Fiji’s Opposition Member of Parliament Premila Kumar criticised the government’s decision to redeploy funds within the 2023-2024 national budget to cover a $7.9 million overspend by the Ministry of Education and the Fiji Police Force, calling it a “glaring failure in financial management.”
She also highlighted a previous redeployment of $105.2 million in July, all of which was outlined in a recent Fiji cabinet statement. The statement indicated that the funds were diverted to address additional financial needs across various government agencies and projects.
While the Financial Management Act allows for such redeployments, Kumar argued that these actions expose deeper issues within the government’s financial planning.
“The Ministry of Finance is clearly struggling to keep its ministries and departments within their approved budget allocations,” Kumar said.
“The public deserves to know how these overspends occur and what measures, if any, are in place to prevent government agencies from exceeding their budgets,” she said.
In response, Acting Prime Minister and Minister for Trade Manoa Kamikamica defended the government’s decision.
“Sometimes some of the ministries go a bit over budget, so they exist to realign their spending. It’s a normal process,” Kamikamica said adding that the funds were reallocated from savings in other areas and that such redeployments are a standard procedure at the end of each financial year.
“It doesn’t affect the budget going forward.”
