MPs do not deserve a pay rise if they are not performing their duties well - Catanasiga

If the Members of Parliament are not performing their duties well, there is no point in their salaries getting an increase and this is one area that needs to be monitored.

This was highlighted by Fiji Council of Social Services Executive Director Vani Catanasiga while speaking during the National Workers and Community rally at Thurston Garden in Suva.

Catanasiga says the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Professor Biman Prasad, in his budget speech, talked about an independent committee, but there is a need to continue to make sure that CSOs are part of the committee that oversees the performance assessments and decisions around giving the MPs a pay rise.

Catanasiga went on to ask the participants who gathered in numbers today from around Fiji for the rally whether they agree that the CSOs need to participate in the process of how these MPs make their decisions on their own salary, to which everyone present agreed.

She says they have articulated this issue in the petition that they initiated a few weeks ago in regards to the increase in salaries and benefits of MPs, the President and the Speaker.