Dear Editor,
The following quote is taken from the then APNU+AFC’s manifesto statement: “This APNU+AFC Coalition’s Manifesto prescribes a unified approach to bring an end to the cronyism at high levels that is a drain on our financial resources and is blocking our development; to crime, that is bleeding the lives and bodies of our women and youths and scaring away investors; to corruption in the law-enforcement and regulatory agencies in the mining and forestry sectors and to constitutional abuse by the President, Cabinet and executive branch of the government.”
Editor reading the above statement it must be asked if the President believes these words today as his cabinet is embroiled in one scandal after another.
In the media we learned that the government is offering a 10% pay increase to public servants earning under $100, 000 per month and a decreasing percentage increase based on set income brackets. We must remind the government that under the first 100 days list, item two of the twenty-one they promised was “significant salary increases for government workers, including nurses; teachers in primary, secondary, and tertiary education; security personnel; and civil servants on the traditional payroll.” It is therefore shocking to read what the Government of Guyana has offered as part of the collective bargaining process. This proposed increase is nothing more than the legitimization of the outrageous 5% pay increase the previous government handed out at Christmas. If the unions accept this affront of an increase then they have failed their members and are culpable in showing wanton disregard for the hard-working public. This 10% is nowhere near “significant” and at a minimum the government should have offered public servants 20% or better yet, half of what they voted for themselves. Additionally, since the police and soldiers do not have a union they should be offered an equal pay increase as the legislative and the executive, based on the same flawed logic provided in the explanation for the aforementioned salary increase by the Minister of the Presidency.
The public is treated to more indignities by this administration with the recent remarks of the Minister of National Security to the media. He said, “It is very difficult at this stage to increase salaries. The minute you start increasing policemen’s salaries, the nurses are going to jump on our backs, public servants will go, the teachers will want increases.” These remarks were not made incognito or by some low level official of the government. What these remarks betray, is that the Guyana Public Service Union need not look forward to any greater offer during collective bargaining from this government. It was not “difficult” in September 2015 to increase the salary of the wealthy men and women who see government service as nothing more than an enrichment scheme.
Under the section of the manifesto titled “The APNU+AFC Coalition is resolutely Committed To:” one of the items is “the creation of a Guyana in which all citizens can live productive lives free from the ravages of poverty…” Offering an insulting 10% maximum salary increase will ensure that our hardest workers will remain trapped in the throes of poverty. They will birth another generation to live in the abject poverty that has gripped them for more than two decades.
This insulting wage proposition, the opprobrium regarding numerous contract awards and other acts are redolent of a betrayal of the manifesto’s promises. The unions should be preparing for action across the nation until public servants are offered and paid better wages. It is also time for the public at large to raise their voices and ask this government to begin working on delivering the “good life” promised. The hierophants will not skip a beat to remind us of twenty-three years of PPP/C nonfeasance. However, today the PPP/C is in opposition and the coalition received its empowerment to govern. We the public should not be accepting half-hearted apologies and despicable excuses from a government whose members used their oratorical skills to call out all the wrongdoings of the previous government.
Editor, the words of the election manifesto when compared to the actions of President Granger’s administration are in contrast to the reality of his government. They have become that which they once criticized and are now mired in their own brand of wrongdoing and affronting the entire citizenry. This congressional troop must now start working to both regain the public’s trust and serve the public. Equally, the public needs to become more vocal and demand the “good governance” and “good life” promised. It leaves one to ponder whether this government intends on contesting the 2020 elections, for these types of unforced errors will be costly.
Yours faithfully,
Tyrone L Talbot
