So it is not just the increase in military budget, but also the amount by which they illegally exceed that budget. This is the BLOOD MONEY the regime uses to rape the People of their democracy. So isn't it wonderful that the police and army facilities are neat and clean. It covers up the FILTH of their mentality as they run paradise, industry, and the hopes and dreams of the People into the ground.
Do you still want to talk about corruption? How about racism? Of course I have no statistics on how much of this blood money is going to the different races. The blood money paid to John Samy for putting a cloak of legitimacy over this despicable mess is small change.
When is this bubble going to burst?
Legacy of evil and deceit
By Professor Wadan Narsey
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
+ Enlarge this imagePointed gesture ... the military's budget allocation has raised a few eyebrows
IF this were a normal national budget presented by an elected government and an elected Minister of Finance, one would look for the good things in this budget.
The rhetoric is good, and indeed there are a few good initiatives.
One would also discuss a number of irresponsible stupidities in this budget: The increase of tariffs reversing the hard-won progress in reducing protectionism; the inefficient doubling of the allocation to the Fiji Visitors Bureau; or the granting of tax incentives only to the rich (those investing more than $2million) and not to the thousands of small and poor potential entrepreneurs who should be helped.
But this is not a normal budget. This is a budget forced on the people of Fiji, by a military government that deposed an elected government by using guns.
This is the question the public need to ask: What significant changes has this military government brought in, which would not have been brought in by a normal responsible government, elected by taxpayers themselves?
In particular, do taxpayers agree with the illegal over-expenditure by the military in 2007, amounting to a massive $50m more than was approved by the 2006 elected Parliament?
Do taxpayers agree with the massive 39 per cent increase in salaries (amounting to $23m a year) that the military government gave to the RFMF staffing establishment, that will now continue into the long-term future?
So what is evil?
Health experts know when you do not spend $50m extra on medicines, doctors, nurses and life-saving operations, you lose x number of lives.
It is evil therefore that $50m which could have gone to health, education, and poverty alleviation, were given to the military by Commodore Voreqe Baini-marama, who did the coup, appointed himself PM, appointed himself "Minis-ter of Finance" and gives taxpayers money to buy the support of his soldiers for the coup.
It is evil that our hard-working nurses, who were forced to go on strike for a pitiful increase in salaries, were beaten down by this interim Government and its lackeys.
It is evil when our health centres last year ran out of medicines because the then interim Finance Minister had to cover the overexpenditure by the military; while $15m had been approved for medicines, only $10m was allowed to be spent in 2007 (read the 2009 Estimates fine print).
It is evil when the Education Ministry is told it cannot have $3m for scholarships for the poor; or that squatters are told there is no money for housing while this military government, without the permission of taxpayers, spent an extra $50m in 2007.
Where is the deceit?
For two years in a row now, government expenditure summary statistics have been presented without including the VAT on most items, while previous years have included VAT.
Commentators are making the mistake of comparing VAT-inclusive figures in previous years (2006 and 2007) with 2008 and 2009 estimates where the VAT has been differently estimated.
This illusion permeates the whole of the 2009 Budget, much of which is now presented without the application of VAT. The real increases in many areas, including total government expenditure, is far more than it appears.
There is another "deceit" that the public needs to look out for.
The 2009 Budget is all about "Estimates" -- what is supposed to be spent in 2009 -- and "Revised Estimates for 2008".
But for the RFMF, the Estimates for 2009 or the Revised Estimates for 2008 cannot be relied upon.
That is obvious from last year's budget by Mahendra Chaudhry that gave the 2007 Revised Expenditure for the military as $72m. The Actual Expenditure, published in this year's budget, was $118m, an overexpenditure of $47m.
Did Mr Chaudhry know of this over-expenditure by the military which is why he was slashing expenditure elsewhere, including that for medicines?
No one should believe any number presented by this military government as Estimates, or Revised Estimates for the RFMF for 2008 or 2009.
Almost certainly the 2008 Actual Expenditure by the military will be the same, if not more than that in 2007 -- not what is stated in this year's Estimates.
Why is the military not allowing the government auditor to audit its accounts? Why is the public not being given the audited accounts for 2006 and 2007?
The long-term evil
The evil that this military government has done for 2006, 2007 and 2008 will not stop this year.
Over the next 20 years, the 39 per cent unauthorised increase in military salaries -- which will be virtually impossible to reverse -- will cost the tax-payers an additional $460m.
That is in addition to the normal $1260m that will be spent on their normal salaries as approved by the 2006 Parliament.
All money that will not be spent on education (teachers), health (nurses) or poverty alleviation for the poorest in Fiji.
That is the evil legacy that Cmdre Bainimarama's military government will be leaving the people of Fiji, and future elected governments (if we ever get one).
Irresponsible government
An elected government may bind the hands of future governments in terms of revenues foregone through tax incentives, if the elected Parliament approves the long term taxation benefits.
But this unelected military government has no legal or moral authority to tie the hands of future elected governments, by declaring 17-year tax holidays for well-off enterprises. This unelected government has no authority to reduce corporate tax.
The people must realise that the effect of all these tax holidays is that the future burden of raising revenue for government will fall on indirect taxation including VAT, whose burden falls most heavily on the poor.
Of course, the business community, big investors and senior accounting firms will be rubbing their hands with glee since none of these future taxation burdens will fall on them, while they will be enjoying the delights.
Of course, tourism will be happy with the drastic doubling of their FVB allocation -- from $12m to $24m -- even if the increase is stupid as it cannot be efficiently implemented.
Did the Finance Ministry look at the sad previous experience when Jim Ah Koy doubled the FVB allocation without any proportionate increase in tourism arrivals (my 2004 report must be gathering dust on the shelves of the Ministry of Tourism).
This country has rarely, if ever, seen any moral response from the business community to any budget which has damaging impacts on society at large.
That is to be expected -- they're here to make money, not look after the poor. But is that not what this interim Government claims to do?
Our moral community
What is not understandable is the silence of Fiji's "moral community".
Only three years ago, a whole heap of clerics would have been shouting from the roof-tops, challenging a government which takes away food and medicine from the poor and gives it to powerful armed men in uniforms.
Today, CCF (Reverend Akuila Yabaki, Jone Dakuvula and others) and the Fiji Labour Party are all silent about the huge military overexpenditure.
Other clerics, such as Fr Kevin Barr, Archbishop Petero Mataca and Fr David Arms recite the mantras of honesty, transparency and accountability, while supporting the NCBBF and the Charter processes which are all that now remain to justify the 2006 military coup and the huge military overexpenditure.
The Commodore's budget address, helped along by John Samy, talked of being pro-poor and fostering growth, two favourite themes of the ADB from which Mr Samy and Francis Narayan recently retired.
There has not been a word from them about the military's illegal over-expenditure of $50m in 2007.
The cherubic interim Attorney General, now also an economic expert, solemnly justified on television the massive salary increases to the military establishment as "necessary adjustments long over-due".
While academic Dr Rohit Kishore, appointed by the military government to the Home Finance Corporation board, took a newspaper page to explain "how the budget must drive the planning process".What drivel.
Yes indeed, let us all plan for military overexpenditure for the foreseeable future!
If the 2009 Budget was "Pro-Poor and for Economic Growth", and if our religious do-gooders and overseas experts are to be believed, Fiji's poor must be all in the military.
Because that is the only place where there's been growth in allotment of tax-payers' funds since 2006.
And you can be sure that is one place where there will be no budget cuts.
Our security guards will continue to rob the taxpayers' bank. And our Auditor General will keep sending his audit reports to the bank robbers.
