Motion for local elections defeated in Fiji parliament

The Fiji government's plan to revamp local bodies is tantamount to turning municipal councils into dictatorial regimes, an opposition MP says.

The National Federation Party's Lenora Qereqeretabua was speaking during a debate in parliament on Tuesday about whether to bring back municipal council elections this year.

Elected councils were abolished more than a decade ago under military rule and the FijiFirst government has promised to review the system which it says has led to corruption and mismanagement.

Ms Qereqeretabua hit out at the government's plan to bring in a team of special administrators to oversee local bodies which have been run by appointed administrators since 2009.

"We can see foresee appointments based on nepotism and cronyism of FijiFirst supporters and wellwishers," she said.

"This is a sad but indisputable fact and I make no apologies for making this statement. We have irrefutable evidence of who are financiers of FijiFirst and we can link them to certain developments and appointments."

Ms Qereqeretabua had moved to uphold the Local Government Act and approve the facilitation of municipal elections by October.

The motion was defeated 27 to 21 with three abstentions.

Fiji's system of local government needed to undergo critical reform before a return to elections to avoid the corruption and mismanagement that was rife in the past, according to the Minister for Local Government Premila Kumar.

She told parliament the municipal councils had a history rife with scandals, corruption and squandering ratepayers' money, listing a series of questionable land deals.

"By calling for municipal elections the opposition is actually calling for a return to corruption and inefficient development.

"We must not and we will not give in to these demands for the sake of political expediency," she said.

Ms Kumar said Fiji needed a system to fit its own development needs, citing places abroad which managed without elected local bodies.

Five special administrators would be appointed to oversee the municipalities and a committee would be set up to review local government laws, the minister said.

But Ms Qereqeretabua wanted to know what had happened to the "fast-tracked" review of the Act promised in 2017.

"Taxtation without representation is tyranny," she said.

"Already the special administrators and CEOs of municipal bodies are toothless tigers."

The minister said more than $US60 million had been invested lin municipal assets and innovative solutions had been found to long standing problems after elected councils were removed.

However, acoording to Ms Qereqeretabua, ratepayers were facing countless problems and getting kicked from pillar to post under the current system.

She brought up the plight of a small community on the outskirts of Suva.

"They tell me that they pay rates but they don't have proper rubbish collection or proper footpaths or lighting for footpaths despite many promises made to them in 2014.

"It would be extremely concerning if they were being discriminated against because of their heritage, or address or community type."

The MP referred to a poll conducted last year which showed 68 percent support for elected mayors while Ms Kumar pointed to voter turn out fading to 31 percent before the elections were dumped.

The government plans to appoint a strategic management team and a review of the master plans for Fiji's main towns had started, Ms Kumar said.

Prominent Singaporean architect, Liu Thai Ker, dubbed the "architect of modern Singapore", was overseeing the town plan review she said.