Fiji party calls for Bainimarama to debate economy

Transcript

The newly elected leader of Fiji's National Federation Party, Biman Prasad, has challenged the leader of the Fiji regime, Rear Admiral Frank Bainimarama, to an economic debate before the election.

The former economics academic at the University of the South Pacific says the Bainimarama government's policies have put a significant burden on the poor in Fiji.

He told Sally Round the increasing cost of living and inflation has pushed a lot of people into poverty.

BIMAN PRASAD: People are struggling to make ends meet and one of the things we should have a proper debate on is what are the policies? And I believe that there are deliberate policies that this government has put in place which have put a significant burden on the poor people of this country and let me just give you this example: when this government came into power, they said very clearly that they were going to reduce the Value Added Tax from 12.5% to 10%. They did the opposite. They actually increased the tax to 15 percent. So one of the things the National Federation Party will do when it gets into government is to immediately reduce VAT from 15 to 10%.  We also feel that the government's deliberate policies over the last several years have actually increased the gap between the rich and the poor. The average growth in the last seven to eight years has been slightly over 1%. I mean, there has been some recovery in the last two or three years but if you look at the average over the last seven to eight years the performance has been dismal and we are going to dissect some of those policies very, very carefully in our manifesto and we will be offering the people of this country policies which are consistent, which are fair, which are unbiased and which provide a level playing field for businesses, entrepreneurs, investors to initiate and increase investment.   

SALLY ROUND: The party was founded by indo-Fijians, it's Fiji's oldest party - fifty years old - and its roots are in the cane belt.  Now there is a perception that the NFP is an indo-Fijian party. Will you need to change that perception?  And how big a challenge will that be?

BP:  That has always been a challenge for political parties in this country. You know when we had only two parties, the Alliance Party and the National Federation Party, both were appealing to either indo-Fijians or indigenous Fijians. But let me say we've had some very, very, prominent indigenous Fijian leaders who were part of the National Federation Party for many years. Of course we understand the new environment, we understand the desires of young people who want to move away from the racial voting, racial political parties but it is going to be a huge challenge. The National Federation Party has made an excellent start with the new president (Tupou Draunidalo) with a view that this party was always a multi-racial party; we have stood for multi-racialism since it's inception.  

SR: You have tried this softer conciliatory stance before in the 1999 election, going in with the nationalist indigenous SVT party of Sitiveni Rabuka. It didn't work then and you didn't get a single seat in the parliament. How is it going to work this time?

BP: If you look at the percentage of votes that we got in 1999, if we had (then) the current system of proportional representation as you have in New Zealand, we would have had seats in parliament in '99 in 2001 and in 2006. So one of the positive aspects of proportional representation that we are going to have this time is that it is almost certain the National Federation Party will be in parliament. Looking at the support we have had over the last several months I think we are in a very strong position to win a substantial number of seats in parliament this time.
 
SR: Fiji is to have a single national constituency in this election. How difficult will it be to field candidates that appeal to all people of Fiji from far flung islands - subsistence farmers - to urban professionals?

BP: It is going to be a significant challenge. Obviously they will be looking at how these candidates can be met within the whole country and where they will have their support and how different candidates can deal with local issues in particular around the areas where they are campaigning. But of course they will be appealing to every voter in the country and all of them will have their space and ability to articulate their different policies and philosophies.

SR: Finally, what do you think of the newly announced Electoral Decree?

BP:  I think (regarding) the first part of the Electoral Decree, there is hardly any change with respect to what was there under the 1997 constitution. What is of concern, however, is the voting system itself. Even in very literate societies and communities, you always have invalid votes and people have difficulty in understanding the system. The problem with what is there in the Electoral Decree, if I may say so, could be a nightmare for our voters, for our political parties. And the time that we have to educate our voters is very little. So it is going to be a significant challenge and there are (other) elements in the Electoral Decree, for example how non government organizations and others can chip in and help educate the voters. They are basically restricted from doing (that). So those, in my view, those provisions are unnecessary and they should not be there.