Too Early to Judge New Coalition Govt

Passing judgement on the new coalition Government now is premature. Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and his team should be given time to settle down after the rigours of the election. Switching from election mode to Government mode is a big change.

It is very easy to take pot shots at the Government when you are in Opposition but it is not easy to adjust to a role reversal.

It won’t happen overnight and it will take some time. It’s fair to give the new Government time to start implementing its election promises.

Minister of Finance Professor Biman Prasad has alluded to some of the initial challenges. One of them is that in this marriage (coalition) of three parties there are different policies in their manifestos.

Professor Prasad said the different policies would be matters of discussion by Cabinet. The People’s Alliance had said in its manifesto that there would be a mini Budget in the first 100 days to carry out its priorities and commitments through allocation, redeployment of funds from the current financial year which ends in June.

But Professor Prasad said yesterday in his first day in office that there would be no mini-Budget because in six months they would present a full Budget.

Policies from the coalition members are put on the table and Cabinet discusses them before a decision is made that takes into consideration the coalition interest. In this context a mini Budget is unrealistic given the timeframe. But other promises are still on track including the forgiving of debts on the Tertiary Education Loan Scheme (TELS), the reduction of ministers’ salaries and no pay cut for civil servants. He did not mention anything on The PA’s plan to convene a National Economic Summit (NES) to consult with all stakeholders and development partners.

While he did not specifically talk about NES he, however, said there would be consultations with stakeholders.

The forgiving of student loan debts and reduction of ministers’ salaries would require some serious Budget readjustments which would need parliamentary approval. That should be no problem if they can maintain their one-vote majority.

With voting by MPs now transparent and not kept confidential like it happened in the vote for Speaker, deputy Speaker and Prime Minister, MPs are likely to toe the party or coalition line because rebels could be expelled by their parties and lose their seats.

It is one of the issues at the back of the coalition Government’s mind in the midst of challenges to live up to its 100-day promises. There will be trial and error as things may not go according to plan but they are part of being new in Government – learning the processes and the realities.

Only Mr Rabuka has had Government experience having served as Prime Minister previously in the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (SVT) Government.

The situation is, however, a lot different now. Fundamentally, they will operate under a Constitution they vehemently opposed because of the way it was enacted, claiming it was imposed on the people. If they want to amend the

Constitution, they cannot do it because they do not have the numbers. They need 42 votes at least to satisfy the requirement of 75 per cent of the 55 votes in Parliament. Secondly, we are coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and in recovery phase in terms of the economy. While the situation is improving we are not out of the woods yet. The rise in the cost of living is still a major concern and the future is still uncertain. It is exacerbated by the negative global impact of Russia’s War in Ukraine on the supply chain and the devastating wild weather phenomenon caused by climate change.

An example is the snow storm causing havoc in the United States. So far we have not seen too much emphasis on climate change but hopefully it will be factored in the coalition Government’s first National Budget in six months.

That will be an appropriate time to start judging Mr Rabuka and his team.