Concerned citizens yesterday continued to protest against the recent salary increases for government ministers, which they say send the wrong message to the country’s poor.
Almost two dozen persons lined up with placards outside of the Public Buildings, where the National Assembly held a sitting yesterday, and registered their disappointment in the APNU+AFC government.
Representatives of Red Thread and concerned citizens lined up along Brickdam, where they stood in silence while one of the protestors marched up and down the road as he sang the national anthem and carried a placard bearing the message, “Tief or tek: all is money out of poor people’s pocket. Shame! Shame! Shame!”
“You can’t buy honesty; you can’t buy it with money. You are either a person of integrity or moral rectitude or you are not. Money cannot make them uncorrupt if they are already corrupt and let us hope that they are not,” Vanda Radzik, who was among the protestors, told Stabroek News.
Radzik said while she is very pleased and proud that President David Granger is her president, she is extremely disappointed that he sought to further justify the salary increases and she thinks it is “indefensible and unjustifiable” and everyone is questioning the logic.
“It is incomprehensibly unjustifiable. I am so disappointed in them. I voted for the coalition and, frankly speaking, I am astonished that they would take a decision for so much money and so soon before they have even adjusted themselves in the saddle or proved themselves,” she noted.
Cabinet ministers are now receiving $10,439,124 annually, representing a 50% increase, while Junior Ministers of Government earn $8,346,492 annually, representing an over 16% increase from the annual salary of a Cabinet minister under the former administration.
The Prime Minister is now receiving $20,580,000 annually, an over $2M increase from what was paid. Vice Presidents, other than the PM, are to be paid $11,135,064 per annum.
The increases have proven to be a lightning rod for criticism for the new administration, particularly after it failed to deliver on a campaign promise of significant increases for public servants. There have been at least two other protests against the increases.
Seeking to justify the increases on Wednesday, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo argued that members of government ought not to earn less than they did the day before they were sworn in and he described the public outcry at this point as comparable to beating a dead horse.
“Poor people are quality people but they are saying that in order for them to not thief they must be paid all those money plus all those benefits. So what they mean to say is that poor people who don’t have any those benefits and high salaries are expected to thief and to be corrupt? Its terrible logic,” Radzik said, while pointing out that adding insult to the injury is the number of benefits already due to ministers.
“If you want to become rich, then you have to stay in the private sector. If you want to be servant leaders, then you are not expected to be a ‘fat cat’ and super rich. That’s why they have all the benefits,” she added.
‘Betrayal’
Karen de Souza, of Red Thread, was critical of Nagamootoo’s attempt to put the matter to rest.
“We didn’t send or call them, you know. They applied and fought for this work and now that they have it they are telling us all sorts of things. The Prime Minister has turned to disrespecting the critics to say that this matter is done and dead and finished already. It is ridiculous and he can’t determine when it’s finished, we will determine when it’s finished with,” she declared.
According to de Souza, the President and Prime Minister need to retreat on the increases as it is improper for members of Cabinet to sit and decide that they need more money and award it to themselves. “Public sector workers can’t do that. The Permanent Secretary in any ministry cannot decide that he needs more money or his staff needs more money. It does not work like that and it is improper and they have to see that is,” she added, while stating that a number of recommendations have been made on how the entire public sector remuneration is assessed so that all the various irregularities can be addressed as a whole, starting from the ministerial level straight down to the office assistant.
“These people who have decided to have more money in order to not steal are getting allowances. We are seeing all kinds of ridiculous justifications on why they have to have the increase and we are not buying it,” she further said.
She added that the decision to award the increases is a betrayal of the APNU+AFC government’s campaign promises made to the working people of the country. “For them to leave them [public servants] with the 5% increase and say that the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) will look into is… why isn’t the CoI looking into the ministerial irregularities? I’ve seen people refer to this as an Animal Farm situation; is that what they want people to call them?” she added, while stating that the government has to do better and needs to stop disrespecting people who are calling them out for wrongdoings.
de Souza said while she is completely against the salary increases for the ministers, the minimum wage should be increased to $100,000 because of the current cost of living.
Paulette Allicock, a farmer from the interior, travelled to the city so she could voice her objections to the increases. “I live in the interior, where we hardly get the newspapers and one day by mistake we read it and saw the increase and I felt very kind of upset when I saw the amount. The labourers just getting 5% and during the campaign they promised so many positive things and I think they are going too fast. My husband always said that even if a new government in power, we won’t be different and today I see it’s a new government and I think they are a little worse,” she said.
‘Set an example’
A concerned citizen on the picket line, who did not want to be named, told Stabroek News that while he would still be supporting the coalition, he believes the increases are a huge mistake at this point in time, especially given the state of the economy.
He said while the increase was not among the plans highlighted by the coalition during its campaign, he was a bit surprised that it had taken prominence over all the other dire issues that are plaguing the country. “I personally believe that there should’ve been a decrease in wages. If the economy is tightening then the politicians should’ve set an example and taken a pay cut. People are suffering and living off of $50,000 and if the politicians can’t live on half a million, then what about everyone else?” he questioned.
While most persons on the picket line raised several issues and protested against the salary increases, a concerned citizen, Colin Nelson, who was observing the protest, voiced his support for the increased salaries. “I honestly believe that the current government deserved the salary increase because there is so much filth that they have to clear up. I believe that President Granger, as an honest man, will clear up his promises. Don’t fret; everybody is going to get. In five months, he raised the ministers’ salaries and in 10 months he will raise everyone’s salaries,” he said. “I do believe in the 2016 budget the public servants are going to benefit. They made so many promises on the campaign trail but when they got into government there was so much stench that they are going to take some time to clean,” he added.
“…It’s not about what’s right and what’s wrong, it’s the sacrifice that we have to make,” Nelson further argued, while stating that it is not the salary increases but GuySuCo, GPL and the Berbice Bridge that will cost taxpayers.
