The Opposition spokesman for Finance and Treasury, Edward Huni'ehu, says the Finance Minister's announcement of the Supplementary Appropriation Bill for teachers is only an excuse.
Finance Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo recently announced that the government will table a seven-point-eight million dollar appropriation bill to meet the teacher's demands in the up-coming Parliament meeting next month.However, Mr Huni'ehu has slammed the latest move by government as mere window dressing. Huni'ehu says that the government can still pay the money even without the Supplementary Appropriation Bill as it could be introduced later as expenditure outside of the budget allocation for parliament to approve.
He says this is why there are provisions for Supplementary Appropriation Bills in the Constitution. Mr Huni'ehu says the tabling of the bill is just a procedure to legalize any overspending.