GOVERNMENT’S FUNDING PRIORITIES WITH COVID19- THE DEVIL IS STILL IN THE DETAILS

In the COVID response Budget the government has allocated $100 million in Head 50 Expenditure Group 10 line (13).

• Out of this $40 million is allocated to the Ministry of Health and the Minister continually expresses his gratitude for the $40 million and how he will spend it. What I have not heard the Minister mention yet is that the real $$ allocation is only $18.6 million if we factor in the ($21.3) million cut back in the Ministries Budget from $123.9 million to $113.1 million.

• There is also another cut to the Health Budget by ($2m) in Head 50 Expenditure Group 7 -The PPP Health allocation going from $34.4 m to ($32m) a cut of ($2.4m).

• We also cut our Disaster Management allocation by ($5.6 m) as well as the Contingency for Disaster Risk by ($2m) from $3 m to $1 million, just prior to TC Harold.

• We also cut back the Rehabilitation and Construction for schools and buildings Head 50 Group 10 line (16) by $5 million. So, victims from Winston have even longer to wait for their rehabilitation.

With respect to the $100 million allocation for COVID19, it is difficult to understand why they used up $41.9 million or 42% from this allocation to cover: -

Health $40 million after reducing its budget by ($21.3m), Police $700k, Military $150k, Agriculture $1m after reducing its budget by ($16.8 m) and FCCC $100k, when they could have adjusted the ministerial budget allocations to give them these funds and leave the $100 m exclusively for Workers and Business support. Instead they allocated it as follows:

Government entities = $41.9 million

Unemployment

Tourism = $5,600,000.0
Lock-down (formal) = $7,000,000.0
Lock-down (informal) = $3,000,000.0
General = $5,000,000.0
Assist SME’s = $5,000,000.0
Contingency Unemployed = $5,000,000.0
Contingency General = $27,450,000.0

Total Assistance = $100,000,000.0

Given that half the funding is taken up again by government, workers assistance is $60 million (29%) which is what has been allocated and why the FNPF is being made to pick up the tab for $150 million (71%)

But there are a few things they did not do, which could have saved enough to expand the $100 million assistance by a significant amount. For Example: -

Peacekeeping

Its budget was $64.9 million down from $77.5m. The $12.6 m reduction Is for the remainder of the financial year to 31 July 2020. But we must stop all Peacekeeping missions unless it is on a user pay basis. If we do this, we can add $21.6 million to the Assistance till July and $65 million annually thereafter.

The Government justifies this expenditure by stating : It is a source of great pride that a nation of Fiji’s size is able to make such a meaningful and significant contribution to securing peace in some of the world’s most troubled regions.

The Republic of Fiji Military Forces and the Fiji Police Force currently serve in five out of the 14 UN peacekeeping missions around the world, and also serve in the non-UN mission in Sinai.

The Reality is that while National Pride is important for any nation, but at what cost. Since 2005 to 2020 Fiji has paid out $688.7 million for Peacekeeping and the UN has reimbursed us ($149.8 m) 22% leaving the Fiji Taxpayers to fund $538.9 million which is 78%, of the cost so that we maintain our National Pride.

The countries in the middle east who have benefited from our Peacekeeping support have a collective annual GDP of $US 885 billion verses our $US 5.5 billion (2018).

With 30% of our people still living in poverty and thousands of workers now without an income Fiji the taxpayers cannot afford to continue carrying this $60 million a year cost for prides sake.

We can certainly continue providing Peacekeeping, but it has to be on a ‘User Pay’ basis.

Motor Vehicle Leasing

The average annual leasing costs for Motor Vehicles has been $28 million and the budget for 2020 was $20 m, but the COVID budget has increased this by $9 million? Why?

According to the Bureau of Stats in 2018 the government had registered 985 vehicles compared to 163 when they started leasing. Government can afford to reduce motor vehicle leasing by 60% and now that they have e ticketing government should provide all its workers with e ticketing cards so they can use the Public Transport System which will help maintain fares.

Public Service Broadcast

The FBC seems to be one of the few government entities that escaped a ‘cut back’ and as in the 2020 Budget its $11.2 million allocation for Public Service Broadcast was left intact in the QOVID 19 Budget. They cut back on the Youth and Sports Ministry by $3.6 million, Housing Community Development was cut by $3.5 million, Rehabilitation of damaged Schools by $5 million, Disaster Management by $2 million, Health by $21.3 million, but not $1 dollar was cut from FBC.

Since 2009, government has injected $64.9 million into the FBC by way of Public Service Broadcast. In the last 2 years, they have allowed this grant to be treated as Revenue, therefore this fake income now converts the loses of the past 2 years into a profit.

QORVIS

Not to be left out Government's propaganda consultants from the USA not only remained engaged but received a $198,395 increase in the COVID19 Budget.

There is more, but I have to go back to doing clean up in the yard but I thought providing a few of the details might help you understand how government appears to be approaching things.