Bonus for all public servants

THE holiday spirit is expected to permeate the country following President David Granger’s assurance to the media that all public servants will receive some benefit from the government for the Christmas season.The Head of State’s announcement was made last Friday on his weekly televised programme, “The Public Interest”, which is produced by the Ministry of the Presidency and aired on the National Communications Network (NCN).
Though due to the unpredictable nature of what is usually given, he did not specify directly what would be awarded to public servants, the President assured reporters that benefits will be forthcoming. The labour force in Guyana, as at end of 2013, stood at approximately 320,000 persons, with more than half of that amount comprising public servants; and expectations regarding salary increases and Christmas bonuses mount at each year’s end, as persons anticipate these rewards for the services they have provided to the people of Guyana during the year.
This year, public servants with gross basic monthly salaries greater than $50,000 received a five per cent salary increase; and persons with salaries equal to or lower than $50,000 were given an eight per cent increase. The minimum basic salary of $39,540 was also lifted to $50,000, effective July 1, 2015. This reflected a 26.4 percent increase for those still earning the old minimum wage. Coupled with these increases was an additional $5000 increase for all public servants.
Just last month, while in Malta, the President had announced that members of the Guyana Police Force were likely to benefit from increased salaries next year, as part of the government’s plan to reform the Police Force and curtail criminal activities.
“The Police Force is badly damaged; it was under-funded, under equipped; the members were underpaid, under-motivated. We are now trying to correct the damage that has been done, and I expect things will get better in the fullness of time,” President Granger said.

(Ravin Singh)