The head of the Solomon Iislands political unit has defended his section against accusations that the government is spending huge amounts of money appointing so-called cronies.
The opposition has questioned why the government has been paying 17 political appointees nearly 400,000 US dollars in salaries.
But the head of the unit, Dr Judson Leafasia, says the unit is similar to those that have always existed and it represents all those parties making up the government:
"The positions that are taken up by the current post holders, as you might call them, take up roughly the same positions as the last government had."
Dr Leafasia says the unit works with caucus developing policies
