It was with astonishment that I read that the current interim government has decided to let millions of dollars of arrears lapse - about $16,000,000F! Is this fair when you realise that some people have paid their debts and now others do not have to search for the needed cash. What is the motive for doing this? Of course it's a lovely gift for those whose names come up, but it's an awful lot of money which is much needed for fixing roads, schools, medical needs, and for fixing the water pipes!
Fiji government announcement it will pay water bills could be “vote buying” – Professor
Posted at 02:01 on 18 September, 2012 UTC
A professor of Pacific history says the interim Fiji Government’s offer to pay the water bills of 25 thousand Fijian households, businesses and schools appears to be a vote buying exercise.
In a statement the government says it is forgiving eight million US dollars in unpaid bills, a decision it says will benefit about 100-thousand Fijians.
Professor Brij Lal, from the Australian National University, questions if the regime can afford to pay the bills.
And he says there will be lingering suspicions about the motive for going ahead with such a move.
“I suppose they might see this as a voter pleasing exercise and I suspect as time goes on as we reach closer to the elections in 2014 that you will see more promises, more policys like this to endear the regime to the people of Fiji.”
Professor Brij Lal says the announcement is good one for ordinary Fijians who are living in difficult economic times.
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