Calls are now being made for authorities to take immediate action regarding the issue of food poverty after Fiji Council of Social Services Executive Director Vani Catanasiga stated that some children are scavenging for scrap metal in dump sites while others are selling food near supermarkets to put food on the table for their families.
Catanasiga says quick action needs to be taken as children are missing out on their education.
Meanwhile, National Federation Party MP, Lenora Qereqeretabua says any government or leader, with an iota of conscience, will never shirk its basic commitment to the people, which is to ensure no one person is hungry for a day.
Qereqeretabua says the problem is that this government has been too busy electioneering instead of alleviating the plight of our people, especially after COVID which has left at least 50 percent of the population in poverty or on the margins of abject poverty.
She says this is heartbreaking and extremely tragic for a nation that supposedly enjoyed 10 years of unprecedented economic boom until 2019.
Qereqeretabua asks what has happened to the everlasting fruits of that boom.
She appeals to international donor partners and agencies to provide funding directly to NGOs and CSOs to ensure help is provided directly to the affected and the vulnerable.
Qereqeretabua says instead of focusing on electioneering, the government must ensure the budgetary policies in the 2022/2023 National Budget are solely aimed at delivering social and economic advancement, uplifting the livelihoods, protecting and rejuvenating our most vulnerable in the society, so that all families and their children have three decent meals a day.
We have sought comments from Minister for Poverty Alleviation, Rosy Akbar. She is yet to respond.
