Singh remains confident
FIJI Teachers Union general secretary Agni Deo Singh says he is confident he will retain his position after elections are completed today.
He said his confidence stemmed from the fact that he had a proven track record of addressing members’ issues without fear or favour.
“I have been working for the members all these years and I am fully confident the members are going to cast their votes in our favour,” said Mr Singh.
There was a lot of ignorance, he said, regarding financial assistance to branches.
“Branches currently get $14 per year per member as rebate and, apart from that, all branch workshops, seminars and empowerment programs are funded by the headquarters.
“Branches are also given additional allowances for annual conferences and we have a separate funding for the women’s wing where all their workshops are funded by the headquarters.
“This one dollar increase that Mr Prasad is talking about will give all the branches below $5000 .
“We are providing many times more funding compared to the other teams.
“So, I believe, either they are not aware at all of how the union’s finances are managed and how funds are given to the branches or they are just trying to create mischief.”
Meanwhile, Mr Singh expressed concerns that some of the candidates were breaching the election requirements by staying within the polling venue.
He said despite informing the Fiji Elections Office (FEO), the candidates continued to stay within the polling premises.
He said it was a “serious” breach of election restrictions.
Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem, when contacted late yesterday afternoon, said his team was still gathering data and information from yesterday’s election.
“We are gathering the data and we will respond. We have to get information from our staff,” he said.
In a statement yesterday, the FEO confirmed the polling station was a restricted area. The FEO stated union elections were conducted by union rules.