Fiji Labour Party, Mahendra Chaudhry says it is a sad state of affairs and the Economy Minister, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum should accept the truth and stop questioning the credibility of government departments when their reports do not suit his political agenda.
Chaudhry says sacking a person without giving the CEO of the Fiji Bureau of Statistics, Kemueli Naiqama the right to defend himself is disgraceful, shameful and unethical.
Chaudhry says by any standards, the 2019-2020 Household Income and Expenditure Survey reveals the highly damning socio-economic conditions in the country, more specifically, in relation to the shocking social conditions of the indigenous Fijian community.
However he says this data is already outdated.
He says the social distress and the suffering of the people today is much more acute than it was in 2019, prior to the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the economy and the massive job losses it triggered.
Chaudhry says Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum needs to come to terms with the fact that the government, in control of national affairs in the past 14 years, has not only wrecked the economy, it has inflicted untold miseries on the people through its failed policies and gross mismanagement.
He says no amount of rubbishing of statistical data will hide this reality.
Chaudhry says for too long the policy of the government has been to conceal the disparities that exist between the different communities by refusing to publish vital statistical data based on race.
He says the FLP believes this is wrong as in a plural society comprising several different ethnic communities, it is vital that socio-economic data is available to show how government policies are affecting each group – whether they are benefitting or receiving a fair share of State resources.
Chaudhry says social justice and fair opportunities for all is an essential pillar of the principles on which the Labour Party is founded.
