Salary commission a must: Rabuka

THERE needs to be an independent body to fix the salaries of the high earners in the country.

This was highlighted by Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) leader Sitiveni Rabuka at a campaign at the Newtown Anglican church in Nasinu on Wednesday.

Mr Rabuka was questioned by one of the residents in the area, Josua Rabulu who claimed that the Fijian Prime Minister’s salary was incompatible.

“I have been reading in the papers about Prime Minister’s salary and if you compare that to the minimum wage rate they are implementing, it is too less for Fijians,” he said.

“My question is if you happen to become the Prime Minister, will you continue with this high salary or not?”

Mr Rabuka said there needed to be a higher salaries commission established to determine what the high earners got.

“I don’t know how much of that is true. But the person who should be doing all this salaries should not be part of the Government. There should be a higher salaries commission, these are the people that monitor all workers’ salaries.”

Mr Rabuka said it was wrong for the Government to decide on the salary they get.

“The government should not decide on the salary they get. This is wrong. There needs to be an independent body to fix the salary of the higher salary earners.

“That salary is incompatible with the rest of the salary earners in Fiji.”