Ministers/VPs pay hike pegged at over $245M annually
August 2, 2015 By
Finance Minister Winston Jordan
… move mean not lean – Amerindian leaders
… Guyanese shocked
By Michael Younge
The 100 per cent pay hike which is being considered by the A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC)coalition Government could see the country’s treasury being depleted by $245 million annually sparking shock and outrage among various stakeholders in the country, who have been told that the economy has sputtered to a halt.
The proposed pay hike would now see Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and First Vice President, earning approximately $2.2 million monthly, inclusive of benefits, while the three other Vice Presidents will earn a total of $5.4 million altogether monthly.
President David Granger
Additionally, the fifteen Ministers in the new Government would earn $1.5 million each bringing their pay package to over $22.5 million altogether monthly.
Junior Ministers are expected to pocket $1.2 million each monthly inclusive of $500,000 in benefits. This means that the 12 Ministers altogether will drain the treasury of $14.4 million.
That aside, all of the Ministers will receive duty allowance, entertainment allowance, a chauffeur and annual vacation allowance which amounts to over $13.5 million.
In short, over $58 million would be expended on a monthly basis to service the payout to Ministers of Government alone.
Finance Minister Winston Jordan had confirmed that Cabinet is actively considering a salary increase for not only Ministers of Government but advisors as well as Members of Parliament.
He would not confirm nor deny the figures that have been floated in the public over the past two days.
On average, an Advisor is paid close to $800,000 per month which means that annually over $9.6 million could be expended on this category of Government staff. President Granger has appointed four Advisors so far; therefore they be paid 38.4 million annually.
The salaries of Members of Parliament would see the overall cost of the figure being significantly increased monthly.
Brian Allicock
This revelation comes as a governmental volte face as President David Granger has been quoted as saying that he wants to lead a “lean” Administration and the only way to achieve this is by cutting away wastage of tax payers’ monies and stopping the exuberance associated with occupying Executive Office and trailing behind a Cadillac lifestyle.
In fact, Granger had exhibited uneasiness about the salaries, pension and uncapped benefits of former Presidents arguing that it was a burden to the treasury. Only two weeks ago, his Government piloted legislation to change the laws allowing for caps to be placed on a former president’s entitlements and benefits.
The new APNU/AFC Government has also terminated the services of over 2000 young Amerindians who earned a mere stipend of $30,000 per month and scores staff from the One Laptop Per Family Project (OLPF).
Amerindian shock
It has moved to scrap the previous Government’s “Because We Care” Cash Grant Programme which saw families being given $10,000 to prepare each child in the public education system for school.
Speaking during an invited comment, Region Nine Regional Chairman Brian Allicock, brother of the Indigenous People’s Affairs Minister and Vice President Sydney Allicock, expressed his disappointment over this development, especially against the backdrop that the APNU/AFC had promised to put the people first.
Aleister Charlie
