Dear Editor,
I have seen for some weeks now a repeated statement that the Government of Guyana is refusing to pay a pension to a person employed by the public sector in past years. We know that the Chronicle in Mr Harris’s day, and until this day, has been part of the accursed paramountcy machinery. The only name mentioned in an advertisement about pensions is that of Mr Adam Harris, former editor of the Guyana Chronicle. The government will no doubt answer that the Chronicle is not a government department and that therefore its ministers are not responsible for the conduct of the company.
Yet considering that the Chronicle is a publicly owned company, probably with some trade union shareholding and run like a department of state, its employees may well be public officers. In spite of the way the public service is defined, the accounts of these entities are public accounts, and pensions for service in them, except as board members seem to be protected by the constitution. And it does seem to protect them without any party qualification or political test.
Yours faithfully,
Eusi Kwayana