Tonga’s Minister of Finance, Hon. Lisiate ‘Akolo was not allowed into a Special Meeting of the Tongan Cabinet, that started at 2:00 pm this afternoon.

Hon. Lisiate ‘Akolo, who recently returned from New Zealand, said that he decided to go to the Special Cabinet Meeting after some of his Cabinet Minister colleagues called for him to accompany them, but he was surprised when he was turned away at the gate by the security officer.

The security officer told him that the direction from the Acting Secretary to Cabinet was for him to hand over his letter of resignation, and then go home.

Lisiate said that he had not resigned. He was given a letter in New Zealand that informed him to resign, generally he believed, because he went against the Cabinet decision for a 5% salary rise for the civil servants, starting from this month, January and to July.

Lisiate said that Cabinet agreed for him to go on air toward the end of last year to explain to the people about the government’s decision to grant a 5% salary rise instead of the 20% that the Public Service Commission had asked for, “and that was all I did, so I don’t know what they are angry about.”

He regretted that he was not allowed into the Special Cabinet Meeting to respond to the accusation that was levelled at him in the letter that was handed to him in Auckland, New Zealand earlier this week.

Meanwhile, the Special Cabinet Meeting is in progress.

The 5% salary rise for civil servants means that the government has to raise another $5 million a year to support it. 

“The 5% was what they decided was affordable at this point of time ... not the 20% increase,” said Lisiate, who said that 20% percent, would mean that the government would have to raise another $20 million a year on top of its current budget.