Biman: People will not be fooled

No amount of cosmetic roadworks or promises by the FijiFirst Government will take away the harsh realities faced by the Fijian people under their rule, says National Federation Party leader Professor Biman Prasad.

At a campaign meeting in the West this week, he said the people “will not be fooled”.

“Our people understand where we are in this country right now,” Prof Prasad said.

“Where we are in terms of poverty, in terms of health services, in terms of employment, in terms of income, the cost of living has just been rising, the income has stayed there.

“Some of the policies we put out in 2018, for example, reducing VAT on 21 items, raising the minimum wage because we could see people were struggling even at that time in 2018 and ’19. We had suggested some sensible policies, and what they did they went around attacking those policies, but recently, they adopted the same policy.”

Prof Prasad said Government’s interventions to alleviate the cost burden on the people was a case of “too little, too late”.

“They don’t know how to support people who are struggling to put food on the table because of the rising cost of living. All you see is your taxpayers’ money being used to fool the people of this country.”