Opposition MPs in Parliament today pressed for urgent national action, with Praveen Kumar calling for a government of national unity to tackle rising crime, drug use, a worsening public health crisis and the squeeze on household incomes. Kumar warned that ordinary Fijians are not seeing the benefits of economic growth, and said the recent HIV outbreak should be treated as a public health emergency requiring a coordinated, cross-party response.
“Let us build the government of national unity that our nation needs and deserves,” Kumar told MPs, arguing that entrenched partisan divides are preventing effective responses to pressing problems. He listed rising costs for food, transport, medicine and school fees, and said many young people remain unemployed while small businesses struggle to survive. Kumar also accused institutions of losing public trust, saying too many Fijians feel “the system is rigged” and that their voices no longer matter — a breakdown he said would only be healed through greater transparency and collective responsibility.
Kumar linked domestic difficulties to outside shocks, noting Fiji’s economic vulnerability to global events and recent conflicts involving Iran and other nations. His remarks come after the Fiji Embassy in Jerusalem issued security advisories earlier this month amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, underscoring how international crises can have local consequences, the opposition said. Kumar additionally urged the government to fast-track assistance for flood victims and to waive market stall fees for affected vendors.
In a separate right-of-reply, Opposition MP Sachida Nand focused on the uneven distribution of economic gains and the need for institutional reform to lift rural and maritime communities. Nand stressed that policies must ensure growth translates into jobs and opportunity across all regions, and he outlined measures he said would help — from policy reforms and stakeholder partnerships to stronger institutions supporting micro, small and medium enterprises.
Nand pointed to concrete areas for reform. He noted the collapse of Fiji’s cooperative movement from more than 2,000 entities to fewer than 300 by 2022, calling for a modernised cooperative law and a national cooperative policy that prioritises youth, women and technology to boost local production and market access. He also highlighted recent initiatives such as the Access to Business Funding Act, financial literacy programmes and the Fiji Investment Corporation Limited’s support for small businesses, cooperatives and youth- and women-led ventures.
The opposition MP also welcomed signs of industrial revival, noting that farmers in the revived copra sector are now earning in excess of US$2,000 a tonne — a figure he presented as evidence that targeted interventions can restore neglected industries. Nand urged colleagues across the House to ensure reforms in standards, trade measures and digital services — including streamlined business registration and building permit systems — translate into tangible reductions in barriers for small vendors, carpenters, retailers and digital entrepreneurs.
The exchanges mark a sharpened opposition push to spotlight social and economic pressures on households and communities, and to frame those pressures as problems requiring cross-party solutions rather than partisan point-scoring. The government has not yet offered a formal response to the Opposition’s call for a unity government; ministers have previously defended current programmes aimed at boosting investment and social support. With MPs from the Opposition tabling policy-focused critiques and specific sectoral proposals, the debate now raises the pressure on the executive to set out how it will address the HIV outbreak, crime and widening gaps in the benefits of economic growth.
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