Tikoduadua first paid his respects to Sister Maria Rafaela, aged 93, who died in November. She had been a Catholic nun for 70 years, serving in various parishes and institutions of the Sisters of our Lady of Nazareth, including 20 years caring for lepers on Makogai Island, the Twomey Hospital for the mentally ill, and the Hilton School for the Handicapped.
He recalled that two years ago in responding to the President's address he said:
“I only hope that they (the government) will be magnanimous and start talking to us – instead of talking at us. Because talking at us will not bring equality, dignity and justice to all our people. Talking at us will not result in lasting social, economic and political advancement. Above all, talking at us will cause irreparable damage to race relations in our beloved nation.”
Tragically, he said, Fiji is in a state of social, economic and political decay because of point-blank refusal by the current government to embrace bipartisanship and work collectively to overcome our challenges.
The facts staring at us daily are: -
- The 115,000 unemployed and increasing, thousands more enduring wage reductions through reduced hours or rates, total lack of respect for Collective Agreements between unions and statutory employers in terms of fair and adequate redundancy packages.
- Fiji Airways workers have been summarily dismissed with total disregard of their redundancy agreement of three months pay plus three weeks’ pay for each year of service. Air Terminal Services workers were also kicked out without notice.
- The unemployed and those on reduced wages have been reduced to total reliance on FNPF funds for survival.
- The Fund had become our biggest source of domestic debt, with government the major borrower. – Debt is now over $3 billion, an inccrease of a half on July 2019.
- The public health and medical system are deteriorating fast. We are inundated with complaints about the state of hospitals and health centres and lack of basic medication. We are bombarded with complaints about lack of or breakdown of diagnostics as well as inability of hospitals to perform simple blood tests.
- There is growing concern about women’s reproductive health. The well-being of our women, most of them mothers in rural areas, is critical to the health of their respective families and their children.
- The sugar industry is in comatose with no hope whatsoever of revival by this government. From 3.2 million tonnes of sugarcane and 310,000 tonnes of sugar in 2006 before the military regime and later the Bainimarama government took control, we are now producing in 2020, 1.73 million tonnes of sugarcane and 152,000 tonnes of sugar.
We had 18,272 active cane growers in 2006. In 2019, we had 11,902 growers – a reduction of more than 6,000 growers. Now growers are faced with a fresh predicament of denial of a guaranteed price of $85 per tonne of cane – the 2019 season payment finally paid out in October saw growers being short-changed by $2.79 per tonne of sugarcane or almost $5.04 million in total when calculations are based on the 2019 total cane crop of a little over 1.806 million tonnes.
- The cost of living has sky-rocketed due to the exorbitant prices of food, medicine and other basic items, despite the so-called duty reductions announced in the 2020-21 budget. Basic food items still carry VAT of 9%. So do all medication including prescribed medicine.
- Our deteriorating infrastructure is seen in the state of roads under Fiji Roads Authority and water supply under Water Authority of Fiji. Why such shoddy workmanship? The answer is obvious – sega na nailavo, paisa nahi hai, or no money.
We need to know whether major road related works that have been funded by the Asian Development Bank have a caveat for employing local companies.
We have low water levels in our reservoirs due to lack of rain, and the pumps are not working because electricity has failed! Rationed water only lasts a household three days. The 5,000 litres capacity water tanks supplied to homes before the 2018 general elections , that were filled each week, (and forgotten once the election was over) now remain dry and empty.
Most members of the Fiji Police Force are professionals and law-abiding, but there are increased cases of police brutality resulting in serious injuries or death, and police inaction in responding to complaints. Cases of police brutality continue unabated ever since my arrest in April 2020 for highlighting the brutal bashing and torturing of a citizen at Naqia village.
Why is this happening with blatant disregard to the rule of law and non-conformity to police ethics? The answer lies in the lack of professionalism arising out of recruitment process of personnel and a few rogue elements or bad apples tarnishing the image of the Force.
Our institutions are no longer independent, For example, the Fijian Elections Office, through the Supervisor of Elections and Registrar of Political Parties was like a nose around our necks, threatening us with a barrage of letters for more than two months, refusing to accept or believe our explanations.
Yet when it came to Fiji First accounts and disclosures, it was cleared in no time despite the fact that millions of dollars were raised. We wonder if the bank statements were compared against receipts to ascertain the truth! If not, why not? Is the truth too painfully incriminating?
The report of the parliamentary standing committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights is gathering dust since April 2019. Without it, there is no Accountability and Transparency Commission. Why?
This morning the Attorney General talk about how Government’s policies were creating jobs. He referred to 23 new jobs. At the same time a few hundred Technical College staff, most who are ancillary workers, do not know their future after 31st December with no guarantee of fair redundancy. Then we have the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service staff, 25% of whom could be redundant at the end of December. That is more than 230 employees – not only frontline custom officers. They have been asked to express their interest for voluntary redundancy and take up the offer of one week’s pay for each year of service. Failing which, redundancies will be enforced. The reason – a $10 million budgetary reduction. Staff have even offered to forego one day's pay each week to save their colleagues and maintain job security.
Mr Speaker, we live in extra-ordinary times. This pandemic shows no signs of abating. Our frontline workers, health professionals and security personnel from the disciplined forces will continue to work tirelessly to keep all of us safe.
The only way to overcome the challenges facing us is to take a giant leap of faith and march forward in unison. It is a time to stop pretending that all is and will be well. It is a time to stop bragging about booms and how visionary the leadership has been because this myth has fallen flat on its face when confronted with a challenge.
This is a time for sound and sensible leadership, not grandstanding or My Way or the Highway type of rule that we have been subjected to for the last 14 years.
And above all, this is the time to take a giant leap of faith. We must not be feint-hearted. The decisions we make and the actions we take will have a profound bearing on the future of our nation.
Mr Speaker, all that is left me to say is Stay Blessed. Stay Safe this festive season.
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