Dear Editor,
It must be that APNU+AFC’s foremost and primary interest is the fulfilment of their personal interest. It seems that many of us, including APNU+AFC supporters, are only now waking up to the realization that the good life about which the APNU+AFC coalition spoke during the 2015 elections campaign and thereafter was never intended to be experienced or enjoyed by the ordinary people first.
Call the recent gazetting of the huge salary/allowances increase for President Granger and his cabinet what you wish: an act of duplicity or deception, or furthermore, a callous, arrogant act which ignores the views of the masses of the people and which materialized despite assurances from several senior ministers in the cabinet that it was being reviewed and will not be implemented anytime soon.
It confirms what we of the PPP have been affirming and asserting all along: the good life about which APNU+AFC speaks is to be experienced by them first. Perhaps the only assurance that the Guyanese people have could be found in Minister Harmon’s statement: “Our economists have looked at the situation very carefully and said to us that we are capable of finding the money to pay the people.” What’s the source of the funding? Perhaps the same treasury that the government says it found empty.
Is this the same government that claims to be pro-working class? If that is so, shouldn’t the interests and concerns of the masses of the populace come first? What is the justification, the urgency behind the decision to look after selves first?
Does the President agree with statements attributed to senior Minister Joseph Harmon: “I am not going to say that I make any apologies whatsoever for
ministers getting increases in salaries; they deserve it”. “Government had to pay itself well if it wanted to perform well”. Shouldn’t the increases be a function of performance? It seems to me that we are putting the cart before the horse. Must not pay increases reflect the level and quality of performance?
After a mere four months in office and failing to deliver on even 50% of the 100-day commitments the coalition made to the Guyanese people did they earn the right to give themselves these huge salary increases? And what about the resources available to pay and the competing uses for these resources? And must not the Guyanese people be the ones through their elected representatives, the media, labour unions and other workers’ organisations, etc, to conduct a performance appraisal?
Does the administration recall that the people gave it an F grade for the first 100 days in office and that the President at the level of cabinet had to admonish some ministers for acts embarrassing to the government? In fact, some of these offices seem no more than mere sinecures and the President may wish to do a reassessment with a view to reducing what for many Guyanese is an oversized cabinet.
Furthermore, if the salaries of cabinet ministers continue to be linked to those of permanent secretaries and other senior functionaries within the offices of the ministers, one would expect that these officers would also have to be considered for increases soon enough. Note the pull factor.
The APNU+AFC cannot find justification or resources to assist the poor. The $10,000 per child voucher was removed, as well as the electricity and water subsidy for old age pensioners. The government terminated the services of some 1,972 community services officers, young Amerindian people who were not only able to acquire skills but to market these skills and help to support themselves, families, villages and communities. I guess the government’s prime or sole concern was rooted in the perception that these 1,972 were PPP/C supporters. This can only be defined as callousness.
Can cabinet not use some of the $260M per annum that their alarmingly high salary increases will cost the treasury to ensure that hinterland teachers receive their remote area incentives?
The APNU+AFC coalition government assured public servants of a significant salary increase. Indeed, a now senior minister of government did affirm that “for a quality public service you have to pay better and it is the coalition’s opinion that better pay will result in less corruption.” Is this not the same justification used by the government to award the huge salary increases for the cabinet? But public servants are limited to 5%. It seems the significant increase acquired a new meaning within a short space of time.
At a time when there is need to drive the economy which has begun to slow down due in large measure to our focus on matters and activities that do not stimulate growth but drive away investors because of uncertainty; an atmosphere of fear and a loss of confidence in the government; and putting self-interest first at the expense of country do not help to bring about the desired changes. The APNU+AFC government must face the reality of its ill-informed decision. It needs to see the decision for what it is: an embarrassing blunder.
May I say that the PPP/C ministers’ acceptance of the “low salaries” was rooted in our five decades plus concern for and commitment to the welfare of the Guyanese people. Is it asking too much of the APNU+AFC to try to do likewise?
Yours faithfully,
Norman Whittaker
