Several members of parliament are refusing to speak publicly about the salary increases granted to them by the government.
As the leadership of both political parties squabble over the hike, their backbenchers, who are set to be the biggest beneficiaries, are refusing to discuss the controversial issue.
Nationwide News attempted to canvas their views but ran into a wall of silence.
Nora Gaye Banton has that story.
The announcement by Finance Minister, Dr. Nigel Clarke that his fellow parliamentarians and Cabinet Ministers are set to receive a 200 per cent increase in their salaries came as a surprise to everyone except those in the cabinet.
Many MPs who spoke to Nationwide News confirmed they were not consulted on the increase.
We spoke to 14 JLP MPs.
While welcoming the increase, those on the government back benches were scared of the public backlash and declined to go on-the-record.
Deputy Speaker of the House, Juliet Holness, was the only exception.
Mrs. Holness, who is Chairman of the Constituency Development Fund, believes the increases make sense.
On the side of the People’s National Party, we attempted to contact all their members in the lower house except for its leader, Mark Golding.
Nationwide News was unable to get one on-the-record comment from any of the party’s 13 other MPs.
A few did speak with us off the record.
While welcoming the increase, they were apprehensive about the size of the increase and the lack of consultation on the part of the government.
When asked to comment publicly, all queries were directed to Mr. Golding and General Secretary, Dr. Dayton Campbell.
They were also unwilling to say on the record if they’ll be following their leader in a pledge to give away 80 percent of their pay raise.
