The ex-president’s pension package

Dear Editor,

As far as I know, an ex-president of Guyana does not have a constitutional role in the country. Why therefore should his pension package include technical and administrative staff, paid for by the government?

Should the Government of Guyana require him to do any work on its behalf, then staff would be allocated in accordance with the work undertaken. If, however, he wants to do his private work, like writing his memoirs, then the cost involved should be borne by him. After all, if he should publish a book, then the profit from the publication would go to him.

When there are several technical and administrative staff being used by one or more former presidents then they have to be accommodated. We will end up with an ‘Office of Former Presi-dents.’

After all with a salary of over $1 million per month, after tax (assuming an unlikely situation of having no other source of income), a former president should be able to afford a typist, household help and utilities.

Yours faithfully,
Fazel Khan