Govt disrespected the President’s address in Parliament - Usamate

FijiFirst MP Jone Usamate says the Government is disrespectful to the President’s address as they have not carried out some of the things the President had highlighted for them to carry out in his address last year.

While responding to the President’s address in Parliament, Usamate says in the President’s opening speech last year, he called for a number of things to be done, and one of these is that the government would set up a Special Parliamentary Committee on the Sugar Sector and this never happened.

Usamate claimed that the Government had promised that District Advisory Councillors should be elected, but most of the appointed people were supporters of one party.

He further claims that other Government officials, including the Attorney General Siromi Turaga, Minister for Sugar Charan Jeath Singh and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for SME’s Manoa Kamikamica also showed disrespect to the President’s address.

Usamate also claimed that this Government abuses our civil servants.

Usamate also says the President has called them to represent the diverse voices and aspirations of the people and we must treat all Fijians equally.

He says we must eliminate favouritism, biasness and compartmentalization and that is what the FijiFirst Party stands for.

In his right of reply, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says he agreed with Usamate that we are all Fijians, but he reminds parliamentarians that some Fijians are original landowners, freehold landowners, some are lessees, and some are living in rural and maritime islands.