23 Jan 2004

Fiji's MPs likely to vote themselves 36-percent pay increase

4:53 pm on 23 January 2004

Members of Fiji's parliament are likely to vote themselves a substantial pay rise when the House of Representatives meets early in February.

The Fiji Sun newspaper reports a 36-percent pay increase and hefty increases in allowances have been recommended by the Independent Parliamentary Emoluments and Benefits Commission.

The pay hikes would take backbenchers' pay to more than 30-thousand US dollars a year.

The general secretary of the National Teachers' Union, Agni Deo Singh, says a recent Asia Development Bank report says 25-percent of the population lives below the poverty line and another 25-percent is hovering over it.

He says it's immoral to have such a pay rise when so many people cannot even afford to send their children to school.

"It makes us very angry to know that whilst people are hardly able to put food on the table, here we have members of parliament and executive officers in the government getting hefty increases in their salary. This money could very well be utilised to assist the poor in getting their children back to school."

The general secretary of the National Teachers' Union, Agni Deo Singh.