Mega salary increases

Former Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy has challenged the A Partnership for National

Former Minister of Agriculture, Dr Leslie Ramsammy

Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) Government over its decision to increase salaries of Ministers and Members of Parliament, saying the move is more “rewarding” than it is “deserving”. For a Government that has been in office for just a few months, the former MP said, the new Government has really worked its way up into the public purse, grazing off millions of dollars that could have otherwise gone to Guyana’s poor. “Upon assuming office APNU/AFC told the people that the country was in a bad state, the economy was ruined and the treasury was bankrupt and they could not give public servants the promised 20% increase, reduce VAT, give the $10,000 per child in school, double old age pension and increase the school uniform voucher to $20,000 per child, all promises that were made during the elections campaign” Ramsammy said Under the circumstances he noted, it would therefore have been reasonable to expect the new Government would instead cut their salaries. Instead, they have increased them, “not by a little, but by what is indisputably the highest salary increases in the world”. According to Ramsammy, this is a slap in the face of the new Government, which while in opposition, had vehemently argued that teachers, police, doctors, nurses, engineers and other public servants deserved far better salaries. He said the Government, which has weakened Guyana’s economy, is moving headon to further doom and there is no saying where this will place the country’s economy. “They wrecked the rice industry by causing a collapse of the market and the price for paddy because it is a Private Sector business. They are proud of the “wise” decision to cut out the $10,000 per child school programme and mortgage subsidies for first time home owners. They “brag” about dismissing 2000 young Amerindians and hundreds of East Indian public servants. They “delight” in cutting out the water and electricity subsidies for pensioners. They sabotaged parliamentary independence and transparency and the procurement and tender standards. Above all, they steward the downturn of the economy and the plummeting business and investments in our country,” Ramsammy said. According to the former Minister, Government continues to argue that the pay increase for Ministers will prevent them from “thiefing all over the place”. “They arrogantly explain that they could not work for the low salaries the PPP/C Ministers were willing to work for. These people who had told the GRA they worked for small salaries and, therefore, paid little taxes, now claim they were earning big salaries in their private practices with a PPP/C Government, but refuse to produce evidence of taxes they paid.” He cited the case in the United States where the average citizen earns about US$53,000 and the minimum salary is about US$20,000 per year, its President (Obama) makes about US$400,000 per year or just over US$33,000 per month. Next door in Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamas, Jamaica, the Prime Minister’s salary is about US$100,000 annually (US$8000 per month). In Brazil, the President’s salary is about US$12,000 per month. All these countries are much richer than Guyana. While the salaries of our President and Prime Minister are not as low in comparison to the US President’s salary and are as high or higher than the salaries of the Prime Ministers of Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Brazil and much higher than the salary of the President of Venezuela. Obama’s salary is about 20 times that of the minimum salary in the USA, while Nagamootoo who is not the Head of State is earning, without benefits, more than 50 times the minimum salary in Guyana. Last week, Minister of State Joseph Harmon told the media that his Government has no apologies for the increase in salaries for Ministers. He said if Government wanted the Ministers to perform their duties in a meaningful way, then they needed to be paid toward such expectations.