People facing difficulty in putting food on the table but MPs work overtime to increase their pay – Lal

Amidst public outrage to the increase in salary for the President, Speaker, Ministers, Assistant Ministers and MPs, Dialogue Fiji Executive Director Nilesh Lal says there is a need to provide some relief to people as they are facing difficulty in putting food on the table and this is something that needs to be looked at seriously.

In an interview with fijivillage News, Lal says they are disappointed as now is not the right time in light of the economic conditions and the general sentiment of the public.

He says people have been asked to tighten their belts and the MPs have approved a massive pay rise for themselves.

Lal says fundamentally, he is not against the idea of a reassessment of salaries, however, when a country is on a fiscal consolidation path, or when the people have been told that we do not really have a choice, but to subject ourselves to painful austerity measures, and MPs are literally working overtime to increase their own salary then there is bound to be public outrage.

He says there are many priorities that the government can put higher on their list of priorities such as the public health sector.

He also says resources need to be allocated to the Police Force in order to also increase the technical capacity to fight the growing problem of drugs.

Lal says there is obviously a need to upgrade public infrastructure and look into other problems including that of informal housing.