Stop hypocrisy:Koroi tells Qarase

[posted 2 June 2008,1630]

Laisenia Qarase’s continual pontificating about social and economic problems largely created by his own government’s misrule over six years would be amusing if the issues were not so serious, said FLP President Jokapeci Koroi.

She was referring to Laisenia Qarase’s latest claim on rising levels of poverty.

“Mr. Qarase should be honest enough to admit that it was his government’s anti-social policies such as increases in VAT and in Customs Duty on a wide range of food and every day consumer items that pushed large numbers of our people into the poverty trap,” Mrs Koroi said.

By the time of the 2006 general elections, 34% of Fiji’s population officially lived in abject poverty, with an equal number struggling to keep their heads out of poverty. This meant that more than 50% of our population lived either in poverty or at the edge of it, at the time his government was in office.

“He is the last person who should be pontificating to the interim government about its social and economic policies,” Mrs Koroi said.

She commended the interim government for its people-sensitive policies such as recent measures announced to offset the rising trend of food and fuel prices on the poor.