The Tonga Parliament has over-spent its budget by 7% and it could not afford to pay its staff who had worked overtime, the Speaker, Lord Fakafanua told the House before it closed its three-days special session on Tuesday evening, 12 March.

He said that in order to compensate his staff for their over-time pay he would allow them to go on "extended leave with pay".

The House's budget allocation of more than $4 million pa'anga became a topic for discussion after Lord Nuku reported that staff members were disgruntled about their pay.

'Akilisi told of concerns by the electorate of the Ha'apai Constituency no. 13 about how they had not been represented in the Tongan Parliament since their People's Representative, 'Uliti Uata was hospitalized with a stroke last July.

During the debate it was estimated that the House had spent over $100,000 on 'Uliti Uata's medical treatment

In addition to all this was a revelation by the Prime Minister, Lord Tu'ivakano that the former Speaker of the House, Lord Lasike, would be compensated for his loss of salary when he lost his seat after he was found guilty by the Supreme Court in July last year for the illegal possession of ammunition, two .22 bullets.

Lord Tu'ivakano told the House that Lord Lasike would not regain his seat, now held by Lord Nuku, but he would continue to receive his parliamentary salaries until the next General Election. He said that Lord Lasike's salaries would not come out of the House's budget allocation but from a special fund held by the Ministry of Finance.

The other extra expenses that compounded the House's financial problems were the fees and expenses of Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate how the Nuku'alofa Development Corporation spent the $119 million loan from China, and the travel allowances of members who held consultation meetings on six Bills, and had been travelling throughout the country since the House was closed late last year.