In my opinion, above everything else, Fiji needs visionary, transparent and inclusive leadership which is centred on serving the people rather than itself.
Everything flows from good leadership. Political decisions affect people’s lives directly.
Our people, especially our youths, have paid dearly from political leadership that dictates and divides the people.
Fiji urgently needs a vision that integrates the diversity that we cherish.
Tragically, we are rudderless. The onus of the equality that the Government is preaching is not equitable. It falls heavily on those that are already poor and less well off.
Leadership must articulate clearly where it is taking the people.
Good leadership tolerates different political views and listens to the people that elected them into government in the first place. We need leadership that builds this nation and treats everyone fairly.
Unity of all races
Fiji needs to unite all its races. The country has suffered enough from the lack of unity which has led to three military coups.
I had calculated that we had lost a whopping $10 billion from these political instabilities.
We are still paying for those losses and our children and grandchildren will continue to pay.
Imagine where we would be if we had used that money to develop our country and support the poor.
We, the people, live side by side in harmony. It is the political leadership that has divided us.
We must find a political leadership that can unite all races in Fiji.
We can and must bring our diversity into this unity.
This unity will give us security and with good financial and economic management, lasting prosperity.
Dignity of life
Lastly, we must give the poor and the lower income earners the dignity of enjoying the basics of life. We need to provide more jobs. We all know that the unemployment rate often quoted by Government does not reflect the reality on the ground that we see every day.
More jobs can be created from good economic management.
The economic performance that Government highlights is not sustainable as they are based on increasing government spending that had led to high rate of debt accumulation.
The Government has seen it fit to tax the meagre incomes of the poor villagers that sell their catches from their own fishing grounds.
Prices are escalating from the weakening of the Fiji dollar and the multiple layers of taxes that are imposed on businesses.
House prices are well beyond the reach of ordinary families.
The answer to these multiple issues is not to give away hard-earned taxpayers money, but to manage government spending responsibly, provide certainty and predictability to businesses and assist resource owners realise the full benefit from their resources.
