SPEAKER DISALLOWED TALKS OF SUPPLEMENTARY BUDGET

Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo has said details of funds donated towards the recent April flash floods will be included in a supplementary budget this year.

Solomon Islands had received overwhelming support from its diplomatic friends and aid donors after the floods, one of which was the instalment of the new China Town Bailey bridge- a New Zealand Government donation.

Responding to a question raised by Member of Parliament for Aoke Langa-Langa Matthew Wale in Parliament yesterday – as to how much the government has received externally from donors, Prime Minister Lilo says a supplementary will provide the details.

“We are going to discus the supplementary and you will find in the supplementary the donors who have made the contribution. There are others who have made contributions, but do not want to put them through the consolidated fund. These are the ones we cannot capture in any reporting arrangements that we have, apart from maybe mentioning what the quantities are, of supplies they donated, but in terms of monetary support it will be detailed in the supplementary when it comes through.”

But disallowing the Prime Minister’s answer, Speaker of Parliament Sir Allan Kemakeza calls on the Minister responsible for Disaster, Bradley Tovosia to answer the question.

“I will not allow the answer of coming to supplementary budget or whatever. The Parliament needs to know this information if it is available to the hands of those responsible. I think I would not allow such talk as or we will discuss this in the budget, I think that is not the answer for the people of this country. Honourable Minister please.”

“Thank you Mr Speaker, I think the total money that NDMO received in terms of outside assistance is seven-point-seven million Solomon dollars,” Mr Tovosia said.