Dear Editor,
It was heartening to hear Mr. Robert Corbin’s position on the government’s recent effort to increase ministers’ and parliamentarians’ income (SN 10/1/2007). I am not sure if Mr. Corbin decision was informed as party leader, opposition leader or GLU president general. Notwithstanding this need to know, his comments are commendable in that while the government are prepared to increase ministers and parliamentarians income in excess of 100 percent they have imposed a 5 percent increase on public servants. This imposition goes contrary to the Collective Bargaining process where employer (government) and employees’ representative (unions) should negotiate wages and working conditions for workers.
As a worker, I say thank you Mr. Corbin in this your moment of showing solidarity with the poor public servants. I also take this opportunity to ask Mr. Robert Corbin and Mr. Raphael Trotman, PNC and AFC leaders to put parliamentary systems in place to cause the government to revisit the retirement age.
The Church’s public involvement on casino gambling is a positive step in the right direction as a responsible partner in society. Prime Minister Hinds’s comments that the government is going ahead nonetheless with its gambling legislation is nothing short of disrespect for the views of the wider society. Guyana is not the government’s property. Guyana belongs to all Guyanese and all Guyanese have the right to have a say in the things that will impact on their lives. To the Church I say thanks for assuming your rightful role in society, watching out for your congregations and supporting your point of view by incisive and irrefutable arguments. After you would have engaged in this feat, there are other social ills like discrimination and marginalisation that the congregations would like to have addressed.
Yours faithfully,
Thomas Abraham
