DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS

October 7, 2015 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom, Source

The salaries of various members of Cabinet should be differentiated so long as this is intended to indicate status or so long as there is the possibility of upward mobility.

There is a need, for example, for the President to be paid higher than the Prime Minister and for the Prime Minister, in turn, to be paid higher than a Minister and for a Minister to be paid higher than a Junior Minister. This differentiation in pay grades would indicate a system of graduated power and authority. Differences in pay scales are also desirable if a person on a lower scale has the possibility of moving up to the higher-paying position.

If there is no possibility for a Junior Minister to be appointed a Senior Minister and thus be entitled to a higher salary, there will be no incentive for that person to perform because the opportunities for upward mobility are foreclosed. This would negate the need for differentiation in pay on the grounds of the possibility of upward mobility.

The system of government in Guyana does not prohibit promotions within Cabinet. The last person to move from a Junior Minister to a Minister made it all the way to the Presidency, but the latter half of the journey was more of an appointed elevation rather than a meritorious promotion. It is doubtful whether anyone within the present regime is going to be promoted with Cabinet and therefore this renders obtuse the need for differentiated pay scales based on the equality of opportunity to be promoted.

This leaves any pay differences in pay scales amongst the members of Cabinet to be a function of status differentiation. I suppose in this context one can hardly argue with the fact that the Prime Minister is receiving more monies than the other Ministers. But should by the same argument, Junior Ministers not be also paid less than their senior counterparts?

The public is not going to be upset that some members of Cabinet are going to be paid higher than others. They are going to be understanding of the principle that the Prime Minister ought to be higher than other Ministers.

What is going to make the public furious is the magnitude of the increases that are paid and the fact that it is government that is doling out these increases to itself.

The magnitude of the increases is staggering. The government has given public servants a five per cent average increase for half of the year which translates to a 2.5 % annual increase. This is going to be further eroded by inflation which should reach 1% by the end of the year despite the government projection of 0.5%.

Whatever the final inflation numbers, the fact is that real increases for workers will be under 2% this year. Yet the Ministers of the government will enjoy an overall increase of about 20% and the Prime Minister and Vice Presidents, close to 50%.

The public is not going to like that. The other members of the public service, such as teachers, nurses and the police who had anticipated that with a new government in place they would enjoy a 100% increase in salary, have to wait on the outcome of a Commission of Inquiry into salaries and benefits before they will know what will be recommended for them.

Why couldn’t the member of Cabinet not have waited also?