Tabuya Hits Back at Critics

It is not the sole responsibility of government to financially sustain social welfare recipients.

This was the statement made by Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection Lynda Tabuya in Parliament yesterday.

Ms Tabuya was responding to the criticism that social welfare allowances were not enough to sustain a recipient given the cost of living.

“It is not the sole responsibility of government to financially sustain our social welfare recipients,” she said.

In iTaukei she said in an impassionate tone: “E sega ni tavi ni matanitu me qarava vakatabakidua vakailavo na qase, o ira e ra sega ni tu vinaka na tuvaki ni yagodra, kei na dravudravua.

“Oqo nai tavi ni dua na vuvale. Na matanitu e solia ga na veivuke me vakuria tu nai tavi e dodonu ga me nona eliu e dua na vuvale. (It is first and foremost the responsibility of the family).”

She added that Government only supplemented this responsibility in recognition of the service that senior citizens had given Fiji, the vulnerable, the children and the physically and mentally impaired.

“For those that truly need more support who are abandoned by their family, this is done on a case by case basis,” she added.

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