‘Stop the blame game’

“STOP the blame game”.

This was the plea of the newly-appointed member of Parliament Mere Samisoni to all the parliamentarians.

“Our people do not want to listen to the rubbish that comes from this Parliament every time we have a parliamentary sitting,” she said while delivering her maiden speech in Parliament last week.

“Hurling accusations against each other without offering solutions to grant relief for our people must stop.

“Our youth want jobs and reasonable rent and affordable housing, our older folks deserve a wellresourced public hospital, not one where two mothers died of septicaemia in January and February 2020.

“Such deaths in this modern day and age are unacceptable.”

She said leaders from the community must “walk the talk”.

“Parliament is not a place to come and make money, or scam money.

“In this August Parliament, we must plan and devise national policies that serve all of our people.

“Poverty is an acrossthe-board issue that deprives people of their basic human rights.

“Whether in Parliament or outside of it, those who have pledged to become servants of the people through this August Parliament must accept that they have the responsibility to provide relief to our people in whatever capacity they can.

“I, therefore, ask Government to see to it that there is some kind of criteria set for those wishing to stand for politics; that they must have the ability and the resources to conduct some level of national assistance to our people as enabling criteria for election candidacy.”