Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh says the $4.4 billion allocation for the revision of wages and salaries was explained during the consideration of the budget estimates in the National Assembly.
Breaking his silence in a statement on Tuesday, Singh released a transcript of the questions and answers provided on the allocation, which has been questioned by the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) and the opposition, who have been contending that the administration had budgeted for far more than 5% increase announced for public servants.
Singh in particular also accused AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan, who has been unrelenting in his calls on the government to explain the allocation, of seeking to impugn the integrity and the professionalism of his ministry by ignoring the explanation.
“…This ‘Revision of Wages and Salaries’ allocation meets all of those employment cost shortfalls in budget agencies, new recruitment, and the across-the-board salary increase announced at the end of the year,” Singh was quoted as saying upon questioning about the allocation in April.
Elaborating on the “employment cost shortfalls” he alluded to, Singh, according to a transcript from the Hansard (the official record of all parliamentary proceedings), said, “we do not in any of the budget agencies budget for unfilled positions.” He continued that “what that means is that any new recruitment has to be funded from the revision of wages and salaries allocation.” He also said that “the reason why we do this, of course, is that it is difficult to predict which agencies will be recruiting, in what numbers and when, what levels and so on.”
The statements were made in response to questions posed by APNU MP and Shadow Finance Minister Carl Greenidge on April 2. The Hansard quotes Greenidge as asking Singh if the increase in the allocation towards the revision of wages and salaries indicated that a higher wage increase than the 5% paid across the board to public servants last year would be paid this year.
Singh noted that Greenidge, a former Finance Minister, did not question the line item concerned any further, and the House subsequently approved of the allocation requested when the vote was put.
The Minister said that the explanation offered during the budget debates are similar to those that have been offered “for several years now,” and added that for “any member of the National Assembly to pretend now not to be familiar with the use of the revision of wages and salaries allocation, as Mr. Ramjattan now appears to want to do, is therefore an act of gross deception.”
The government’s arbitrary imposition of a 5% wages increase for public servants has been condemned by the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) and workers as well as the parliamentary opposition.
