A PROMISE IS A PROMISE
June 25, 2015 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom, Source
The amendments that are going to be tabled today to the Presidents’ Benefits Act will not affect any of the PPP/C Presidents. They will only affect the incumbent President when he retires, as well as his successors as President.
Amongst the proposed amendments are provisions to limit the cost of overseas medical treatment for former Presidents to a mere US$1000. This is ridiculous because that sum cannot even pay for the cost of half of a day’s treatment in a United States hospital.
This, too, will apply only to President David Granger and his successors but not to Donald Ramotar or Bharrat Jagdeo. Now a Guyanese can jump on a plane, obtain medical treatment overseas, and be substantially reimbursed to the tune of tens of thousands of US dollars. But a former President cannot enjoy a benefit equivalent to more than US$1,000 and only if the treatment is not available in Guyana.
When the incumbent President retires he will only be entitled to reimbursements for his electricity bill in the sum of $25,000 (per month). Perhaps the retired President will have to go and live in Linden if he wants that sum to cover his electricity bill. The retired President will also have to limit the number of overseas calls that he makes because that sum really cannot compensate for the demands of a retired President who may have to call other retired Presidents. He or she may have to do what many Guyanese do now. They may have to call the person and ask them to return the call because “credit run out”.
This is humiliation. It has nothing to do with avoiding excesses.
The irony, of course, is that it has no application to those Presidents who served before. It has no application because the previous legislation which is now to be amended created property rights for the former Presidents of the PPPC. These rights cannot be reduced or taken away by new legislation unless compensation is paid.
The Constitution of Guyana is the supreme law of the land. The Constitution of Guyana provides that no one may be deprived of property without compensation. The Bill which is to be tabled cannot therefore have application to Jagdeo and Ramotar because they have legitimate expectations.
These expectations translate to rights to certain benefits which are considered under common law as property. These benefits cannot therefore be taken away.
Contentious also, are the reports that a former President would not be entitled to a pension if he or she takes up employment. This provision will only be good for old Presidents and not for young Presidents.
There is a big problem with this purported amendment. A pension is an earned entitlement. It cannot be conditional on some other thing being met.
You either qualify or you do not qualify. The qualification that is now being applied is that if you work after you left the presidency, you are not entitled to the pension. So why bother to work?
The proposed amendment if passed will turn a pension into a conditional benefit. The two things are different. A pension is earned and so too are some benefits but not all benefits are earned some require certain things to be done.
The only requirement for a pension is that the person must be pensionable. It is not a pension if it can only be obtained if you do not work.
The more you read about the proposed legislation that is to be tabled in the House, the questions arise. Except of course that it is a promise that has to be fulfilled, regardless of the problems it will create.