The Attorney-General has challenged Opposition Member of Parliament Mitieli Bulanauca to call him a terrorist and Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama a murderer outside Parliament.

Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, in response to Mr Bulanauca’s budget response, said the MP’s comments and attribution was pathetic and should not be taken seriously.

Mr Bulanauca had called Mr Sayed-Khaiyum a terriorist and the Prime Minister a murderer. He labelled the budget as “racist” adding that Mr Sayed-Khaiyum and Mr Bainimarama were racist against the mahogany landowners, who were iTaukei.

“The Honourable Prime Minister said in his budget response that the Opposition has the tendency of personalising things. There is no intellectual input there. Calling the Prime Minister a racist and a murderer: calling me a terrorist. I challenge him, we challenge him to come and say it outside parliament,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.

“He will pull out a race card, he will pull out the in-comprehensive statements which have no logic and he will pull out figures and God knows where he is pulling it out from, personalising issues, and he went back to 2004 and talked about mutiny and CRW (Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit).”

SODELPA leader Viliame Gavoka said he did not think Mr Bulanauca was racist at all.

“Honourable Bulanauca always believed that more can be done for our people. He is highlighting some of the forthcoming this particular party has in relation to the resources of the iTaukei,” Mr Gavoka said.

“That is the way he looks at it. He is very passionate about the economic advancement of the iTaukei and sometimes he comes across that way, but I know him, he has a very good heart and his primary interest is to uplift the economy of the iTaukei.”

“Honourable Bulanauca has been that way since he came into Parliament, so it is nothing new.”

In response, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said Mr Gavoka was always making excuses.

“The problem with Honourable Gavoka is that he is not a very strong leader for his party. You will never find any Member of Parliament from FijiFirst making those kinds of comments,” he said.

“If anybody did get out of line our leader will pull him or her into line because they don’t exist in our line. That is the problem with SODELPA.”

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said SODELPA was riddled with the faction’s indecisive leadership, and they had no morals, no principles and no values.

“All they want is to come into Government. They want power for the sake of power, self-gratification and self-aggrandisement.”

Debate on the budget continues today.

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