National Federation Party Leader Professor Biman Prasad says the termination of Fiji Bureau and Statistics CEO Kemueli Naiqama’s contract shows the dictatorial and military-style operation by the government.
Prasad says the government is removing good people who they think are not doing according to what the government wants.
He says the press conference by Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum to attack the Bureau shows that they were not happy with the results because it looked bad for the government.
Prasad says the preliminary report by the Bureau which came out in February said that around 30% of the people live within the poverty line, and this was accepted by the government.
Prasad also says that the Bureau has been conducting this kind of surveys over so many years.
He says they use the 3 to 4 percent sample which is better than the sampling size used in Australia and New Zealand.
Prasad adds that the only reason Sayed-Khaiyum is not happy with the report is that that is the reality on the ground and it shows the incompetency of the government in dealing with poverty issues.
