Unity Fiji party leader Savenaca Narube says one of the issues he highlighted during a tour of Australia was the presence of an increasing number of beggars on the streets and “people selling anything they can by the roadside just to survive”.
This, he claimed, was a sign that poverty situation had worsened in Fiji The former Reserve Bank of Fiji governor recently visited Sydney with Social Democratic Liberal Party leader Viliame Gavoka.
“If you go to Fiji now, you will see the following, children scavenging in rubbish dumps and more young girls prostituting themselves,” Mr Narube told party supporters.
“The ravages of poverty on people’s lives, school children are selling drugs and the crimes are increasing.”
He said while people could blame the COVID-19 pandemic for Fiji’s economic downturn, the writing was already on the wall well before that.
Mr Narube claimed the economy was built on a fickle foundation, and government spending, which led to debt.
“The economy was becoming more vulnerable from the lack of economic diversification.”
He claimed the Government had no economic vision but was just offering Band-Aid solutions.
Mr Narube thanked party supporters in Australia for their effort in making their visit a fruitful one.
