It’s not just the money
If our leadership style won’t change, nothing will change
PREPARING a national budget to respond to our COVID-19 crisis-hit economy would be a challenge for anyone, even the best government. Unfortunately those preparing our current Budget have shown they are anything but the best Government.
We face our biggest health, economic and social crisis in Fiji’s 51 years as an independent nation. And our Government has failed woefully to lead.
Why is leadership important?
I have spent over 30 years as an economist. Economists deal with hard facts and data to reach their conclusions on how economies should develop and grow.
I have spent less time as a political leader. But that time has reinforced for me what most economists already know - that economies are not just about hard facts and data. They are not just about money.
People are at the centre of economics and if we do not get the best out of our people, we will not succeed.
So how Fiji is led has economic consequences. And until we change the way Fiji is led, nothing will change.
For the next few years, it will be Fiji’s people, not the Government, who will lead our economic recovery. And, whoever is in the Government in those years must behave in a way that gives people – not the Government – the space to lead, create, innovate and adapt.
Hard facts
There are some new realities that anyone in Government must face.
The current crisis has destroyed the economic foundations of Government revenue. We can no longer raise enough money from taxation, fees and other sources to pay for even basic Government services.
But we not only have to pay for those basic services – we now also have to support tens of thousands of people whose own economic foundations have been destroyed through loss of their jobs and businesses.
Government debt is already crippling. We all know why. We now depend on gifts from Australia and New Zealand just to pay Government’s day-to-day bills.
For at least the next three years, Government’s finances will be “hand to mouth”. As soon as some money comes in, we will have bills to pay – including $80 million to $100 million per month in debt repayment.
In the past 10 years the Government has strongly influenced our economic lives. This is because it has borrowed heavily and spent heavily. They say this is money well spent. We say it has been spent on freebies and flashy projects to make the FijiFirst party look good and ignoring basic issues such as the state of our health and education systems.
Regardless – those days are over. For whatever purpose, Government spending will be lower. The Government will have very little money to throw around. It will be spending a lot of it to just repay its debts.
People are our key resource
In any country the most important resource are the knowledge, experience and creativity of its people. Fiji is no different.
And yet, this is the thing that the FijiFirst party fears the most.
Some ministers began their government careers in a military government. (ML1) They didn’t have to work for people’s votes. They have never had to talk to people, listen to their problems and think of people-centred policies.
The FijiFirst party only knows one way to work - by using the power of the Government.
They use laws and threats to order people around. And they use Government money to manipulate the news media and to throw around freebies to win votes.
This has won them two elections, the second one with only 50.02 per cent of the vote. So it has been good for them. But it has been bad for the country. They have crushed people’s social and economic participation which is the most important thing.
Why has the FijiFirst refused to allow town and city council elections? Because it knows that it cannot win them.
But local government is where we build the next generation of national leadership, dealing with people’s problems at community level. So now town and city councils are struggling and underfunded. Half of them face audit or even corruption inquiries.
They cannot deliver basic services like garbage collection. And they certainly cannot build swimming pools in Lautoka!
Why does the Ministry of Education headquarters in Suva try to control school owners and committees and teachers, leaving them with zero autonomy?
They cannot fundraise. They cannot pick their school heads. They cannot even choose who will speak at school assemblies because the Government is afraid of opposition politicians.
So, again, we are losing the ingenuity and leadership that is needed at local level to support communities whose problems are far different from bureaucrats in Suva.
Economically, we know the data. Fiji is literally one of the most inefficient places in the world to start a new business. Over-regulating and over-zealous public authorities are unable to see the world from any viewpoint but their own.
Even so-called “Government support” to pandemic-affected businesses has been disastrous and disorganised.
What must our government do to change?
Let us begin with three things. These seem obvious to everyone except the Government.
First, the Government must be honest with us. If it is not honest it is not trusted. And if it is not trusted, it cannot lead.
The Government must begin by taking responsibility for the bad decisions that have led us to an uncontrolled outbreak of the coronavirus.
Honesty sometimes requires humility, and accepting responsibility. This helps to build respect.
Right now trust in Government is low. The Government does not engage with people. It just orders them around, mostly without warning. It treats people with total contempt.
The Prime Minister cannot even turn up on time for national television address. Last year the Economy Minister was two hours late with last year’s budget.
Is this a sign of an organised government that respects and is ready to work with Fiji’s people?
Second, the Government must build a climate of consultation and participation.
For years we have asked for summits and proper national discussions on issues such as the economy, education, the sugar industry, domestic violence and health.
Maybe the Government has its own plans for these things. Maybe it just makes it up as it goes along. The problem is – nobody knows.
We all need to be heard and we all need to be part of these plans. If the people are part of the planning they will know the plan – and they can help the Government to achieve it.
Third, we need a shared vision for the twenty-first century.
I say this again - this must be a vision which we share in the design. If the Government just tries to dictate this, we all waste time because the next government may just change direction.
On the big economic issues, we must have a unified vision. Not everyone will agree on everything. But we must have broad agreement on where we are going.
We want to see an economy which looks to the next 20 years’ challenges and how we use our strengths to meet them. In the next decades the world will demand highquality agricultural products – food, timber and other organic products which we can harvest from land and sea.
The world will demand personal services – around information technology, medical care, sports as entertainment – which we can supply.
We have two rich near neighbours in Australia and New Zealand. They have all the things that we want – good governance, efficient business processes and skilled people.
Most importantly, as they have already shown, they are willing to help us despite this government’s long history of bad behaviour to them.
After all, who can forget the “Look North” policy, when we would reject Australia and New Zealand and gain all our riches from China and Dubai.
The Government must be honest enough and humble enough to ask these countries – our real friends – for help. And it must be honest enough, and humble enough to say to our own people – “we cannot do this alone. We also need your help”.
This is the beginning of rebuilding. It is about leadership. This is more important than $100 million spent here or a tax break granted there.
So I am waiting for the next budget, but with little enthusiasm. I do not think that this is a government that can change.
And the longer it takes Fiji’s government to change, the longer we will wait for our economy, and our lives, to get better.