PM's $90,000 tops new salary budget [1]
Monday, December 1, 2008 - 23:15. Updated on Tuesday, April 22, 2014 - 16:42.
The new single parliamentary salaries of Tonga's Cabinet Ministers have not been put into place, but when they are there will be no increase on the budgeted amount, Tonga's Minister of Finance Afu'alo Matoto told Matangi Tonga on November 28.
Although the Privy Council had approved a recommendation for Cabinet Ministers to receive only one salary, and not two, as had been the practice during the past few years, he said the Ministry of Finance were still working on the implementation of the new salaries of Cabinet Ministers.
The work followed Privy Council approval on September 16 of a 2006 recommendation by an independent assessor Peter Salway and the Higher Salaries Review Committee to give Ministers only one salary.
Afu'alo said that the new salary would combine three components, "their salaries from Parliament plus allowances, and their salaries from their ministerial offices."
He said that, "altogether the Prime Minister's salary will be $90,000; the Deputy PM and the Minister of Finance will be $83,000; other Cabinet Ministers $80,000; and the Governors $75,000."
Although the figures have been established, it is understood that the legality of combining the various salary sources is being worked out and it appears likely that new legislation will have to be enacted before the ministerial salaries recommendation can be put into practice.
Budgeted amount
The Prime Minister, Hon. Dr Feleti Sevele said last week on November 27 that since the Privy Council had made its decision in September the implementation was left for the Minister of Finance, Hon. Afu'alo Matoto to make.
The Prime Minister stressed that the adding of the two salaries together did not amount to a salary rise. "We are receiving the same salaries that were approved in the current Budget by the House. The difference will be that instead of receiving two separate salary packets, we will receive only one," he said.
Parliament
Afu'alo was a member of the Higher Salary Review Committee in 2006 when, with Peter Salway, it made its recommendations for new ministerial salaries, following an unprecedented decision by the Tongan parliament to bring in an independent assessor to look at the salaries of the House.
But the House, particularly the elected members, on October 16, 2006, rejected the recommendations; and then to be on par with the 2005 salary rise of the Civil Servants the parliamentarians gave themselves a 60% salary rise and back-dated it to July 1, 2005.
At the time the Prime Minister Hon. Dr Feleti Sevele moved for the salaries of the elected members and the staff of the House to be paid out, but for the salaries of Cabinet Ministers to be withheld, he said, because there were a few things that had to be worked out.
The big pay out to elected members in 2006 happened shortly before the events of 16/11.
See also:
Big salary increase becomes an embarrassment for elected members [2] 24 Aug 2007.
House still overpaid and working less. [3] 08 Nov 2006.