Sayed-Khaiyum Urged to Stop Spreading Misinformation

Former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has been urged to stop spreading misinformation following claims in a TikTok video that elderly Fijians were losing their social pensions because they owned household items such as refrigerators and televisions.

The Ministry of Women, Children, Social Protection and Cohesion has rejected the claims, describing them as incorrect and misleading.

Minister Sashi Kiran clarified that owning basic household items does not automatically disqualify a senior citizen from receiving assistance under the Social Pension Scheme.

The Ministry said Sayed-Khaiyum’s claims appeared to confuse the Social Pension Scheme with the Family Assistance Scheme, which are two separate programmes with different eligibility requirements.

Under the Social Pension Scheme, Fijian citizens aged 65 and above who do not receive an FNPF pension or other qualifying superannuation benefits may be eligible for assistance.

The Ministry also released figures showing that the number of social pension recipients had increased from 51,784 in 2023 to 59,918 in the 2025–2026 financial year.

Government funding for the programme also increased from $57.4 million to $82.06 million, representing an additional $24.66 million.

The Ministry said it remained committed to supporting vulnerable senior citizens, particularly those who had spent their working lives in informal employment without retirement savings.

It also encouraged anyone who believed their pension had been wrongly stopped to seek a review through the Ministry’s established complaints process.

Questions have been sent to Sayed-Khaiyum asking him to identify where the alleged pension removals took place, how many people were affected and what evidence established that ownership of a refrigerator or television was the sole reason for their pensions being stopped.

He was also asked whether he had reported these cases to the Ministry or sought clarification before making the claims publicly.

These questions remain unanswered.

This follows an earlier dispute over Sayed-Khaiyum’s claims about Fiji’s economic growth.

Reserve Bank of Fiji Governor Ariff Ali had previously explained that the slowdown in economic growth in 2023 was already projected in 2022, while Sayed-Khaiyum was still Minister for Economy.