Bill to bring back the Higher Salaries Commission is being drafted and will be presented in parliament soon – Prof.Prasad

The Bill to bring back the Higher Salaries Commission to review the salaries of people holding senior positions in government, government institutions and state owned companies, is being drafted and will be presented in parliament soon.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad has confirmed this as he says it is necessary to take this action.

The Higher Salaries Commission was abolished by the Bainimarama-led government in 2011.

While speaking on fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan, Professor Prasad says it is absolutely right that some CEOs are on salaries upto $340,000 and even $500,000.

He says these need to be looked at as they were put on these salaries without a Higher Salaries Commission.

Professor Prasad also says the salaries and allowances of the Prime Minister, Ministers and MPs were set up by the Bainimarama led government before the 2014 general elections.

He says the allowances were exorbitant and unnecessary - it was 250 percent top up on the UN per diem for the Prime Minister and 200 percent top up on the UN per diem for Ministers, and on top of that there was a top up of incidental allowances.

A parliamentary emoluments committee is currently reviewing all the salaries and benefits for Ministers and MPs through the assistance of some independent assessors.

It was announced after an interim cabinet meeting in 2011 that the salaries of Chief Executive Officers of every government controlled company shall be determined by the Board of Directors of the company, following the approval of the Minister responsible for Public Enterprises and the Prime Minister.

The pay of every Permanent Secretary or other officers who manage a ministry or department was determined by the Public Service Commission, following the approval of the Prime Minister.

Also the salaries of Chief Executive Officers of every city, town and district council was determined by the Minister responsible for Local Government following approval of the Prime Minister.

The interim cabinet based its decision on a submission by Interim Attorney General at the time, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum who said the Commission was in existence since 1983, and lacked commercial understanding and sufficient knowledge of the market forces, and tends to apply a public service approach and comparison in determining the salaries of the entities.