Political Parties must promise to restore Fiji National Provident Fund pension contracts.

Suva pensioner, David Burness, who in 2011 led the class action against the Fiji National Provident Fund and the Attorney-General to save FNPF pensions from being slashed, says that he and other pensioners like him will campaign and vote only for the political party that promises to restore their pension contracts.

The contracts were cancelled by FNPF and Government early this year leaving many elderly people without sufficient means to support themselves.
Mr Burness said that the FNPF Decree promulgated by Government in March stopped elderly people like him from having their pension contracts up-held by the courts and from exercising their just rights as citizens of Fiji.

He said that he and other FNPF pensioners who were badly affected by cuts to their pensions, in some cases by much as 60%, will, in the next elections, campaign and only vote for the political party that pledges to restore their FNPF contracts. 

“We don’t buy FNPF’s argument that there is no money to pay our pensions. The FNPF bureaucracy needs to be investigated for the investment decisions it made in the past and continues to make at present” Mr Burness said.

“Therefore, we will actively campaign for the political party that gives us back our just entitlements and also respects the rights of the elderly to a decent life in old age”, Mr Burness said.

The only political party that has so far promised to assist the pensioners and restore their FNPF contracts is the Green Party of Fiji.

David F Burness
Suva