PARLIAMENT TO BEGIN FIRST MEETING THURSDAY 3rd APRIL
The Solomon Islands National Parliament. Photo: SIBC.
Parliament begins its first meeting for this year, tomorrow.
Freelancer George Atkin reports, Members of Parliament who have been in their rural constituencies since the Christmas and New Year break are now in Honiara ahead of the meeting.
Although the order of business has still to be released, the Parliamentary House Committee has began putting together what will be tabled before Parliament for discussion.
But a reliable source from Parliament says high on the order of business are the Supplementary Appropriation Bill and the Political Parties Integrity Bill 2014.
He says both bills are important because there are outstanding claims the NCRA Government needs money to be appropriated to address them, and the 2014 National Elections later this year will likely be heavily contested on political party lines.
The current Parliament has members who represent nine political parties and the independents.
Meanwhile, the source says many MPs are concerned that the first tranche of their 2014 Constituency Development Fund of 125-thousand dollars for each MP will not be paid until April 28.
The first tranche should have been disbursed to the MPs on the first week of January this year.