Featuring in photos ‘not my job’

THIS minister is not going to be featuring in photos handing out food packs because that is not his job.

Disaster Management Minister Sakiasi Ditoka did not mince his words when he responded to a social media assault against him by Opposition parliamentarian Ketan Lal.

In a social media post, Mr

Lal questioned the absence of Government Ministers during flooding in the Western Division this week.

Mr Ditoka said unlike the previous administration, the Coalition Government did not need ministers posing for pictures while delivering assistance to those affected.

“That’s probably how they did it in FijiFirst, but the floods that we are having now is testament to the last 16 years of negligence,” he said.

“If that was how things worked, all the photos that the former FijiFirst government had taken would have fixed all the blocked drains and silted up rivers.

“As I had mentioned in previous interviews, this minister is not going to be featuring in photos handing out food packs because that is not his job.”

Mr Ditoka said he visited a family in Lautoka who escaped death after a tree fell on their house, but did not feel the need to advertise it.

“I was at Mr Vimlesh Kumar’s home at Naikabula in Lautoka yesterday and I discussed with the Minister of Home Affairs how we could assist the family through the RFMF Engineers in getting them back on their feet.

“For your information, we have been cooperating with FRIEND in delivering food packs as well as non-food items from our own stocks to affected homes.”