MPs salaries skyrocket almost 100 percent

Alfred Sasako




Four years ago, politicians in the Solomon Islands were said to be the lowest paid amongst their members in the Commonwealth.
Overnight, that has changed. In terms of the local currency where $1 buys about 12 US cents or about 14.5 Australian cents, those changes have been costly and predictably contentious.
The changes began in 2006. From then on, improvements in salaries, allowances and other perks were systematically phased in from the moment the new batch of politicians took their oaths after the national election that year.
For example, in 2005, the year before the election, a government minister was earning a taxable salary of SB$60,000 [about US$7296] year.
An ordinary Member of Parliament was making SB$10,000 less or SB$50,000 [about US$6080] a year. [This was a vast improvement from the previous four years].
Ministers were also entitled to a vehicle. Taxpayers foot the bill for its fuel and maintenance.
Rent-free accommodation is also provided with all the utility charges such as electricity, telephone and gas paid for by taxpayers.
Today, salaries of MPs from the Prime Minister down have skyrocketed almost 100 percent.
According to the Parliamentary Entitlements Regulations 2008, the Prime Minister now earns more than $140,000 [about US$17,024] per annum as against $80,000 [about US$9728] per annum only four short years ago.
Ministers and ordinary MPs also received corresponding raises. For example, a cabinet minister now earns more than $110,000 [about US$13,376] as against only $60,000 [about US$7296] a year four years earlier.
An ordinary MP now earns $96,000 [about US$11,764] annually.
Many, if not most ordinary MPs are no longer just ordinary MPs. Because they have been appointed, largely by the Speaker, as chairmen of parliamentary standing committees, their status in terms of monetary value has also been elevated to equal that of a government ministers with all the fringe benefits and other entitlements.
But that’s not all. The Parliamentary Entitlements Commission [PEC], a body enacted by an act of Parliament to regulate the terms and conditions of Members of Parliament, did more.
One of the first things it did was to improve on other perks.
For example, a government minister occupying his own house is now entitled to taxpayer funded rentals of up to $15,000 a month or about $180,000 a year. Several ministers live in their own houses.
PEC also moved to improve the “life after politics” for Members of Parliament. MPs who served a single four-year term are now entitled to life pensions.
Pension is worked out on an upward sliding scale based on the base salary of an ordinary MP.
For example, an MP who lost the election after serving only one term receives 50 percent of the going base salary of an ordinary MP—for life.
Those who’ve served two, three and four terms, receive correspondingly higher pension rates. 
And there’s more. Up to the end of 2005, every MP received $50,000 each in terminal grants. PEC has now doubled the amount to $100,000 per MP or $5 million for all 50 MPs. They will collect this tax-free payment regardless of the outcome of the election.
PEC is chaired by someone appointed from outside. By convention, its members are the Minister for Finance, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and Leader of the Opposition. There’s one other member of the public on the commission.
This year, the PEC handed out its most controversial decision yet. In its meeting in early July, PEC decided to give each spouse of the 50 Members of Parliament $2.5 million or $50,000 apiece in terminal grants. The grants are in recognition of the contributions made by the spouses in support of their husbands' work.
More or less it’s a golden handshake in appreciation of what the spouses had to put up with during the tenure of husband MPs.
As if this was not enough, the PEC did more. In a controversial 2-1 vote, the Chairman of the PEC, former foreign minister Danny Philip, was outgunned in a decision to give a departing MP ex-gratia payment totalling $400,000 [about USD48,640] at the end of four years starting next April 18 when the House is dissolved in preparation for the next general election.
“I was against it because the timing was not right, given the global economic crisis gripping the world,” Philip said.
“Their argument was that governor-generals have been given a far more generous package on retirement than politicians who do the bulk of the work.
In the end, I did the unthinkable. I voted against it,” Philip said.
Opposition Leader Manasseh Sogavare was not at the meeting, nor was the other member of the public who had resigned well before the meeting.
In a nutshell, an MP who decided to quit after one term or has lost the election can now collect a lump sum payment of $550,000 [about USD66,880] consisting of:
Terminal Grants:    S$100,000
Terminal Grants: [Spouse]: S$50,000
Ex-gratia payment: S$440,000
In addition, departing MPs are also on life pension.
This is a huge improvement from 2005 when many, many first termers departed with a mere $50,000 in terminal grants–half the amount four years earlier. As well, first termers were not on pension, as at the time only those who served two terms were eligible.
Spouses compensated: Constituency allowances paid to MPs to visit their constituencies at least three times a year have also been tripled from an average $5000 a year four years ago to well over $15,000 a year on average.
Predictably, these decisions have ignited protests nationwide, with people calling for the determinations to be revoked immediately. About ninety-five percent of letters which appeared in the local newspapers alled on Parliament to scrap the grants.
“MPs are elected, not spouses. They should not be given the terminal grants,” some said.
Others said spouses of MPs should be paid more. In its editorial, the Solomon Star newspaper said: “[Prime Minister] Dr Sikua, if he truly cares for the country and its people as he professes to be, must recall the PEC document for a thorough review,” referring to the gazette in which the new entitlements, were published.
“He must do that now if he wants to restore the good name of his government. Otherwise, he must stop talking about transparency and accountability,” the Solomon Star said.
The government appeared to have heeded the call. Attorney-General, Gabriel Suri, reportedly denied having signed the new entitlements before they were gazetted and printed.
Suri has subsequently reviewed the document. A joint meeting of the PEC together with the Chairman of the House Committee and former foreign minister, Patteson Oti, was expected to meet in August to consider an opinion being provided by the Attorney-General.
Anger: Peoples’ anger over the matter stemmed from widely held views and perceptions by voters that while MPs can find money to line their own pockets, no thoughts appear to have been given to the plight of thousands of public servants, including teachers and health workers.
At the same time, people argue that there’s little or nothing being seen by way of development in the rural areas from the multi-million dollar grants received by elected MPs on their behalf.
Public servants who claimed their take-home pay has been declining over the years are now threatening industrial action.
Unlike four years ago when a Member of Parliament received only $400,000 in annual grants for his constituency, today’s grants has increased more than five times in the last four years. For example, an MP now receives more than $2 million [about USD243,200] in grants a year.
This means that by the time Parliament is dissolved next April, each MP will have received on average on behalf of their constituents between $9 million and $10 million for the four-year term.
Some MPs received far more. In 2007 for example, Western and Choiseul provinces were devastated by a tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake.
The government dished out some $15 million through Members of Parliament in the two provinces. Some constituencies have complained that they got nothing from the government’s payout.
Disbursements were based on the extent of the damage in each area. In Gizo, the capital of the Western Province, which bore the brunt of the tsunami, victims still remain in tents today two years on.
Given the phenomenal improvements in MPs’ lot, one can almost guarantee that the field of candidates for next year’s national general election, due in June, will be interesting to watch.
Former broadcaster, Romano Nongebatu sums it up this way: “In the end, the main purpose of being a Member of Parliament will be forgotten. Instead, money will be the main purpose”.