February 13, 2016 Source

Jagdeo ‘cut and run’ …after demanding 50% pay hike for public servants

OPPOSITION Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has called on public servants to demand a 50 per cent pay hike from the Government. That was shortly before he led a walk-out of the House in protest at being carded to speak before Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.The Prime Minister, in response, has called Jagdeo’s action nothing but a “defeatist strategy”.

After addressing the National Assembly for more than one hour and forty minutes, thereby surpassing the stipulated one-hour duration, Jagdeo told House Speaker Dr Barton Scotland that “until this House fixes the problem, until the other side agrees with something that has become an age-old tradition of this House, where the Leader of the Opposition is the penultimate speaker, we will not listen to the debates of the speakers after me”.

His colleagues rose to their feet in an attempt to exit the Parliament Chambers, but were stopped by the Speaker, who asked them to reconsider their decision. He posited that the people of Guyana would want an explanation, but despite his caution, the Opposition MPs walked out of the Chambers.

In a direct response, the Prime Minister told Jagdeo: “Oh boy, you cut and run! You can’t take it…what a shame!”

Prime Minister Nagamootoo subsequently told reporters that the Opposition MPs’ decision to walk out during the budget debates was nothing new. He pointed out that the same had been done during the 2015 budget debates.

The PPP/C is in protest of Government’s decision to disallow the Opposition Leader being the penultimate speaker during the annual budget debates, saying it is a breach of parliamentary convention. The Prime Minister, however, thinks the move by the Opposition MPs move is nothing but a “defeatist strategy.”

“They are now raising it as a contention that the Opposition Leader should be allowed to say all that he wants to say as long as he wants to say (it); things that are irrelevant, damaging, malicious, speculative, hearsay…anything that he says! He wants to be able to say that and then pack up like a little spoiled brat, pick up his bat and say that he is not playing anymore and walk out. That is the tantrum of a little boy! (The) tantrum of a very emotional and unstable person politically!” the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister has said that this decision by the PPP/C will become part and parcel of its disruptive political agenda. He contends that Jagdeo wants to destabilise politics in the country.

UNFORTUNATE
“It is unfortunate that this tactic is being played out in the highest forum, and it shows contempt for Parliament,” the Prime Minister added.

Earlier in his presentation, Jagdeo had called on the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSC) to demand, at the very least, a 50 per cent increase in wages and salaries for public servants — a consideration he never contemplated while being President.

Finance Minister Winston Jordan, during his 2016 Budget presentation, said Government would not announce an increase in wages and salaries for public servants before completion of collective bargaining.

“Mr Speaker, an announcement on salary increases for public servants for 2016 has to await the conclusion of discussions with the relevant unions. The Government understands the disappointment this will create among public servants, but wishes to assure them of our commitment to their welfare and advancement. We ask that they give the collective bargaining process an opportunity to work,” Jordan had said.

The Opposition Leader has also said that he is patiently awaiting the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the public service, launched by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government, to see if Government will follow the recommendations. He said from the experience of a previous CoI, Government doesn’t seem inclined to follow the recommendations presented.

Last year, the Coalition Government announced salary increases for public servants at various rates, ranging from 6.0 per cent to 26.4 per cent. Additionally, all public servants earning less than $500,000 per month were given a $50,000 one-off, tax-free bonus in December.

Jagdeo said the APNU-AFC Government was living in an illusionary world, noting that the ideal of “a good life” for all Guyanese was not a reality.

“Mr Speaker I have heard a lot about the pandemic of the Zika virus that is sweeping across Latin America and the Caribbean, and about its possible affliction on Guyana. It seems as though we don’t have only the ZIKA pandemic to deal with in this country; we have an epidemic fast becoming a pandemic…an epidemic of make-believe in this Government.”