Salary increase shameful - NGO Coalition

The NGO Coalition on Human Rights in Fiji says it watched the passing of the motion that guarantees shameful salary and benefit increases for the President, Speaker of Parliament, Ministers, Assistant Ministers, and Members of Parliament last night with a depleting sense of trust in the parliamentarians and the Coalition Government.

They remind the Coalition Government of the country’s high national debt, high incidents of poverty where 400,000 Fijians are living below the poverty line, poor education outcomes for young people, poor quality healthcare services and compensation for public health nurses and doctors, crumbling water infrastructure where Fijian families continue to experience water disruptions and urgent need to pay our workers a wage to cope with increasing costs of living and ensure dignity in the workplace.

The NGOs say a sad example is media reports this week of nurses buying syringes and needles for patients at public hospitals and nurses and security guards carrying women in labour down the stairs as the lift is not working at CWM Hospital.

The NGO Coalition says it is absolutely shameful that only seven parliamentarians voted against the motion while five abstained.

They say they would like to tell the 40 parliamentarians that supported the motion to listen to the voters because as public opinion displayed this week – the majority of Fijians do not agree with you.

The NGOs say they strongly believe that a special committee made up of parliamentarians should not decide the salaries and benefits of parliamentarians as this is the role of an independent committee or body that will do this independently of both the Parliament and the Government.

The Coalition is also concerned with how the Parliament handled this motion as when the Parliamentary Emoluments Committee Report was tabled in Parliament this week, there was agreement for the report to be debated at a later date.

They ask where is the same level of urgency for issues impacting our nation such as poverty, violence against women and girls, drug use, high rates of HIV cases, food insecurity, climate change and unfair wages for workers.

The NGO Coalition strongly believes that as active citizens of a democracy, we must hold our leaders accountable.

They say just because people voted for change does not mean they should blindly support the leaders.

The Coalition says we must call out our leaders when we feel they are drifting from prioritising real issues.

The NGOs stress that the MPs are in their positions temporarily and could easily be replaced at the next general elections; it is the welfare of the people that should guide their decision making.