Initiative helps Parliament conduct business

THE Fijian Parliament’s ability to conduct its business amidst the pandemic is a result of investments into its e-Parliament initiative that began in 2020, says Speaker of Parliament Ratu Epeli Nailatikau.

He made the comments during the virtual World e-Parliament conference that was held last week.

Ratu Epeli said the development and strengthening of the information technology (IT) facilities to ensure effective online or virtual communications was because of the successful partnership between the Fijian Parliament, Government and our development partners of Australia, Japan and New Zealand and facilitated under the United Nations Development Programme, Fiji Parliament Support Project.

“The target was enhancing Parliament’s accessibility to citizens for information resources and access to committee inquiries,” he said.

“But it became crucial in ensuring the continuity of business during the lockdowns that were instituted to counter the transmission of the pandemic.”

Fijian Parliament IT manager Maika Lakeba said there had been enhanced accessibility, especially through Facebook, and this had given the public immediate live access to the sittings and committee inquiries.

“Because of the instantaneous nature of social media, the public is able to quickly raise issues and engage in open debate about the issues covered in plenary,” he said.