After more than seven hours of back and forth debate, the National Assembly last week Thursday passed an amended motion which will see new employees of the public service receive their first salary within a “reasonable” time.
Prior to the passage of the motion which was tabled by APNU+AFC MP, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, new public service employees were required to work three months before receiving their first salary.
The motion sought to “ensure that public servants receive their first paycheck no more than one (1) month after the commencement of their employment in the public sector”.
“There are too many instances of persons complaining of being told that it would take at least three months to get them on the payroll to receive their salaries….The million dollar question Mr Speaker that no one seems to answer is why? Why would anyone in any HR (human resource) department or any Permanent Secretary of any state institution agree to or accept this as normal, common or ethical?” Sarabo-Halley told the House in her opening debate.
However, while the Government agreed that the issue should be addressed, Minister of Public Service, Sonia Parag proposed that the motion be amended for public servants to receive their first pay within a “reasonable” time upon receiving their employment contract.
Parag assured the National Assembly that the issue was being addressed.
She said the long wait endured by new public service employees is not intentional while explaining that it is due to the multi-agency arrangements in place to get new employees on the payroll.
Parag also roasted Sarabo-Halley for only now bringing the motion to the House after failing to do so while being the Minister of Public Service in 2019.
“…Now she (Sarabo-Halley) wants them to be paid within a month but the Honourable member sat in the said office I now sit for approximately a year and so, I figured that she would gather what the process is. Mr Speaker this Government does not want to see public servants waiting three months to be paid. They do not want to even see public servants wait even two months to be paid. Mr Speaker there is a process in place,” Parag told the House.
With majority support including the vote of Opposition Member of Parliament, Lenox Shuman, the motion was passed with amendments.
It is unclear why the motion required seven hours of debate. Many of the interventions by MPs contained irrelevancies and were filled with rhetoric. Moreover, observers noted that both of the major parties have presided in government for lengthy periods without the problem being addressed. New public servants have repeatedly complained in the past about having to wait months for their first cheque.
