Wage review

Floyd Robinson

Toorak, Suva

Recent revelations that Government will commence a review of the hourly wage rates is definitely good news, especially for average income earners trying to make ends meet on a daily basis.

This appears to be a common topic among a lot of people from all walks of life and some are struggling.

One looks forward to the process and out­come of this review. More importantly, when this is likely to take effect.

Meanwhile, one is encouraged to budget carefully by prioritising use of funds.

With the festive season happening and school around the corner, one can expect parents and guardians to carefully budget their income.

Tis the season

Spencer Robinson

Suva

Christmas is just around the corner and everyone seems to be impatient to embrace the occasion.

Often times the real essence of Christmas is not celebrated with genuine purpose.

Like other traditional annual events, Christmas has been largely commercialised and therefore lost its true significance.

In addition, materialism such as the art of “gifting” has been a common trend along with preparing the best meal for feasting.

There is also the very high spending on kava and alcohol during this month of fes­tivity. All in all, what really matters is cel­ebrating this Christmas with families and friends with faith, hope and love regardless of what we eat and wear for the much-antic­ipated occasion.

Bob Hope once said, “my idea of Christ­mas, whether old fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others”.

Christmas story

Dharmendra Kumar

Suva

The Christmas story is the story that was planned before the world was ever created.

God knew what we would need most and His Son carried out that plan so that our sin could be more than just covered.

Through His sacrificial death in our place, Jesus paid for our sin.

Many people trace the custom of giving Christmas presents to the gifts brought by the wise men, but in reality, the first gift of Christmas was Jesus, who was exactly the gift we needed most.

International Disability Day

Satish Nakched

Suva

This week across the country the Interna­tional Day of Persons with Disabilities was celebrated through marches and fanfare. It was a good awareness campaign, but the bottom line suggests that we are not creat­ing a conducive environment where such people could enjoy the quality of life that others have.

According to the report released by the relevant ministry, 13 per cent of our popula­tion falls into this group and that is a lot in Fijian context.

This group is mostly discriminated by not having user friendly footpaths, infrastruc­ture and the public transport system.

There is not a single taxi or a bus in Suva that has wheelchair access.

Quite interesting in New York is that the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit of more than 150 world leaders in­cluding a representative from Fiji adopted the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Devel­opment Goals (SDGs).

The aim of the United Nations Develop­ment Programme (UNDP) was to support governments around the world in tackling the new agenda and taking it forward over the next 15 years.

Goal number 4 states the need for access to equitable quality education and promotion of life-long learning opportunities for all and focuses on eliminating gender dispari­ties in education and ensuring equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including per­sons with disabilities.

Most of our schools and universities are not in compliance.

In addition, the proposal calls for building and upgrading facilities that are disability and gender sensitive.

Another mention was in goal number 8 which stated that all the member countries will target by 2030 to achieve full and pro­ductive employment and decent work for all women and men, including people with dis­abilities.

These are set frameworks that a country needs to work within in order to improve the lives of the less fortunate.

I believe since 2015 we have been moving at a snail’s pace because there is no tangible evidence to suggest that we are headed in the right direction.

New buildings and the roads now have physically challenged parking as required by the regulations before a completion and the occupancy certificate are issued.

But this special reserved parking is abused and used by everyone.

The provision of such parking places helps to enable this group of people to lead auton­omous and independent lives.

The relevant authority must legislate the issue of the blue special dashboard sig­nage that could be displayed and allow such drivers the privilege of using the reserved space.

In the absence of such laws a physically challenged driver was seen in the city with a temporary sign at the rear of the vehicle window seeking assistance from others be­cause of his immobility.

We should not only talk and celebrate the disability day but rather set a timeline to bring in improvement for those wh