Road conditions
Neelz Singh,
Lami
Wet weather or not, Public Works Department (PWD) was better in fact when it comes to road patching or grading.
Now contractors are worse than PWD, when it comes to upgrading or patching or return job on the road they have just fixed one week ago. Locals were doing a better job before contractors were given the tender in the name of expatriates.
There are too many bosses roaming with the 4×4 in the road business and not much work done and some jobs have been pending for years. New roads fixed turn into pot holes in a couple of weeks of project and return job again.
A question to FRA is, are they surveying or checking the quality when road job is finished or completed by the contractors or everything is on paper and paychecks are instantly ready.
The capital invested in road for the budget put aside by the Government can make a new cement road that can last for 20 or more years rather than you know what happened. The case is too many bosses; too many pot holes.
Local government
Suresh Chand,
Nadi
The municipal elections will be called once the local government reform is done. This is according to reports in the media.
The sooner it is held, the better it is for all in the country. Ratepayers would be very happy if the election is conducted tomorrow.
It is because with elections returns democracy, transparency and accountability not to mention ratepayers’ ease of accessibility and say in the development of their respective towns.
When an elected council returns, the financial burden paying the special administrators will stop.
If that happens, the country saves approximately $400,000 to $450,000 annually. For a country like Fiji, this is a huge saving.
The savings can be given to the poor townships as grants. I see changes already taking place in some council where there are no special administrators.
Lautoka, Ba and Tavua don’t have any special administrator from 2014. This a good start but I believe it should be standardised across the board.
Let the chief executive officer alone manage their respective towns and cities like the three municipalities mentioned above until elections are held. I hope my suggestion is taken on board for the good of our beloved nation.
Chaudhry’s hypocrisy
Abendra Ram Tahal,
California, USA.
The Fiji Labour Party leader, Mahendra Chaudhry’s criticism of Speaker of the House, Dr Jiko Luveni’s impartiality during his submissions on the Parliament Powers and Privileges Bill 2016 before the Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights exposes his hypocrisy.
Dr Luveni has been and proved to be the best Speaker, Fiji has ever seen. Her impartiality, fairness, integrity, professionalism, experiences etc. is something every citizen should be proud of and inspired by!
Mr Chaudhry’s criticism of Dr Luveni doesn’t hold any water and more so like showing light to the sun.
Surprisingly, Mr Chaudhry was a great supporter of Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama Government’s policies when he was the Minister for Finance, yet it should not be a surprise to lot of people of his change of opinions today with his track records of changing his positions for his benefits and one time supporting Sitiveni Rabuka in one election period.
Mr Chaudhry lost credibility during the last general election where his leadership cost the party when they were unable to win a single seat in the parliament.
There is no denial that Mr Chaudhry was among some great people who fought and revitalise Master Awards for sugar cane farmers yet he also politicised the biggest farmers biggest organisation the National Farmers Union and benefited greatly personally from it.
When farmers were going through tough times with the industry, Mr Chaudhry was drawing big salaries from the union.
Also he was rewarding high profile jobs like the Sugar Cane Growers Council, chief executive officer to his friends like Grish Maharaj, who was only a teacher without any sugar industry experiences.
Mr Chaudhry also appointed his son, Rajendra Chaudhry who had no political or managerial experience what so ever to Secretary to the high office of the Prime Minister and brushing aside so many highly educated and experienced Fiji Labour Party hard working members.
People have lost faith and trust in FLP just because of Mr Chaudhry’s dictatorial style of leadership.
No one has held the same title in any organisations for so long in history.
Mr Chaudhry has a habit of dividing and politicising the organisations.
At one time he was drawing three salaries as General Secretary of FPSA, Secretary of National Farmers Union and MP at the same time.
I totally agree with the Speaker, Dr. Luveni that Mr Chaudhry is trying his best to gain the attention and manipulate the poor farmers and grassroots people for the next election.
The only way for Fiji Labour Party’s any good future, if there is any left is for Mr Chaudhry to resign immediately from the leadership and hold a the party’s General Meeting to elect a new leader.
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