From the House by Pesi Fonua

The first Budget allocation of $509,300 for an Anti-Corruption Commission was among nine allocations passed by the Whole House Committee of the Tongan Legislature on June 2-3.

On 2 June the Whole House Committee (WHC) passed the budget allocations for the Palace Office, the Legislative Assembly, the Office of the Auditor General, the Office of the Ombudsman and the Office of the Anti Corruption Commission.

The budget allocations for the Palace Office was $3,678,100, the Auditor General was $1,967,700, and the Ombudsman unfortunately was $2,2246,500.

On 3 June the WHC passed four more Budget Allocations: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, $14311,800; the Tonga Defence Service, $11,218,300; the Prime Minister’s Office, $11,114,000 and the Ministry of Finance, $142,349,000.

When parliament closed on Thursday, they had passed nine Votes, while 16 were left to be deliberated over the following week.

The procedure is that after the national budget has been processed through the Whole House Committee it will have to be tabled and passed by the House before it is implemented.

The House is expected to resume at 10am Tuesday 8 June, following a Public Holiday on Monday.