Opposition Member of Parliament Premila Kumar has criticized the Government’s recent decision to reallocate funds within the 2023-2024 National Budget to address a $7.9 million overspend by the Ministry of Education and the Fiji Police Force, describing it as a sign of significant financial mismanagement. This comes on the heels of a prior reallocation of $105.2 million in July to meet additional financial requirements across several government agencies and initiatives.
Kumar stated that this ongoing situation indicates weak monitoring by the Government, with the Ministry of Finance evidently struggling to maintain budgetary discipline among ministries and departments, raising serious concerns about the government’s budgeting and spending practices.
While acknowledging that such reallocations are legally permissible under the Financial Management Act, she emphasized that they highlight broader issues such as poor planning, insufficient budget allocations, and ineffective expenditure controls.
Kumar insisted that the public deserves transparency regarding how these overspendings occur and what measures are in place, if any, to prevent government agencies from exceeding their budgets. She also pointed out that while the recent redeployment specifically highlighted the Ministry of Education and the Fiji Police Force, the more extensive July reallocation affected multiple government agencies.
The former Minister in the FijiFirst Government criticized the Minister for Finance for announcing new allocations for the upcoming financial year without detailing expenditures from the previous year.
Kumar reiterated the Opposition’s demand for greater transparency and requested a full breakdown of the $42 million transferred from capital projects. This request was dismissed by the government in the last business committee meeting.
She concluded by calling on the Minister for Finance to provide a comprehensive account of all overspending by government agencies, along with justifications for these expenses, stressing that the Government’s claims of accountability and transparency are now under intense scrutiny, especially given that there have been no disasters or emergencies to warrant such additional spending. Kumar emphasized the need for improved financial management and accountability from the Government for the people of Fiji.