15 November 2021

The Fijian Elections Office [‘FEO’] has this morning extended its MOU with the Unit Trust of Fiji [‘UTOF’] following which FEO staff members will be able to directly deduct savings from their pay and into their UTOF accounts.

While extending the MOU for five (5) more years, the Supervisor of Elections [‘SoE’] Mr Mohammed Saneem says the FEO’s engagement with the UTOF is ultimately designed to produce an avenue for staff to be financially secure and conduct their roles objectively.

“We believe that if staff are able to handle themselves in terms of their commitments and are confident of their financial status because of the salaries that they have and the lifestyles that they have adopted, these staff will be less likely to be susceptible to undue influence and corruption,” Mr Saneem explained.

“A staff who has good savings in an investment facility such as the UTOF, will be less likely to be induced through financial means. This deduction that the staff of FEO are doing is their safety net,” Mr Saneem said.

The CEO of the UTOF Mr Vilash Chand says the schemes offered by UTOF is very flexible and affordable and he lauded the efforts made by the FEO and the SoE to ensure that its staff are financially stable.

From the initial signing of this MOU till date, a total of 25 FEO staff have benefited from the savings schemes.

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