The President should send the presidential pension bill back to parliament for amendment

Dear Editor,

The pension and benefits President Bharrat Jagdeo will get when his term ends are a disgrace.  Comrade Cheddi Jagan always condemned materialism at the expense of the working class. He believed in Marxism, and that the working class should take control of the economy and share equally in the wealth. Guyana has no wealth; it is a poor country. Cde Cheddi would say the poverty has to be shared, and when we get rich the riches will be shared.

Cde Cheddie warned us against greed and excess. He lived by what he believed in. The last time I checked, the PPP has not changed its ideology. This is why it makes me so upset as a solider to hear the PPP MPs actually passed this bill. This new PPP cannot tell the workers it is a working class government. Workers’ pensions and benefits are nowhere near President Jagdeo’s.

In the name of Comrades Cheddi, Janet and Boysie and what they taught us, President Jagdeo should send back the bill to parliament and tell the MPs to make it more realistic and closer to that of a senior public servant or he will refuse to sign it.

Lean, clean and mean had always been the watchwords of the party under the Jagans and Ramkarran.

Yours faithfully,
Dindial Naipaul