A call was made in Parliament yesterday to increase the Member of Parliament’s salary.
This is because the current salary structure of parliamentarians is not close compared to their counterparts in the Pacific namely Fiji, Samoa and the Solomon Islands.
Ha’apai 12 constituency MP Vili Hingano proposed this when the Whole House Committee discussed and approved the Office of the Legislative Assembly’s Vote yesterday.
Hingano claimed the salaries of Samoa MPs is $90,000 Tala (which is equivalent to about TOP$80,000) and therefore the current salary structure of MPs should be reviewed and increased to reflect the Member’s workload and the weight of what they do as members.
He explained that the high salary scale of parliamentarians in the Pacific is simply because those Governments are taking into consideration the issue of corruption.
‘’It is with the notion if MPs have very good salary and there will be less corruption in politics,” explained Ha’apai 12 MP.
Meanwhile the Minister for Inland Revenue and Custom Hon. Tevita Lavemaau suggested the matter be referred to the Public Accounts Committee for further review of the proposal.
The Finance and the National Planning Minister Dr. ‘Aisake Eke also mentioned that Parliament has yet to discuss the Remuneration Authority report on civil servants salary structure. Therefore a submission can be made by MPs on what salary structure they recommended and for the House to finalise it.
On the other hand, Vava’u 15 constituency MP, Samiu asserted MPs that according to the Constitution, MPs can decide the matter themselves.
Again on the Legislative Assembly’s vote, the Whole House Committee also passed the transfer of the management of the Constituency Grant to the Office of the Legislative Assembly.
Medical referral issue of MPs is also referred for further review by the Public Accounts Committee while medical insurance of Cabinet Ministers are to be sorted out by the Executive.
Further calls were made in the House to increase the constituency fund from $150,000-$200,000 but Government maintained where it would get the funding for such proposal.
“If that was approved, about TOP$1 million will be needed to fund such increase,” said Hon. Lavemaau.