Minister rejects claims of welfare roll cuts

A heated exchange broke out in Parliament yesterday between Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection Sashi Kiran and opposition MP Virendra Lal regarding those assisted by Fiji’s social welfare system.

Mr Lal, responding to Ms Kiran’s ministerial statement on reforms to the Family Assistance Scheme, accused the ministry of focusing on removing people from the list since Kiran took office.

Ms Kiran shot back immediately, raising a point of order for misrepresentation.

“Since we came in, from 96,000 people we have 108,000 people on our social protection. It has gone up. Nobody has been removed and Opposition has to get their facts right,” Ms Kiran said.

Speaker Filimone Jitoko sided with Ms Kiran, ruling that the data did not support Lal’s claim and ordering him to withdraw the statement which he did.

Mr Lal also raised concerns about welfare officers rejecting applications based on household items such as televisions and fridges.

He argued that many applicants received those items as gifts as they have no income.

Ms Kiran responded that this was precisely what Cabinet’s updated Proxy Means Test – the tool used to assess whether a household qualifies for assistance. It was designed to fix, moving away from a simple asset count toward a fuller picture of a family’s situation.

Mr Lal also questioned what would happen to struggling families after the emergency top-up ends in July, if there was a long-term plan.

“We must make sure this safety net is actually wide enough to catch everyone who is falling,” Mr Lal said.

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