and needy.
Its totally surprising we are not even 2 years into the life of this Parliament and this has come up as a national priority above the 30% who live in poverty , the resolution of those that stole from FSC, the resolution of those that stole from the Savusavu Market Project , from the $400M Winston Project and Countless others.
SWN Advocasy urges the Coalition Govt not to implement the recommendation.
To be leaders our MPs must be servants to the People , their first priority must be the poor and others and not themselves.
Niko Nawaikula
president
SWN Advocasy
23.5.24
I doubt our MPs can see the poor and the ordinary from their tinted cars.
But $55K increase for the President, $30K increase for assistant Ministers, $80K increase for the leader of Opposition & $45K increase for a sitting member of Parliament are totally unwarranted.
And what achievements can our MPs boast to deserve this. The coalition manifesto state as a target the repeal/review of Constitution. This has not been achieved.
The coalition manifesto indicate as a target the repeal of all anti taukei laws. This has not been achieved. In 2014 the FFP government fooled the public by passing hefty increases just before passing the 2013 Constitution so they gave the excuse its already part of the law.
The Coalition Government is no different in that sense from the FFP Government in putting its interest and members Pocket before National Interest and the interest of the poor and needy.
Its totally surprising we are not even 2 years into the life of this Parliament and this has come up as a national priority above the 30% who live in poverty , the resolution of those that stole from FSC, the resolution of those that stole from the Savusavu Market Project , from the $400M Winston Project and Countless others.
SWN Advocasy urges the Coalition Govt not to implement the recommendation.
To be leaders our MPs must be servants to the People , their first priority must be the poor and others and not themselves.
Niko Nawaikula
president
SWN Advocasy
23.5.24
 RABUKA PLAYING FAST AND LOOSE WITH TAXPAYERS MONEY |  |
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The former Media Advisor - Office of the Prime MInister at Fiji Government
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