The PPP/C says it will not be distracted by the AFC and its questions about the pension and benefits that will be afforded to President Bharrat Jagdeo, since it is “a serious party” that dwells on “serious issues”.
“The PPP/C will not be distracted from engaging the electorate on issues of primary concern and the plans for continuing to construct a modern Guyana for all its people,” PPP/C campaign spokesman Persaud told Stabroek News yesterday. He was asked whether the party will respond to the call by AFC presidential candidate Khemraj Ramjattan for the party/government to tabulate the pension and benefits that Jagdeo will earn on demitting office.
Ramjattan made the call last week during a press briefing, saying that if the government was disputing the $3.2 million monthly figure being put forward by the AFC, it should compute the pension and disclose the amount.
“If they are denying that and saying that I am an arrant liar let them do the computation. Let them say how much water bill, gas bill, SUV bill, clerical and administrative staff bill, cleaning the pool… the whole works,” Ramjattan demanded.
Both the PPP and Office of the President (OP) have objected to the figure put forward by the AFC on the matter, saying that the party was peddling deliberate misinformation and inaccuracies about the president’s pension. Both the PPP and OP argued that the benefits President Jagdeo will earn were enjoyed by all former presidents.
However, PNCR Leader Robert Corbin rejected this, saying that two of the past presidents never received a pension since they died in office, while Desmond Hoyte and Arthur Chung never received the benefits that Jagdeo is likely to get.
AFC Leader and prime ministerial candidate Raphael Trotman argued last week at the same press conference that the pension and benefits that Jagdeo will receive exceed what other former leaders in the region earn and noted that soon Sam Hinds will qualify for such a pension.
“It is horrendous when one considers our Gross Domestic Product; the fact that people are going without food on a daily basis, that pensioners can’t buy drugs or feed themselves and take care of basic needs with $7,500 a month but yet we seem to be willing quite easily and willing provide this package,” he said.
Yesterday, Persaud told this newspaper that “the APNU/AFC alliance can continue its campaign of dwelling on extraneous matters and issues which in no way can affect the course of Guyana’s development. We are a serious party that will dwell on serious issues.”
The issue has been a hot one of on the campaign trail with the AFC airing a 10-second ad which says that the President will earn a pension of $3 million monthly, while ordinary citizens of pensionable age receive $7,500 per month. Opposition coalition APNU has an advertisement in the print media with a picture of a large house which is said to be that of Jagdeo’s that is currently under construction in ‘Pradoville 2.’
In a letter published in yesterday’s edition of the Stabroek News, Head of OP’s Press Unit Dr Prem Misir queried why the President’s pension was only now a matter of concern.“There was some almost inaudible noise when the National Assembly approved the Former Presidents (Benefits and Other Facilities) Bill 2009, outlining the particulars of the pension,” he wrote. “The noise lost its tempo shortly after the approval, and reawakened a few days ago, circa 23 days before the national election on November 28,” he added.
“The Former Presidents (Benefits and Other Facilities) Bill 2009 is now a statutory imprint of this nation,” he said, “and, therefore, any serious contender opposed to this law of the land, once it wins executive power, will be enshrined with the prerogative to exorcise this statute.
The AFC, probably, fancies itself as a serious contender, notwithstanding that its political behaviour vis-à-vis the presidential pension matter suggests otherwise. Perhaps, if the AFC accedes to political power, a highly unlikely event, it can start repealing all the laws of this land that breed unhappiness in its embryonic political life,” Misir contended.
