Seruiratu Betrayed FijiFirst to Increase His Salary Says NFP

A war of words has erupted between Fiji’s Opposition Leader, Hon. Inia Seruiratu and the National Federation Party (NFP) following an exchange on Facebook, where the latter claimed that Seruiratu's voting to increase his salary led directly to the collapse of his former FijiFirst party.

The exchange started when Seruiratu, in a post on his official Facebook page, criticised the National Federation Party, describing what he termed the party’s political collapse and accusing it of betraying Indo-Fijian voters.

“Finally, we cannot ignore the political tragedy unfolding within the National Federation Party,” Seruiratu wrote.

“A party that brands itself as the champion of Indo-Fijian rights now stands stripped of dignity, influence, and credibility. This party was elected largely by Indo-Fijian voters, yet once in power, it betrayed the very people who placed their trust in it,” he said.

In response, the National Federation Party issued a strongly worded rebuttal, accusing Seruiratu of hypocrisy and questioning his credibility.

“This is the height of hypocrisy by a leader whose actions to vote for a pay rise that benefited him the greatest – increased his Opposition Leader’s salary by a massive $80,000 from $120,000 to $200,000 – led to the collapse and deregistration of the Fiji First Party.”

“A man who for more than 8 years was the lap dog of Voreqe Bainimarama and Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is accusing the government of being dysfunctional and NFP of being a political accessory of the Prime Minister,” the party said.

“While Seruiratu voted to hike his own salary by a massive $80,000, the NFP is on record as opposing it, both in our submission as well as when it was put to a vote in Parliament.”