The piecemeal way of paying workers is not only disrespectful but suggests decisions are made on the fly and with no serious thought or regard for management of the people’s money in a prudent manner.
In this oil and gas economy our men and women in uniform, as are all public sector workers, deserve better wages and salary. They deserve income that would positively impact their lives, not these one-off payments thrown at them when President Ali and his ministers are living high on the hog.
The president’s announcement of a one-month bonus salary for members of the Joint Services is not worth the paper it was printed on. The economy this year is projected to grow by 67 percent, inflation is at least 7 percent, and the government expects hard working public sector workers, big men and women, to be content with an 8 per cent taxable retroactive pay and one-month bonuses.
Further, instead of respecting the various workers’ representatives (unions and associations) as allowed by right and law, the government is bypassing these bodies to throw pittance at workers who put their lives on the line, every day, in service to all Guyanese. Of particular mention are the Joint Services who guard our borders, keep our streets safe, and use their bodies as shields to protect the lives of the president and ministers.
This is the same PPP when in Opposition that said the teachers, public servants and police deserve 50 per cent increase in pay. None other than Irfaan Ali rose to his feet in the National Assembly and so proclaimed. As president all Guyanese must hold him to this.
During the APNU+AFC government, in four years, public servants’ pay rose by 77 per cent. Retroactive pay was tax free. Prices not only remained stable, whilst wages/salary kept increasing, but inflation rate was nominal with the highest being 2.1 percent in 2019.
In the two short years the Ali government has not only taxed the 7 per cent and 8 per cent retroactive pay- behaving like the Grinch at Christmas- but their policies continue to see the widening of the gap between the rich and poor.
The PPP should not be too proud or too ignorant and not learn from the coalition government. The David Granger/Moses Nagamootoo government under the financial watch of Minister Winston Jordan not only put policies in place to eliminate corruption but also sound fiscal and monetary policies that saw for the first time, in years, real wages climbing and the gap between the rich and poor closing. The coalition also kept a watchful eye on money-laundering and countering the financing of terrorism and without a shadow of doubt would not have tolerated a Su Zhirong/Bharrat Jagdeo scandal that rocked Guyana to its core.
These one-off payments and taxable retroactive pay are not how a caring government thanks or rewards the workers. This is a political gimmick-paying workers’ pittance and offering them no real hope for a brighter tomorrow. In a jiffy, that ‘small piece’ will disappear, leaving8 workers no better off today than they were yesterday. President Ali is hoping he can throw sand in our eyes as they party and live the life of shahs, kings and queens on our oil and gas money. President Ali ‘one Guyana’ is about him and his political buddies, not All Guyana.
#AllGuyana = One People, One Nation, One Destiny.
