Calling the 2020 emergency budget a “colossal disappointment,” Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon yesterday knocked the PPP/C government’s refusal to increase the salaries of public servants while saying that the administration is engaging in wasteful spending.
Harmon, during a press conference yesterday, said the budget has, among other things, failed to address the needs of the working man and woman “even though we all know, and the PPP knows, that Guyana is in its first full year of benefitting from our vast oil resources.”
He said the APNU+AFC is appalled by the “callous” treatment of ordinary Guyanese by the PPP, particularly public servants “our health care workers, our teachers and our joint services.”
The Opposition Leader said that APNU+AFC believes that a zero increase in salary for public servants is an insult.
Calling out the government for having promised a 50 per cent salary increase while on the campaign trail, Harmon said their promises are hollow as they have nothing for public servants “while the PPP is splurging an extravagant $95 million, unnecessarily, on new high-end luxury vehicles.”
He said that the almost $100 million to be spent on purchasing vehicles for President Irfaan Ali, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo and Prime Minister Mark Phillips is a waste of resources since they all currently have vehicles which are in “tip top” condition.
Harmon said that when APNU+AFC demitted office in August, the fleet of vehicles was intact and so it would be a waste of resources to be purchasing new ones, especially when those funds can be used for the payment of salaries especially since some public servants have been informed that their September salaries have been delayed until further notice.
He stressed that the money could be used to pay increases as well.
According to Harmon, it has also been brought to the attention of the opposition that another $13 million was spent on new vehicles for Phillips, which he has said is an off-road vehicle.
The Opposition Leader also lamented what he said were millions being allocated by the Office of the President for repainting State House. Since that building was recently repainted, Harmon said, public funds would again be wasted.
Harmon also said that during the tenure of the APNU+AFC government, it increased salaries by 26%, 10%, 9%, 7% and 9%, annually from 2015 to 2019; while the minimum wage went from a paltry $39,570 in May 2015 to $70,000 in 2019.
According to Harmon, “public servants began to enjoy a good life under the APNU+AFC Coalition. However, in just over 50 days, the good life has been transformed into ‘perks for the boys.’ There is nothing for the working man and woman.”
Harmon said that over the last five years the APNU+AFC coalition government significantly increased the wages and salaries of members of the Joint Services and that those increases would have had a direct, positive impact on their pensions. He added, too, that while the PPP/C had promised a one-month bonus to servicemen and women, it has been reduced to a “two-week freck.”
“How can a government justify brand new luxury vehicles for Ali, Jagdeo, and Mark Phillips but public servants are not being paid on time, are given no increases, and have to battle with public transportation and deteriorating public security?” Harmon questioned.
