Prime Minister Sato Kilman has amended the Official Salaries Act [CAP 168] schedule to cater for the creation of two new positions- the Parliamentary Secretary responsible for Policy Research and Parliamentary Secretary responsible for Provincial Affairs,
The salary of each of the position is Vt2.6 million annually or Vt108,000 per fortnight with other specified benefits.
The perks that come with the positions are: entitlement to rent-free, fully furnished houses, a car, child allowance, gratuity and annual leave rate.
The Government is yet to officially reveal the names of the holders of these two positions, but Daily Post understands they are MPs Steven Kalsakau and Silas Yatan.
Parliament last year approved a budget of Vt1,384,791,813 for the Office of the Prime Minister in the financial year starting January 31 to December 2015, a figure ranking fourth after the Ministries of Finance, Education and Health.
Holding the reins of power comes at a price, in particular for Vanuatu where political instability is very common and voters have become accustomed to disgruntled MPs exercising their rights to freely align with parties of their choice, according to their interests.
The onus is on the head of the Government to satisfy the interests of all MPs and parties in the coalition that enables him to lead.
But the creation of another ministry is not possible because the Constitution only allows for 13 ministries for the 52 MPs, as stipulated in article 40 (2), “The number of Ministers must not exceed a quarter of the number of members of Parliament”, subsequently resulting in the creation of new positions in parliament, such as numerous deputy speakers and ministries with substantial salaries.
Under the Westminster system, parliamentary secretaries are MPs that back senior ministers with their responsibilities.
The first Parliamentary Secretary was current Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trades, Moana Carcasses, who was appointed as the parliamentary secretary to the prime minister early 2013 by Mr Kilman.
The appointment was denounced by then leader of opposition, Edward Natapei who labeled the position as another new ministry, unjustified and duplicating responsibilities.
But when parliament elected Mr. Carcasses prime minister in March the same year and MP Natapei became deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, the government retained the position of parliamentary secretary, a position entrusted to MP Yatan.
And under the former government led by Prime minister Joe Natuman, MP Natapei was appointed parliamentary secretary.
PM Kilman’s order no. 104 pertaining the Official Salaries Act and the two new positions was made on July 21, 2015 and gazetted on the 23rd.
And in order no. 105 on the same date, another amendment on part 1 of the schedule- Office of the Speaker introduced Vt1,411,200 (Vt1.4 million each or Vt116,000 per month) as the annual salary of the Third and Fourth Deputy Speaker of Parliament with specified benefits.