Tongan defence spending almost doubles [1]
Wednesday, June 23, 2004 - 15:15. Updated on Thursday, April 17, 2014 - 12:30.
23 June 2004.
As a small developing country with a depressed economy Tonga, is making a massive contribution to restoring peace and stability in Iraq and the Solomons.
Tonga's Minister of Defence Prince 'Ulukalala Lavaka Ata told the Tongan Parliament on June 16 that an increase in one of the allocations in his defence budget from $240,610 to $400,000 was to meet the equipment of Tongan peacekeepers in the Solomons and those who had just left for Iraq.
The Prince went on to say that the expenses of the 45 Tongan soldiers for Iraq are shared between the USA and the Tongan governments. He said that the Tongan government paid for the basic salaries and the living allowances of the soldiers. The USA paid for the transportation of the soldiers from Tonga to Iraq, their accommodation, food, their return trip to Tonga, and the transporting of a severely wounded or dead soldier out and back to Tonga.
On the question of the insurance coverage of the soldiers, and how much money will be paid to the family of a dead soldier, there was no specific answer from the Minister of Defence, but the Chairman of the Whole House Committee told the house that a Bill has been tabled into the House, and the compensation that will be paid out to the family of a dead soldier is $20,000.
MPs argued that the families of the soldiers had not been told what compensation they would receive in the event that a solider was killed.