Jone Usamate [left] and Pio Tikoduadua

Infrastructure Minister Jone Usamate has hit out at the National Federation Party president’s call for him to resign.

Pio Tikoduadua in a statement said that Usamate should resign following recent water cuts in the Central Division.

Tikoduadua claimed that Usamate had reassured the parliament in September last year that water cuts would not happen again.

However, Usamate says Tikoduadua is making a mockery of himself, as he made the statement without verifying the facts.

“All he needs to do is pick up the Hansard. He made the statement that the failure of equipment would never happen again and everybody knows that there will always be a possibility of the failure of equipment. But what I did say is that we put in measures to minimize it as much as possible, so to avoid similar problems we’ve had in the past dine that. And that is what the Water Authority is doing.”

Usamate adds the water system in the greater Suva area is delicate, stretched to the limit, and producing above capacity to continuously cater to the population.

He says it is improper for Tikoduadua who has previously held top positions at the Ministry to make unverified comments.