A CIVIL society organisation in Solomon Islands has called for a pay raise for Members of Parliament to be revoked.
Transparency Solomon Islands said the decisions to increase salaries for MPs failed to reflect the economic challenges facing ordinary Solomon Islanders.
InDepth Solomons reported that Transparency Solomon Islands described the increase as placing an unfair burden on taxpayers at a time when families across the country continued to struggle with rising costs.
Prime Minister Matthew Wale, who was a fierce critic of government spending when he was in the Opposition, also received a salary rise.
On his election earlier this year, Wale said MPs were servants of the people, not their masters. But Transparency Solomon islands said the pay rise did not reflect this position.
MPs have defended the raise, saying it was approved by the Public Emoluments Committee which had powers to make these changes. But critics have described the explanation as insufficient.
“Just because they have the power doesn’t mean they should do it,’’ one critic said.
This is the second pay rise for Solomon Islands MPs in two years.
