"Farewell pay-off" for MPs - Shame on you! [1]
Thursday, July 1, 2010 - 05:40. Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.
Editor:
FAREWELL pay-off? Shame on you!
Members of Parliament are already being paid too much! Salary, per diems, meeting fees, "overtime", travel and housing allowances, vehicle, driver, etc etc etc.
If MPs were paid 10 times the per capita income of the average Tongan citizen, that would only amount to half of what they are being paid now. In other words, MPs are now making at least 20 times the per capita income. And for what?
In the meantime, here in Ha'apai, there have been no road repairs for 3 years (apart from throwing a load of dirt and sand at a few potholes, at the time of the King's last visit), the hospital still needs an x-ray machine (which was wrecked in the earthquake 3 years ago), the Pangai foreshore seawall is seriously eroded, the wharf desperately needs repair, a fallen tree is still lying in front of the post office since Cyclone Rene, and the roof at the Pangai GPS is still leaking!
And how is the rebuilding of Niuatoputapu going?
While the Nuku'alofa CBD is being re-built, while Vuna wharf is going to be expanded, while precious government money is being spent sending "delegates" overseas, or hosting pie-in-the-sky "development" conferences, how about a share of the Chinese/Australian/New Zealand/EU/ADB aid/loan money being spent on the rest of Tonga?
How about a farewell pay-off for us?
'Ofa 'atu,
P.A. Langi
Pangai, Ha'apai