Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon says that he has no reason to believe that former president Bharrat Jagdeo is not accessing his benefits under the Former President’s (Benefits and Other Facilities) Act 2009.
He said that Jagdeo became entitled to his benefits when he left the presidency “and I have no reason to believe that he has not been accessing those benefits. I think the only person who could indeed disclaim not being in receipt is the (former) president but I cannot imagine…the former president being eligible to receive these benefits since the 5th of December 2011 when president Donald Ramotar was sworn in that eight months plus later he would not have seen the benefits to which he is legally and lawfully entitled,” Luncheon said in response to a question by Stabroek News at his post-cabinet media briefing on Wednesday.
He gave a similarly cryptic answer when he was last asked about this in March this year. Luncheon had said then: “I think you better ask the former president that but as a pensioner myself, an NIS pensioner, I think that my pension is due and payable and it is being received so I have no doubt my acquiescence with the standard operating procedures would kind of suggest that the former president is enjoying the receipt of his earned pension benefits”.
Earlier this week, sparks flew during the NCN corruption debate when Alliance For Change (AFC) Chairman Nigel Hughes faced off with Attorney General Anil Nandlall and Minister of Labour, Nanda Gopaul, as to the nature of Jagdeo’s real estate acquisitions, trading barbs on whether or not he acquired his present Pradoville 2 property at below market prices.
This instalment of the debates focused on the former President’s pension, benefits and other facilities. Hughes’ beef was not with the seven-eighths of salary pension as had been made clear by the Opposition in the National Assembly some weeks ago, but with the other benefits and facilities in light of the fact that the former President has a large house. His concern is how the benefits will be affected by the size of the property and the number of people that might be needed to take care of it. But he also took issue with Jagdeo’s acquisition of the property.
There have been sustained criticisms of the benefits that the relatively young Jagdeo will receive for the rest of his life under the Act. In addition to a tax free pension, the entitlements for Jagdeo and future presidents under the act include payment of water, electricity and telephone bills at their place of residence; services of personal and household staff, including but not limited to an attendant and gardener; services of an unspecified number of clerical and technical staff; free medical treatment or reimbursement of medical expenses incurred by them for their own treatment or treatment of dependents; full-time personal security and services of the Presidential Guard Service at their place of residence; the provision of an unspecified number of motor vehicles owned and maintained by the State; toll free road transportation in Guyana; annual vacation allowance equivalent to the cost of two first class return airfares; and tax exemption status identical to that enjoyed by a serving President.
