Changes to parliamentary funding causes uproar in Fiji

Transcript

The opposition parties in Fiji have called changes to the parliamentary funding system a disaster and claim it has plunged the parliament into crisis.

The new system structures payments to parties to reflect their respective size, which has forced the opposition to dismiss support staff.

As Koro Vaka'uta reports, there are concerns about not only the move, but how it was done.

The Fiji opposition leader Ro Teimumu Kepa says the changes are illegal. Ro Teimumu Kepa says the Secretary-General to Parliament stopped the contracts of six administrative staff in the SODELPA party offices under the directive of the Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. The directive changes the allocation given to the parties, and means each will be given 11,000 US dollars per MP for staffing at their discretion. Ro Teimumu says SODELPA's needs will likely exceed their allocation and the fellow opposition National Federation Party's allocation will not cover its costs. She says the changes should be reversed.

RO TEIMUMU KEPA: The directive that has been given is that the funding goes to the parties and that is what we do not agree with because according to the decree which is parliamentary decree number four of last year, according to that it is illegal for us to receive funding from any other source except for the members themselves.

The leader of the opposition National Federation Party Biman Prasad says the Secretary-General revoked the employment of his four administrative staff. Mr Prasad says it appears she acted under instruction from the Attorney-General but he says the Secretary-General is meant to decide on operational parliamentary finances and no-one else.

BIMAN PRASAD: We've lost staff and we feel that this is a direct interference in the independence of the legislature. It is designed to kill and harass smaller parties like the National Federation Party. What this amounts to is that we cannot now operate effectively and efficiently as a political party.

Mr Biman Prasad says he will also not be able to carry out his duties as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee properly under the new plan. But the government has accused the opposition of misleading people with its reaction.
It says a letter shows that the Secretary-General made the decision in her own right. Although the government says she held discussions with Mr Sayed-Khaiyum, it says nothing is unconstitutional or improper. But a Pacific academic says the new system doesn't help the state of democracy in Fiji. Professor Brij Lal from Australian National University says it's not the best way to provide financing as the size of a party's parliamentary presence does not necessarily show how much resources they need.

BRIJ LAL: This is important for a robust parliamentary democracy to have a well-resourced opposition parties of the type you have in Australia and New Zealand for example even in places like Queensland where Labour had very few seats but they received enough resources to do their work.  What role should Opposition have in Fiji?  

Professor Lal says the move is in line with how the government of Fiji operates.