Chaudhry: We are 40 years behind

FIJI Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry says he decided to return to politics despite his age because the country “is in a bad situation”.

He said FLP stood out from the rest of the political parties in Fiji because they always delivered on their promises.

Mr Chaudhry said even though the past two Labour governments did not serve their full terms, they delivered their respective promises in the short time they were in government.

“We mean what we say, if we promise something, we deliver,” he said.

“Unfortunately, we have not been allowed to govern our full term.”

Referring to the 1987 coup, which saw the removal of the first Labour prime minister Dr Timoci Bavadra and his removal in 2000, Mr Chaudhry claimed that coups led to the depreciation of the Fijian dollar, which put the country back 10 years.

“When we have a coup, the country goes back 10-15 years, investment stops, confidences in the future of the country drops, people leave the country and there is uncertainty.

“We have had four coups, so if you add the four coups altogether, we are behind 40 years.”

He added it was evident in the state of the economy that the past four coups have impacted the nation negatively.

“We have to be honest about these things and people who have done it got away with it.

“A lot of lies were told, a lot of misinformation was given to the people to make them think otherwise.”

He said the current government has been in power for 16 years and borrowed so much, yet the people were suffering with many issues.

Mr Chaudhry urged the people of Muanikoso to vote wisely on December 14 as democracy had declined over the years.

“People have a right to put a government in place and they have a right to remove the government simply by voting on Election Day.”