Fiji Labour Party Leader Mahendra Chaudhry.

The failure of moving Fiji forward economically started in 1987 after the military coup takeover by the then Military Commander Sitiveni Rabuka.

This is the claim made by the Fiji Labour Party Leader Mahendra Chaudhry.

According to the former Prime Minister, a coup declines economic growth and takes a country back by 10 to 15 years.

“Investments stop, confidence in the country’s future stops, people start leaving due to uncertainty and things end up that way. We’ve had four coups and so if you add four coups and say each coup has put us back 10 years, we’ve fallen behind by 40 years.”

Chaudhry claims people who instigated the four coups have succeeded in avoiding punishment but the ordinary citizens suffer and are victims of such unlawful acts.

In addition, he states that this is why it is imperative for Fijians to take control and cast their vote on December 14th.