The refusal to pay Mrs. Hoyte her husband’s pension is lawless

Mar 05, 2009 Letters

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Dear Editor,
I once again express utter consternation at the refusal of President Bharrat Jagdeo and the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government to pay pensions owed to late former President of Guyana, Hugh Desmond Hoyte, to his surviving 76-year-old widow and former First Lady of Guyana, Mrs. Joyce Hoyte.
A pension is not a privilege or a gift. It constitutes an accumulation of monies which one regularly paid into a fund over the period of one’s career, which must then, upon retirement, be paid back to that individual as retirement benefits. This is why pension plans are regulated by law and is an “entitlement.”

Therefore, the refusal to pay Mrs. Hoyte her husband’s pension is lawless. Such callousness lacks basic human decency and is unacceptable in a civilized society. It is an embarrassment for the Guyanese people. After all, what nation on earth refuses to pay its former First Lady, a 76-year-old widow at that, her dead husband’s retirement benefits to which she is lawfully entitled? Any government that does this deserves to have its moral fabric challenged and placed in disrepute.

Since President Hoyte demitted the Presidency in 1992, the PPP government has refused to pay his Presidential retirement benefits. Consequently, he had insisted to his staff that he would never go to the PPP begging for a lawful entitlement. Sadly, he died in 2002 without receiving his pension. But let there be no mistake – I am in close communication with Mrs. Hoyte. I will fight for her with every ounce of energy in my being, without relenting, until she receives her money. For this cause, I call on all Guyanese to join with me.
Under extant laws, President Hoyte would have been entitled to a pension equal to seven-eights (7/8’s) of the current President’s salary. That is approximately $800,000.00 per month. The other former First Ladies, Mrs. Janet Jagan and Mrs. Doreen Chung, currently receive their pensions. So what makes Joyce Hoyte different?

I first raised this matter in the press on November 16, 2008. President Jagdeo, immediately thereafter, personally contacted Mrs. Hoyte and claimed to have been unaware of this issue. This assertion, in my opinion, seriously strains credulity, as this has been an ongoing issue between President Hoyte and the PPP government up to the time of his death.
This, notwithstanding, President Jagdeo assured Mrs. Hoyte that, upon his return from an overseas mission upon which he was then embarking, he would ensure its speedy resolution. However today, five months later, the matter remains unresolved.

In my judgment, it has not been resolved because the government has made a conscious decision not to pay Mrs. Hoyte.
Our Opposition Leader, Mr. Robert Corbin has, by his calculated silence, countenanced and been complicit with the government’s action.
I am very disappointed in President Jagdeo. I am astonished that he appears to stand far from that moral plane that compels him to not only honour the sacrosanct obligations of the State, but out of self-respect, honour a promise to an old lady who just happens to be a dead President’s wife.

I previously called President Jagdeo and Police Commissioner Henry Green’s attention to the lack of adequate security at Mrs. Hoyte’s residence. Yet, nothing has been done.  Mrs. Hoyte currently has one police guard at her home per shift. The day guard also serves as her driver. Whenever that driver is out on driving duties, the former First Lady and her property are left unprotected. Is this how the State proposes to repay her for her husband’s service to Guyana?
I can no longer tolerate this unwarranted mistreatment of the wife of the late President of Guyana, whom I served as a Special Assistant, at the hands of individuals who lack basic standards of human decency. I reject it, and so too must all Guyanese.

When Bharrat Jagdeo and his PPP party were elected to government, I did not see them taking their personal monies to the Guyana treasury. It is the people’s money that finances the treasury. And the law requires that the people’s money and resources be properly utilised and employed to meet the obligations of the State.
Mrs. Joyce Hoyte does not involve herself in partisan politics. She is a non-partisan symbol of the State and therefore deserves to be treated with respect and dignity by the government of the day.

The only payment she currently receives is a Presidential widow’s pension of approximately $100,000.00 per month, from the Parliament. That may just be enough to cover her electricity bill. Under the law she is entitled to a housekeeper, a gardener and adequate security. Currently, she receives none of the above. Why?
The government of Guyana owes Mrs. Hoyte her husband’s pension from 1992 to date. I call on President Jagdeo to put aside petty partisan politics and pay Mrs. Joyce Hoyte her husband’s pension to which she is lawfully entitled.
Rickford Burke

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