Kreetika Kumar 
Independent Member of Parliament Jone Usamate [Source: Parliament of Fiji/ Facebook]
Independent Member of Parliament Jone Usamate has confirmed that he is prepared to support Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka.
While contributing to the budget debate this morning, Usamate highlighted that he is willing to support the government on issues that he believes are in the best interest of the country.
However, he adds that he will fight against and oppose anything that he believes does not address the needs and is against the best interests of this country.
He adds that while the 2024–25 national budget has a lot of very good aspects, there are also many underlying weaknesses.
Therefore, he adds that he cannot fully support the budget.
“Fiji needs growth, and good, effective investment in infrastructure helps to build the growth. The government is providing very little or no expenditure on new infrastructure in this budget.”
Usamate says the government is only largely providing funding to preserve what is already in place.
He adds that the new infrastructure is coming from the development partners, and they are funding new infrastructure that will contribute to GDP growth.
Usamate says that slow implementation of projects by some ministries and departments that are part of the executive has led to underspent budgets.
He adds that this inefficiency not only hampers economic growth but also undermines public trust in government.
