Niggling questions

IT’S always best and safest to put a disclaimer in front of any writing, especially when we patriotic folks ever immersed in matters of national interest pen some stuff that could potentially be misinterpreted as being politically motivated. So, this letter is not politically motivated, and my questions do not align with any political thinking or affiliation.

First question: Fiji has had a Ministry for Economy for a long time. It was somewhat fair to pin the performance of Fiji’s economy to the Economy Ministry/Minister back then. However, now Fiji does not have a Ministry for Economy but has a Finance Ministry.

Therefore, with the change of name of the ministry, does the Ministry of Finance still take ownership for the performance of the economy, that is, without being called the Economy Ministry?

Or should we consider reverting back to the formerly Ministry of Economy? How does the name difference matter, or does it matter at all?

We need a good and simple answer rather than a smart one.

Second question: This is regarding our National Development Plans: Fiji has a current 20-yr DP (2017-2036) and a current 5-yr DP (2022-2026). There are reasons reported for the formulation of the new DPs and most of us would also like to see the streamlining of policies in every industry.

With the Government now working on new DPs altogether, including a three-year DP, what is the guarantee that there will be continuity after the next elections?

Could the next regime, if different, possibly embark on formulating yet another new set of DPs?

So much time, effort and money goes into making these DPs. We certainly do not want to be stuck in a vicious cycle of continually changing things that are supposed to be longterm.

We can’t be consistently inconsistent.

DONALD SINGH

Suva